Yoshitaka Taira, 10th dan World Matsubayashi-ryu (Shorin-ryu) was the first sensei I photographed for the Karate Masters Portrait Project. At that time, we only took a simple head shot and a single pose of them in their favorite stance. More recently we try to get a much wider variety of images, so when I saw Taira sensei at the seminar last week, I asked if could get a few additional shots of the project.
These are the first images in the Karate Masters Portrait Project. The idea is to document the hanshi (grand masters) of karate. I wish I had started this project several years earlier before some of the hanshi passed away. Hanshi 10th dan Yoshitaka Taira Images are shot with the 645D which means I have fantastic detail, important for an archival project. I used a portable black velvet screen to have clean background and then used a single studio light with a beauty dish for illumination. I plan to shoot all portraits with the same setup.
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 