Sumo 2014: The D3 (and a few from the Merrill)

July 27, 2014  •  Leave a Comment

Before the main article...assuming that this entry gets the normal number of views that most do, it will tip the blog over the six thousand visitors mark, so thank you to everyone who comes here and has a look. I essentially do this for my own pleasure, but it's nice that others consider it worth a look as well. It is appreciated.

Anyway, to the main event, so to speak.

I have the good fortune to live close to the prefectural gymnasium where the Nagoya Sumo tournament is held every year, and I've made a point of going every year...and shooting every year. This year was no different, and this time I had the D3 with me (and the Merrill, just in case - you never know what you might get from it). This is essentially why I bought the D3 - at a bargain price - because I'd never shot sumo with anything close to the D3's quality. I'd shot it with a D7000 (in itself a fine camera) and on film too, but this would be the first time with the D3.

This is a single entry but there will be a lot of photos compared to a normal entry. 

Before getting to the actual tournament, some shots from the training. The various sumo "stables", or training teams, set up a temporary training base, and by luck one was right around the corner from me. They train in the morning and it's open to the public (literally: you can watch from less than ten feet away, and at that distance you get a good idea of how big these guys actually are).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And to the main event itself. I went on the second day, which is a Monday. You are allowed to exit and re-enter once, so I went in the morning at around 11 for an hour and a bit first. This gave the following relatively close up shots (I was sitting right by the ring, which is technically rather naughty, but there are so few people there at that time that nobody bothers to enforce the rules).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That was from the morning. After a break for lunch (the hosting of a big sporting event like this means that prices in the gymnasium are fairly extortionate, and as I said I can walk back home in fifteen minutes), I went back with my better half and we took our (actual) seats, further back. This led to a change in perspective and a different approach to shooting.

 

The caucasian wrestler on the left is one of my wife's favourites, because he's not your average sumo shape and because he is a real scrapper.

 

Unfortunately, this particular day he was on the losing end...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one was the Merrill; the LCD lets you use the spot meter to get the scene just how you want it in terms of highlights and shadows, and because you're exposing for the highlights, you get a usable shutter speed even though you're only at ISO 200.

 

Terribly clichéd sumo shot, but here it is anyway...

 

 

The Yokozuna does his stuff...

 

 

 

 

Raw strength: one guy literally picks the other up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's a lot of salt thrown in sumo...

 

 

 

 

Victory for one of the three yokozuna (none of whom are Japanese...the sport is dominated by foreign wrestlers at present, and has been for a while).

 

 

The traditional spear-spinning performance to end the day

 

 

 

 

 

Exeunt

 

 

 

That's that for the sumo, but there are plenty more pictures on the way. Once again thanks for looking (and for the six thousand visitor mark)!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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This is a collection of posts. Some (most) have a particular theme, but some are just collections. I try to only include my best shots in here.

 

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