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stana

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My brother was just promoted to 4th degree black belt. As part of the promotion event he did a demonstration of cinder-block breaking. The blocks were broken by a guy with a sledgehammer while my brother was lying on a bed of nails. Unfortunately I thought the guy was going to swing the hammer on two and pushed the shutter release too soon to catch the real moment. This is as close as I got.



I put together a little gallery to document the demo. Here is the link http://www.pbase.com/stana/steve_demo

Comments are appreciated.
Stan Abraham
 
Hi Stan,

Great photo capture of a "painful" subject! I visited your gallery. Terrific series. I'll bet your brother was pleased with your photos, as well he should be. Great job on all. Thanks for sharing this interesting event. Curt A.
 
Wow -- what an interesting series! I especially like the way you captured the rapt attention of the observers in #5. You must be very proud of your brother, and I'm sure he will love these pictures. And if he's worried about your missing the exact moment of impact, he can always do it again :-)

adrienne
 
stana

Thank God that wasn't his X with thay sledge hammer...LOL

Nice stuff there Stana...You are back in action.

TOL--Life's short...go for it
 
No 1 messup with Stana , his bro is a Black belt ........Grrrr8 pic's man ....Painful But really Cool.....nice job & thanx 4 shareing
stana said:
My brother was just promoted to 4th degree black belt. As part of
the promotion event he did a demonstration of cinder-block
breaking. The blocks were broken by a guy with a sledgehammer while
my brother was lying on a bed of nails. Unfortunately I thought the
guy was going to swing the hammer on two and pushed the shutter
release too soon to catch the real moment. This is as close as I
got.



I put together a little gallery to document the demo. Here is the
link http://www.pbase.com/stana/steve_demo

Comments are appreciated.
Stan Abraham
Click to expand...
--....take careRahul Dutta
 
Nice images Stan. I expected to see from the nails on your brothers back. But none are visible. Thats pretty crazy. He should be congratulated on what I am sure is a hard earned achievement.

Happy shooting, Rick
stana said:
My brother was just promoted to 4th degree black belt. As part of
the promotion event he did a demonstration of cinder-block
breaking. The blocks were broken by a guy with a sledgehammer while
my brother was lying on a bed of nails. Unfortunately I thought the
guy was going to swing the hammer on two and pushed the shutter
release too soon to catch the real moment. This is as close as I
got.



I put together a little gallery to document the demo. Here is the
link http://www.pbase.com/stana/steve_demo

Comments are appreciated.
Stan Abraham
Click to expand...
 
I expected to see dimples from the nails stan
Rick said:
Happy shooting, Rick
stana said:
My brother was just promoted to 4th degree black belt. As part of
the promotion event he did a demonstration of cinder-block
breaking. The blocks were broken by a guy with a sledgehammer while
my brother was lying on a bed of nails. Unfortunately I thought the
guy was going to swing the hammer on two and pushed the shutter
release too soon to catch the real moment. This is as close as I
got.



I put together a little gallery to document the demo. Here is the
link http://www.pbase.com/stana/steve_demo

Comments are appreciated.
Stan Abraham
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Great job Stan and congratulations to your brother for his accomplishments.

Are those nails blood stained from previous attempts or just rusty?

Thanks for sharing.

Edward
 
wow stana, very interesting nice gallery,say my congratulations to your brother on his promotion..and congrats to to you for the great photo-documentation
regards/urbudupnorth
stana said:
My brother was just promoted to 4th degree black belt. As part of
the promotion event he did a demonstration of cinder-block
breaking. The blocks were broken by a guy with a sledgehammer while
my brother was lying on a bed of nails. Unfortunately I thought the
guy was going to swing the hammer on two and pushed the shutter
release too soon to catch the real moment. This is as close as I
got.



I put together a little gallery to document the demo. Here is the
link http://www.pbase.com/stana/steve_demo

Comments are appreciated.
Stan Abraham
Click to expand...
 
Ouch, I didn't know that's how they did it. There were times when my brother and I were growing up that I would have paid to do this to him.

Seriously, nice job of documenting the night.

Randy :-)
stana said:
My brother was just promoted to 4th degree black belt. As part of
the promotion event he did a demonstration of cinder-block
breaking. The blocks were broken by a guy with a sledgehammer while
my brother was lying on a bed of nails. Unfortunately I thought the
guy was going to swing the hammer on two and pushed the shutter
release too soon to catch the real moment. This is as close as I
got.



I put together a little gallery to document the demo. Here is the
link http://www.pbase.com/stana/steve_demo

Comments are appreciated.
Stan Abraham
Click to expand...
 
stana said:
My brother was just promoted to 4th degree black belt. As part of
the promotion event he did a demonstration of cinder-block
breaking.
Comments are appreciated.
Click to expand...
Good morning Stan,

You mean they wouldn't do it again so you could get the picture :-)?

Anyway, better him than me.

hugh
 
Hi guys,

Thanks all for taking the time to look and respond to these.
My brother was very happy with the entire evening, these photos included.

Steve has been going to this dojo for about 15 years and continues to associate with the people after 7 knee operations. That's right, 7. Some days he has real trouble walking but don't try to jump him.

The people at the dojo are very supportive and said some wonderful things about him. Although the nails did not puncture his skin he did get some welts on his back and the cinder block chips cut his chest a little. The reason his head is being held is that he forgot to bring protective goggles and his face was being covered to avoid cuts.

After the event he came to my house to pick up a cd with the images. He took off his shirt and showed us the small welts on his back which I photographed but cannot present now because pbase seems to be down.

Stan
 
stana said:
My brother was just promoted to 4th degree black belt. As part of
the promotion event he did a demonstration of cinder-block
breaking. The blocks were broken by a guy with a sledgehammer while
my brother was lying on a bed of nails. Unfortunately I thought the
guy was going to swing the hammer on two and pushed the shutter
release too soon to catch the real moment. This is as close as I
got.
Click to expand...
That is one tough well diciplined brother you have, I see the top block is a splitter which means it was designed to be made into two halves, which also means it has two center webs and would be even harder to break with the sledge. Give your brother my best. DL--Dog Leader 2100/B300
 
Very nice series, Stan, and I enjoyed the whole gallery, even with pbase's numerous hiccups in performance. I think conveying the experience through a series of photos is more compelling than just capturing the blow, though I'm sure that would have been nice, too. As others have noted, the only thing that might have made the gallery complete would have been to show the effect of the nails on your brother's back (but not too graphically!), and it sounds like you were going to do that.

All my best to your brother, and thanks for sharing this with us,

Robert
stana said:
My brother was just promoted to 4th degree black belt. As part of
the promotion event he did a demonstration of cinder-block
breaking. The blocks were broken by a guy with a sledgehammer while
my brother was lying on a bed of nails. Unfortunately I thought the
guy was going to swing the hammer on two and pushed the shutter
release too soon to catch the real moment. This is as close as I
got.



I put together a little gallery to document the demo. Here is the
link http://www.pbase.com/stana/steve_demo

Comments are appreciated.
Stan Abraham
Click to expand...
 
Hi Stan,

That's an "interesting" shot! Some people have strange fantasies!

I think you managed to capture it fine. I would probably have fainted before I could release the shutter button ;-)

Alfred
stana said:
My brother was just promoted to 4th degree black belt. As part of
the promotion event he did a demonstration of cinder-block
breaking. The blocks were broken by a guy with a sledgehammer while
my brother was lying on a bed of nails. Unfortunately I thought the
guy was going to swing the hammer on two and pushed the shutter
release too soon to catch the real moment. This is as close as I
got.



I put together a little gallery to document the demo. Here is the
link http://www.pbase.com/stana/steve_demo

Comments are appreciated.
Stan Abraham
Click to expand...
 
Stana

I enjoyed this image,and the "time lapse" sequence you've created in documenting this event with your brother.I like to highlight the image you've titled -"place the blocks"from your gallery-worth it to others to go there,and view the series as a whole.

The number five image,I find excetional in layout-the band of children-wide eyed at the top-the brick,that while concealing personality, sharpens the drama of the event- the large areas of yellow and blue mat coverage in the image-the framing of the lifters to the sides.Intent and intution,in imaging I find are, at there best, inseparably intwined.

p.s. thank you for your insightful comment on stepping back from the moniter to better acess the intent of my recent bouy images.

Regards Norman
http://www.pbase.com/norman
stana said:
My brother was just promoted to 4th degree black belt. As part of
the promotion event he did a demonstration of cinder-block
breaking. The blocks were broken by a guy with a sledgehammer while
my brother was lying on a bed of nails. Unfortunately I thought the
guy was going to swing the hammer on two and pushed the shutter
release too soon to catch the real moment. This is as close as I
got.



I put together a little gallery to document the demo. Here is the
link http://www.pbase.com/stana/steve_demo

Comments are appreciated.
Stan Abraham
Click to expand...
 
Hello DL,

Thanks for the info on the blocks. I will pass it along to my brother who is either very brave or somewhat silly or some combination of both.

Stan
Dogleader said:
That is one tough well diciplined brother you have, I see the top
block is a splitter which means it was designed to be made into two
halves, which also means it has two center webs and would be even
harder to break with the sledge. Give your brother my best. DL
--
Dog Leader 2100/B300
Click to expand...
 
Hello Robert,

I was happy to have something to post on the forum having been in somewhat of a funk recently. My brother was very happy with the images and the pbase gallery. I am going to try to get a dinner out of it.

Stan
Robert M said:
Very nice series, Stan, and I enjoyed the whole gallery, even with
pbase's numerous hiccups in performance. I think conveying the
experience through a series of photos is more compelling than just
capturing the blow, though I'm sure that would have been nice, too.
As others have noted, the only thing that might have made the
gallery complete would have been to show the effect of the nails on
your brother's back (but not too graphically!), and it sounds like
you were going to do that.

All my best to your brother, and thanks for sharing this with us,

Robert
Click to expand...
 
Hello Alfred,

Actually my brother was very pleased with the photos and the gallery on pbase made him even happier. I think it was easier to watch on the lcd than to watch it happening.

Stan
Alfred Rijnders said:
Hi Stan,

That's an "interesting" shot! Some people have strange fantasies!

I think you managed to capture it fine. I would probably have
fainted before I could release the shutter button ;-)

Alfred
Click to expand...
 
Hello Norman,

Thanks for the positive comments. I am glad that you enjoyed the gallery.

I sometimes wonder if you read my responses to your posts as you don't usually reply to them. I am glad to see that that is not the case and will continue to reply to your very interesting images as long as you keep posting them.

Stan
NRich said:
Stana

I enjoyed this image,and the "time lapse" sequence you've created
in documenting this event with your brother.I like to highlight the
image you've titled -"place the blocks"from your gallery-worth it
to others to go there,and view the series as a whole.

The number five image,I find excetional in layout-the band of
children-wide eyed at the top-the brick,that while concealing
personality, sharpens the drama of the event- the large areas of
yellow and blue mat coverage in the image-the framing of the
lifters to the sides.Intent and intution,in imaging I find are, at
there best, inseparably intwined.

p.s. thank you for your insightful comment on stepping back from
the moniter to better acess the intent of my recent bouy images.

Regards Norman
http://www.pbase.com/norman
Click to expand...
 
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