My students and Karate buddies often make fun of me (in a good way) for constantly taking photos and videos. When I think back on it, I know why I am so adamant about doing so.
From my earliest days in Karate (started in 1978), there are only a few photos of me doing Karate…and no videos. I went to a lot of tournaments before I turned 30 and there really aren’t any videos of me competing either. We didn’t have all this great technology like we do today and cameras were expensive, not to mention video cameras cost as much as car back then. I never could afford a camera but, in 1995, I finally got a Polaroid and took photos of my students in my dojo when I could afford the film.
It wouldn’t be until around 1999 that I actually bought a camera and, by then, it was my first digital one. It didn’t take videos though and, in 2002, I bought my first video camera. By then I wasn’t really competing as much nor teaching full time like I am now since I had a pretty good career running a computer company.
When I was a teen I competed a lot, almost every other weekend. Most of the time, when I went to tournaments, I was the only going from my school. My parents also only ever went to a couple of my tournaments that were local. In the 1980’s there weren’t people walking around at tournaments with cameras or video cameras either, unless they were rich! It was actually pretty rare to even see someone taking photos. Cell phones weren’t around in the form they are now where they take 4K videos either. There are so many days I wish someone had a camera back then because I would have loved to have videos or photos of me competing for my memories.
One of my students bought a video camera in 1995 and it was the first time we ever got any Karate on film. We used it to record the Kata (forms) for my students with high hopes of creating and selling videos in the dojo. That project, though, never really panned out because we didn’t have the ability to edit them with software like we do today. I still have the tapes from when we got that bright idea in my office, and yes I said tapes since they were on VHS. Around 1996 we took the camera to some tournaments and got a few of my students, and my own fights on tape. I still have the tapes but I don’t have any equipment to transfer them to digital as of yet. There were some fun fights back then but they mostly ended up being me fighting my own students for Grand Champion.
Looking back on those days, I will often get sad that I didn’t get more photos and videos because I really was a strong Karateka at that time. I would love to be able to pull out old photos and videos to show my students too. I bet they’d be in shock to see their Sensei with long hair and how mean I actually was when I fought in those days…but it would still be a great thing to have.
That’s the exact reason that, ever since I bought I first digital camera in 1999, it has been attached to my hip whenever I go to tournaments, seminars or camps. It is also the reason why I make sure to take a lot of photos of my students, and others, when at those events. Luckily, my girlfriend, helps out taking them as well which has earned her the nickname “Camera Girl” by Minoru Nakazato Hanshi when we are in Okinawa. I spend quite a bit of time going through the photos, deleting the junk ones and then putting them on social media, or on a USB drive, so people can enjoy them…at no cost to them.
To me, I feel that it is very important to have memories of one’s early years in Karate since I don’t have any photos or videos of mine. I had some amazing days back then and get sad when I realize that there is so little photo/video documentation of me in my early years doing Karate.
Technology today has made taking photos or videos more, or less, something everyone takes for granted. In some ways I am glad we didn’t have the same technology when I was a teen and young adult (I did some really stupid things that I would never have wanted on video LOL)…but, in other ways I am sad we didn’t. Grabbing photos, and/or videos, these days is often seen as a normal thing. Pull out your cell, snap away, and upload to your social media. Bingo, done. When I was coming up, we didn’t have that, and many of wish we did. I also never had money for a camera back then so I doubt I could have afforded a cell phone anyway. I didn’t get my first pager until 1997, and my first cell phone in 1999, both of which were provided by my employer. Even then, my first cell phone didn’t take photos or videos…or even TEXT LOL.
When anyone sees me walking around with my camera these days, you now know why I am doing so. I want to gather as much photo/video documentation as I can since I never had that growing up. This way, those that I take the photos or videos of, will have something to always look back on in their early days of Karate, or even later days, to appreciate and share with others. I literally have a Terabyte drive full of photos and videos that I have taken, mostly of my students or at seminars, over the last 20 years too. It is somewhat organized but could use more attention since I often find myself searching the images for hours to find the right one…but it is what it is. At least my students, my Karate buddies and friends have these memories…something I don’t have from my early years that I really wish I did.
Steven Franz, Shihan
Shorin Ryu Shorinkan
THE DOJO SHORINKAN 