I was lucky enough recently to spend a weekend in Bangkok. One of the must-see spectacles in this city is Muay Thai, otherwise known as Thai Boxing, at the Lumpini Stadium. Before each bout the boxers perform the Wai Khru dance as a homage to their teachers. This is accompanied by a brass band who play constantly throughout the evening; the tempo and volume of their music matching the action in the ring. Each bout consists of five rounds of three minutes each and the winner is judged on their demonstration of technical skills, although obviously, the more hurt and tired your opponent is, the less technically able they will be. The overwhelming sensation of the evening was noise: noise from the crowd, noise from the band and above all of that, the thwack and accompanying exhalation of air as the kicks and punches hit their target.

Here’s my favourite picture. It was difficult taking pictures there due to low light and fast action, so I tried various combinations of flash and wide aperture to avoid camera shake. I think this one was a mistake as I don’t remember purposefully using red-eye reduction as an effect, but I think that is what is going on here. If I knew it would produce this staggered movement I would have taken more like it.