After seeing my real black belt, waiting for me on the rack at the dojo, it really to sink in. It does exist! Three  and a half years of training, 7 weeks of prep cycle, and now there’s only one week to go.

My Black Belt Awaits

The Prep Cycle has been interesting. In some instances it hasn’t been as hard as I expected it to be (some of the normal classes), but at the same time it’s been a draining schedule – especially with all the ‘at home’ training I’ve been doing too.

We’ve had three ‘pre-tests’ during the seven weeks, to potentially weed out any people who really aren’t ready, and to also give feedback for when we need to improve before Black Belt Grading weekend. Happily, I’ve been able to get through all pre-tests unscathed. The group I’m going through with have also made it through the pre-tests (some with more to work on than others), with the exception of one who had to drop out due to health problems. There’s about 15 of us – most of them under 20 or so. There’s only 4 “oldies” – myself and 3 others who are all over 35, one who is 20, and the rest are in their teens.

So the Black Belt Grading weekend.. 24 hours of pain! It starts at around 4pm next Friday, 18th June, with the 5.4km run (must be done in under 30 minutes) followed by 100 pushups, 100 situps and 100 squat kicks (which must all be completed in under 10 minutes). We then head back to the dojo, and train pretty much non-stop until about 3pm on Saturday. I think they allow us maybe 3 hours to sleep, from 3am Saturday morning after the sparring is complete.

I don’t know much else about the weekend at this stage – they deliberately keep us in the dark about it. I just know there’ll be hours of basics, hours of kata, hours of sparring (continuous and point), hours of self-defence, probably an hour or more of arnis, etc. I spoke about the sparring last time – that’s going to be the real killer.

But I feel I’m as ready as I can be. My fitness is good. My body is holding up and so far no injuries. I’ve been fighting off colds pretty much since the start of prep cycle, as my family has all been sick and coughing around me. Luckily I haven’t succumbed. One week to go!

I’m not sure how much of the grading I’ll be able to capture on video or in photos, but I know that there’ll be some floating around on facebook or elsewhere. I’ll update with as much as I can after it’s all over.

And after I’ve slept.

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These star trail images were taken at the Mudgee Star Party, when I was there in mid-April 2010. All images were taken with my Canon 40D sitting on a fixed tripod, with a timer remote used to program the exposures.

Time-lapse movies of these star trails will be coming in the next few weeks, once I get time to start processing them!

Click each image for a larger version.

Mudgee Star Trails 1

The image above consists of 75 minutes worth of exposure (30 second exposures), captured with the Canon 40D and 17-70mm Sigma lens @ 17mm, f/5, ISO3200. One of the domes of the Mudgee Observatory is in the foreground, with the South Celestial Pole above it.

The next image below consists of approx 1.5 hours worth of exposure (30 second exposures), captured with the Canon 40D and 17-70mm Sigma lens @ 17mm, f/5, ISO3200. The centre of the milky way galaxy rises through the left side of the image.

Mudgee Star Trails 2 - 1.5 hours worth

This image (below) is virtually the same as the one above, but totals almost 3 hours worth of exposure. All other details are the same. I just couldn’t figure out which one I liked better

Mudgee Star Trails 2

The next image is a shorter star trails, of the Orion constellation setting in the West. The belt of orion and the orion nebula can be seen in the trails. It’s 35 minutes of exposure (5 minute exposures), captured with the Canon 40D and 24-105mm lens @ 24mm, f/5, ISo400.

Trails of Orion Setting in the West

All images processed using StarTrails.de and Photoshop CS4.

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The Black Belt Prep Cycle is a 7 week intensive program designed to stretch the candidates to their physical and mental limits, culminating in the Black Belt Grading Test weekend, on the 18-19 June. And intensive it has been.

I’ve been doing 4 classes a week, which are generally much harder than normal classes – with a much greater fitness component and much higher expectations on the candidates. I’ve also been doing lots of training at home – mainly fitness training with more situps, more pushups, more squat kicks and skipping too.

For the first week, my body was in a constant state of ache. I was getting some spasms in my lower back, my quads were constantly sore, but luckily both were short-lived and funnily enough more training seemed to help Also, the skins I bought have really helped – they’ve been worth every cent! They seem to really aid in faster recover, as well as not getting as cramped in the first place.

Now, at the end of the second week, my body is holding up pretty well – I’m feeling fit and healthy and looking forward to the rest of the journey. I’ve even lost 1 or 2 kilos. No injuries so far, but my family is sick at the moment and now I’ve got a persistent cough and a niggling cold. I just hope it’s also short-lived. There’d be nothing worse than coming down with a bad cold or a flu during Prep Cycle.

I’m starting to get more of a picture of what the Black Belt Grading weekend has in store. And it’s not going to be pretty! Especially the sparring. The sparring starts at about 1am on the Saturday morning and goes for about 2 hours – when you’re already tired and exhausted, when you’ve already done the 5km run, the pushups/situps/squats, after 2 hours of basics, after 2 hours of kata and more. They design it so it takes place when you’re already mentally and physically exhausted. They want you at your absolute lowest, and then they throw black belt after black belt at you, and I can tell you it won’t be anything like point-sparring or even continuous sparring. They WILL be trying to break you. They push everyone to their physical and mental limits until they are a crumpled, crying mess on the floor (literally!!), and then they expect you to get back up again and keep going on for more. They look for the budo spirit – the will and the power to get back up and keep fighting.

It won’t matter how good at sparring you are, or how fit you are – they’ll keep throwing people at you until you’ve reached YOUR limits.. and beyond. It’s the journey out the other side that they’re looking for.

It sounds and feels a little daunting I can tell you. We have the sparring pre-test next Wednesday, which will be a cut-down version of what we can expect on Black Belt Grading weekend. After each pre-test, the Black Belts vote on the candidates and decide who can continue the journey.

I guess that’s enough for this update. I’ll give another update probably in another 2 weeks time.

Thanks for reading.

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Venus, Moon and Pleiades Conjunction

These images were captured with my Canon 40D sitting on a tripod. I also took some prime focus images of just the Moon and the Pleiades through the ED80.

It was a stunning scene, and everyone at the star party was mesmerised by the view, taking it in with camera, binoculars and telescopes.

There’s a number of different views of the conjunction in this post, so please check them all out. You can click on each image for a larger version that opens in a new window.

The following image shows my son Jacob pointing at the conjunction.

Jacob Pointing at the Conjunction

Another few views of the conjunction, but a bit earlier when the Pleiades wasn’t quite visible.

Moon and Venus Conjunction

Moon and Venus Conjunction at Twilight

Telescope Ready for the Night

Moon and Venus Conjunction at Mudgee

Thanks for looking.

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The Moon and the Pleiades (M45)

It was captured at the Mudgee Star Party, using my ED80, modded Canon 40D with WO 0.8x reducer. FL 480mm, f/6, ISO 320, 5 second exposure.

Processed in Photoshop CS4.

Thanks for looking.

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I call it Fogotography, or PhotoFography. Catchy I think!

Here’s a couple of images taken at Windamere Dam near Mudgee, on our way back from the Mudgee Star Party on a cool, foggy Sunday morning.

Bridge to Nowhere

We couldn’t see any water in the dam – not because of the low water level (which it was anyway), but because of the fog! It was very thick.

Road to Nowhere

Taken with my Canon 40D and 24-105mm lens.

Processed in Photoshop CS4.

Thanks for looking.

No related posts.

The first is of the Mudgee Observatory domes at sunset on the Saturday night. Jacob and I had just finished walking up part of the hill behind the observatory and were on our way down just before the sun set.

Mudgee Observatory at Sunset

The next two are of Jacob and I, higher up the hill just before we started walking back down.

I warn anyone attempting the walk – wear those plastic sock protectors! The sharp, needle-like seed pods or whatever they are, stick in your socks and shoes in the hundreds and every time you walk it feels like you’re being bitten!

Jacob Bushwalking Behind Mudgee Observatory

Mike Bushwalking Behind Mudgee Observatory

Thanks for looking.

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Next Wednesday, Black Belt Prep Cycle starts – it’s a 7 week intensive program designed to stretch the candidates to their physical and mental limits, culminating in the Black Belt Grading Test weekend, on the 18-19 June.

As part of being accepted into Prep Cycle, I had to describe what Black Belt meant to me. I summed it up with the paragraph below:

To me, Black Belt is a journey. Reaching Black Belt is not the ultimate goal – it’s just one stop on the journey that starts from the first class of White Belt and never ends. It’s a constant cycle of self-improvement, reflection, technical revision, sacrifice, growth and personal development, physical and mental conditioning and pushing yourself through boundaries and towards goals you never thought possible.

In less than 2 months, all going well, I’ll be a Black Belt!

I’m really looking forward to getting stuck into Prep Cycle and becoming fitter, stronger and more confident to take that last step towards earning my Black Belt.

Thanks for reading.

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This image was taken from the Mudgee Star Party on the same night as my Scorpius and the Milky Way Widefield. It features a stunning area of sky, including the Pointers (Alpha and Beta Centauri) bottom right, the Southern Cross and the dark Coalsack (in Crux) in the centre, and the beautiful Eta Carinae nebula top left.

There’s so much going on in this image I had to reduce the dimensions to keep the size down, so please click the image to see the larger, much more spectacular version.

The Southern Cross, Pointers and Eta Carinae Widefield

Please read on to find out more details.

The image was taken with the Modded Canon 40D and 24-105mm lens, piggybacked on the ED80 while being guided on the EQ6. It consists of 8x 5 minute exposures at ISO1600, with the lens @ 35mm, f/5.0. Darks were subtracted using ICNR, and flat fields were calibrated.

I’ve wanted to capture a good widefield area of this part of sky for a long time, and it’s great to finally have an image of it that I’m happy with. There’s a bit of field curvature in the corners from the lens, but it’s not too noticeable.

I had another 50+ minutes of data on this using 10 minute exposures, but somehow it ended up at a different focal length from my original 5 minute exposures. Not sure what went on there, but unfortunately I couldn’t use them in the stacking.

Thanks for looking.

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On new moon weekend in April, I was invited out to the Mudgee Star Party at the Mudgee Observatory, held by the Southerland Astronomical Society Inc (SASI), to give a talk on my astrophotography.

I took Jacob with me, and we had a fantastic weekend. Beautiful clear skies at night, warm sunny days, and a great friendly bunch of people at a great location.

On the first night I did some widefield astrophotography, with my modded Canon 40D with 24-105mm L lens sitting piggyback on top of my ED80. Below is the image of the Scorpius constellation in the Milky Way. Click the image for a larger version.

Scorpius Constellation and the Milky Way

Read on to find out more and to see a version with the constellation lines and a few other objects in Scorpius.

The image consists of 7x 10 min exposures (70min total) @ ISO1600, with the 24-105mm L lens @ 24mm f/5.0. Darks were taken using In Camera Noise Reduction (ICNR) and flats were taken with the light box at the end of the session and calibrated using Deep Sky Stacker. The image was guided by the 400mm refractor and DMK21AU04 on the EQ6.

Processing was done using Deep Sky Stacker and Photoshop CS4.

I’m quite happy with how the image turned out, with the exception of the bottom left corner which has some weird horizontal banding again (different than the horizontal banding in my Orion Nebula image). I can’t see it in the raw light frames, so I can’t help but think it was a result of the calibration or stacking process in Images Plus. I’ll need to re-process without calibration and with a different tool to find out for sure.

Here’s a version of the image with the constellation lines and a few other objects noted. Click the image for a larger version.

The Scorpius Constellation

Thanks for looking.

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