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<\/a><\/p>\nThe word muay derives from the Sanskrit mavya and Thai comes from the word Tai. Muay Thai is referred to as the “Art of Eight Limbs” or the “Science Of Eight Limbs” because it makes use of punches, kicks, elbows and knee strikes, thus using eight “points of contact”, as opposed to “two points” (fists) in Western boxing and “four points” (hands and feet) used in sport-oriented martial arts.[5] A practitioner of Muay Thai is known as a nak muay. Western practitioners are sometimes called nak muay farang meaning foreign boxer<\/p>\n
Various forms of kickboxing have long been practiced throughout mainland Southeast Asia.[7] In Thailand, Muay Thai evolved from muay boran (ancient boxing), an unarmed combat method which would probably have been used by Siamese soldiers after losing their weapons in battle. Some believe that the ancient Siamese military created Muay Boran from the weapon-based art of krabi krabong but others contend that the two were merely developed alongside each other. Krabi krabong nevertheless was an important influence on Muay Boran and so Muay Thai can be seen in several kicks, holds and the movements in the wai khru which have their origins in armed combat.<\/p>\n Muay Boran, and therefore Muay Thai, was originally called toi muay or simply muay. As well as being a practical fighting technique for use in actual warfare, muay became a sport in which the opponents fought in front of spectators who went to watch for entertainment. These muay contests gradually became an integral part of local festivals and celebrations, especially those held at temples.<\/p>\n Years ago I shot sports for the local newspaper in San Diego (mostly football and basketball) and I really enjoyed it. Now-a-days I don’t get too many opportunities to shoot sports; but many of the skills I learned back then, help me make half way decent pictures when shooting Thai Kick Boxing, which is even more challenging in many ways.<\/p>\n Photographing Muay Thai at the Pink Panther Bar is quite difficult because it’s a fast moving sport which takes place in an extremely dark venue, but with today’s high-ISO capable digital SLRs, a decent auto-focus system and some good fast glass, it’s a lot easier than it used to be.<\/p>\n Here’s the formula I give to all my photo tour participants before we arrive ringside.<\/p>\n Bring your widest lens (16-20mm is best), set your ISO to the max, set drive mode to the maximum, set AF to AI-Servo, if shooting raw switch to Jpeg, set white balance to Auto, Set camera mode to Aperture priority and open up (2.8 if you have it), set metering to Matrix or Evaluative, set exposure compensation to minus 1\/3 or 2\/3, place camera below or through the ropes pointing upward and when the action starts, shoot until you run up against your buffer, and repeat until either the bout has ended, or you run out of memory cards!<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n