Fencing is the sport of  fighting with swords. Today fencing is an Olympic sport and is divided into three weapon categories: foil, sabre and épée.  Fencing is one of original five sports which has been present at every one of the modern Olympic games. Fencing traces its origins back to Spain between 1468 and 1471 which was documented in the book Treatise on Arms by Diego de Valera. 

Modern fencing technique originated in the 18th century in Italy during the Renaissance and later improved by the French. After World War 1 fencing transitioned into a sporting activity with the épée in 1936 with the introduction of electric scoring. Foil was the next to transition to electric scoring in scoring in 1956 and finally sabre in 1988. 

Fencing is an extremely fast paced sport with matches that last only minutes. To demonstrate the sport the Ajax Fencing Club was kind enough to showcase the techniques. Both high speed and slow motion photography techniques were used to capture the images in the Gallery.

Watsonphotography.ca creates unique images of fashion, models, people, travel, nature and racing sports by Toronto photographer Peter Watson.