In the post of the prom pictures I mentioned how great it is to get jobs that are out of the ordinary because they really keep me on my toes and are a great learning experience. Last week I had one of the best learning experiences of my photography career . . . I photographed a dance recital for a couple of girls that I love to pieces. They are absolutely beautiful dancers and I was amazed by their sheer talent, grace and poise. I hope that I was able to capture at least a small glimpse of that. It was by far one of the hardest jobs I've ever tackled, but was unbelievably rewarding because of how it stretched me. I probably took close to 500 pictures and I only have 73 that I'm willing to let them look at. The ones posted below are my most proud moments of the night. These are straight out of the camera (except for three of them that were cropped) and I couldn't be happier with them.
I had someone point out to me that pictures of dance that have any kind of blur just really shouldn't be considered great, but I tend to disagree. Look at those in the middle that are "blurry". To me, it shows the movement of the dance and I think it's fabulous! In my opinion, great photography captures emotion. What is more emotional than the movement of a dance? And, while the main reason I only have 73 photos for these girls to look at is because they are blurry, there's definitely a time and a place for the "blur" . . . when it's on purpose and captures the emotion is when it's truly fabulous.
4 comments:
Beautiful! After a week of trying to figure out how to make school program (indoors, on a stage, boring) snapshots look a little more interesting, I am truly impressed. I need some pointers, and probably some new equipment!
I'd like to know the ridiculous person that said that about blur in dance! They look great!
Beautiful! You are really on your toes!
Okay, I'm finally responding to you, Betsy and Anita . . . sorry I'm slow!
Betsy, believe me if I had to sit in the audience with a million people in front of me, I would have NOTHING to show for my night! Alabama Dance Theatre has very strict rules about photographing the dancers and one of those rules is that photos cannot be taken during the actual performance unless you are seated at your seat and don't use a flash. Clearly, that would make it impossible to get any kind of decent shot. ADT does allow photographs to be taken at the dress rehearsal though and that is where I was asked to be. I had free range of the auditorium (with the exception of getting on stage obviously) and was able to move around as I needed to. I was also able to get as close to the stage as I liked. Needless to say, this all helped TREMENDOUSLY!!! The other great thing was that they did the dances twice so I got a lot of practice and was able to know where to really be during the second performance. Even though I had all of this help, it was still really hard and I left knowing that it's definitely time to invest in better equipment. I thought my camera and lenses did okay for what I was pushing them to do, but it's just not really cutting it anymore. Time for an upgrade . . . come on tax return!!!!
Anita, I'm glad you like the blur too!!! Honestly, I don't know who the guy was or what his photography knowledge or expertise is. He was at the recital and I commented about how excited I was about the shot of the girls leaping across the stage. I loved that it showed how powerfully they moved across the stage and his reply was to inform me that it would only be great if I had caught them still in motion, showing their perfect technique. I think his daughter was a dancer, so maybe that is how she prefers to be photographed. And, it would be a HUGE accomplishment to catch a still shot of a leaping dancer in mid-air in that type of situation and lighting. Can't say I wouldn't have bragged about that shot until the end of time, but the emotional side of me is all about the power of movement. Love it!!!
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