Dancing shoes

Dance photography

Dance photography is something I have been interested in recently after the Fiona Hayes talk at university. She spoke about Dance in Vogue and I later researched it and came across this world where fashion and dance collide. I felt the movement in these images had so much energy and poise and made the editorials really stand out. Since then I have assisted 3 dance photographers and even though they expressed that dance photography wasn't a stable career path I felt what you learn from working with a dancer is fundamental to working with people especially in fashion. I feel it's as important for fashion photographers to study dance photography as artist to study life drawing. It teaches you how to capture a movement, the human form, expression and the perfect moment. I have looked into Fashion photographers who have shot Dance images and they have taken the natural posing of fashion and incorporated it with the beauty of dance. 

Oh Jung Seek

Vogue girl Korea did a ballet editorial shot by Oh Jung Seek. A beautiful series of portraits that capture the subtle beauty of dance mixed with delicate pastel fashion garments. The lighting and composition are gental and soft creating pure and elegant images. 

  

Will Davidson 

Will Davidsons spread in Australlian Vogue for the Royal Ballet anniversary images use natural light in the most beautiful way. The intimacy and elegance the dancers bring to the shoot make for one of the most beautiful Photo series I have seen in a while. The relationship shared between the dancers and their love for dance shows expression and grace, demonstrating the art of dance in a harmony of subtlety dexterity and passion. The location works so well with the concept of the shoot and everything complements each other. If I could photograph anything this special in my photography journey I would be very proud

Studio Dance

Dance photography is more commonly shot in the studio. Two different ways of doing this are the top image where there is structure and control. The sort of images I would be more inclined to shoot before I started testing my style oh photography. The bottom images are my favourite though as they are focussed on capturing movement in a still image. I fell they do very well. All using lighting to produce a different atmosphere in each shot. Bottom left to evoke light, soft delicateness and the top left is cold moody and dynamic this is all down to lighting and the tones produced by the different set ups.  

Dance in Art Photography

With all my surreal manipulation images I was looking into an area of Art photography. Gallery work. Dance photography has three areas in my opinion 1. Commercial- Advertisements for dancers (head shots and portfolios) as well Advertisements for shows. 2. Fashion Photography- Dance with in fashion photography like the examples I have already used and 3. Art photography- Conceptual and abstract, dance really lends itself to art photography as it is a beautiful way to capture human form. These two images above I feel fal into the Art Photography section of dance. I really love them and will look further into this for inspiration when working on dance images. 5  

My Initial test

I wanted to try some more artist photography looking at the female form. I started the shoot with the two images above for inspiration then I moved from the dance side of the images to just the human form. These images were to test lighting and shape. They are different to what I normally do but I like the direction the images are headed in. 

Vincent Peters

These fashion images by vincent Peters for U.S vogue are a beautiful example of how fashion and dance can integrate and how lighting can be used to bring a story to life.  

How this work influenced me

I shot for a fashion show on my work experience with James Rowbotham. As I was shooting I kept these visuals in my head and was influenced by this series of images and produced the lower black and white pictures. 

 More from the shoot

These three images are my favourite from the show. I feel they capture the movement and form I have been talking about and experimenting with. They are a good start with not going too conventional in dance photography as that was my main advice from Fiona Hayes. 

James Rowbotham

During my work experience I worked with James Rowbotham (Jim Markland) on a fashion show. I had a couple meetings with him also and he explained how he shoots and the things he loves to shoot. These are some expamples of his images. My favourite is the left images because of the lighting. The top right looks photoshopped but he actually shot this dancer on a planes wing.  

The above is my favourite series he has done. Top right and bottom middle are the best images in my opinion. I would love to do this kind of shoot as I feel it explores the human body beautifully. I have some more work experience with James helping out at a workshop he is running and then a dance shoot  he has organised. 

 Chris Nash

I also worked with Chris Nash during my work experience on a shoot with Motion house dance company. The shoot was fantastic and I saw how Chris worked so well with lighting and movement. and captured the best out of the dancers. He was a great inspiration and a wonderful dance photographer and I could see why he is so respected in the industry.   

Couple Dance

I feel the most beautiful dance photography happens when you see dancers interact. The movement they create together tells stories and shows trust and passion. I want to find dancers to create shoot like this. 

My shoot

This is a test shoot I did with two dancers from Leicester. I wanted to show connection and relationship between dancers. I really like the bottom left image. Even though these images I feel are too commercial for the style I want to create as a dance photographer.

Manipulation in Dance 

I feel there is a real link between my 'impossible world' images and dance photography. Dancers can move in these abstract ways that lends itself to the images I create. These are a few examples where the two worlds collide. 

I wanted to step away from the levitation imagery as I feel I need to challenge the impossible in a different way. The image below was an experiment changing the background to make the image seem more impressive. This is my favourite image from the shoot as It looks like a story as if there is something we don't know about these characters and what lead them to this edge.