I’ve been working with dancers for over a decade and I still struggle to come up with fresh ways of capturing their movement in a way that conveys their power and grace. But this challenge doesn’t keep me from trying.
In my latest dance shoot I worked with ballet dancer Caitlin Valentine, of Ballet Met. We started off in my studio. I had her dance with a colorful piece of fabric while I made long exposures by window light. She brought a range of outfits with her to the shoot and I had her put on a teal dress to complement the salmon-colored fabric. The resulting images are are fluid and ghostly.
For the next setup I took her to an abandoned room in The Fort, where my studio resides. Once again I photographed her with the fabric by window light but this time I used a fast shutter speed to capture the ripples of the fabric. I love how sculptural the fabric looks and how the shape sometimes mirrors her pose.
After that we returned to my studio and I set up a single, snooted flash directly above her to create a dark environment. I love how the final shots look like they were shot on a stage.
A few days after the shoot I printed out a number of images from the shoot and I placed them in a tray of water. I lit the prints with an LED that rapidly changes colors. As the colors changed I shot with a slow shutter speed and shook the print tray to make ripples, which resulted in colorful ripples and ghost shapes.
