Nick Fancher 3/18/23 Nick Fancher 3/18/23

A Study of Form: High Contrast Black and White Dance Shoot

A study of shape and tone. Thanks to @kristielatham for bringing power and grace to every shoot, and thanks to the @ohioartscouncil for the grant which allows me to make art.

A study of shape and tone. Thanks to @kristielatham for bringing power and grace to every shoot, and thanks to the @ohioartscouncil for the grant which allows me to make art.

Nick Fancher 10/5/21 Nick Fancher 10/5/21

Bold Colors and Shapes with Ballet Dancer Kristie Latham

My latest shoot with dancing queen, Kristie Latham. We’ve been shooting together for over a decade now and it’s fun to look back at how our work together has evolved over the years. I started off with a simple color and shape study with the Lindsay Adler Optical Spot (Kristie styled her wardrobe). Then I finished the shoot with some long exposure work (I don’t think I’ll ever tire of this technique).

Nick Fancher 9/29/21 Nick Fancher 9/29/21

Shoot with Ballerina Francesca Jordan Dugarte

My latest attempt at capturing the beauty of movement over time. Been exploring long exposures while rotating my @prismlensfx linear filter and multi-strobing my flash. Excited at the possibilities! Also really loving the hard light and fast falloff I can get with my @lindsayadler_photo @westcottlighting Optical Spot.

Nick Fancher 9/17/21 Nick Fancher 9/17/21

Interplay: Exploring the Relationship Between Light and Movement with Dance Couple Carly and Gabe

Last October I began experimenting with wrapping dancers in LEDs and making long exposures in the dark. In essence this turned the black room into a blank canvas and the lights turned the dancers limbs into (light) paint brushes (check out the old post here). Since that point I had it in the back of my mind to use this technique when photographing a dance duo to see how their light trails interacted. That time has finally come…

Carly and Gabe not only dance in the same company but they’re also married to each other, and their intimacy and fluidity together clearly came through in their movements. Carly set her lights to red while Gabe was in blue. As you can see below, the light patterns changed based on whether they danced opposite each other or began circling and lifting one another.

After shooting a set with just the LEDs I added a green-gelled strobe overhead, which I manually triggered several times throughout the 10-second exposure. Every time I triggered the flash it captured a frozen moment in time, setting apart form from chaos. As I observed their movement a concept began to form in my mind. I had Gabe turn off his lights and kneel on the ground. Then I started a 10-second exposure and directed Carly to circle Gabe several times, and then finish with him lifting her over his head. Right as she reached the peak height and optimal pose I manually triggered the strobe. Since Gabe had no LEDs on and because Carly’s body blocked him from the strobe light, he is completely invisible in the final image. All you see is Carly’s trail of movement and final pose, which would’ve been nearly impossible to achieve on her own. I love the inherent metaphor of an unseen yet vital partner.

For the final set I took my newly acquired Optical Spot, designed by Lindsay Adler and Westcott. This light modifier is a game changer for the way I work. It allows me to focus light so sharply that in many scenarios it will replace my need for a projector, flag, or snoot. I use it on my Godox AD400 (Bowens mount), making it an affordable yet versatile and powerful rig.

I opted to use a window-shaped gobo, which came with the spot, and gelling the strobe gold. Then I added a second, cyan-gelled strobe in a softbox to fill in the shadows. The resulting images look like golden hour sunlight through a window. I look forward to really exploring the possibilities that this light tool offers.

Nick Fancher 5/17/21 Nick Fancher 5/17/21

A Fixed Point in Space Over Time: Photo Shoot with Ballet Dancer Kristie Latham Zurmehly

In my art my go-to techniques all center around the passage of time. Take this shoot with Kristie, for example. I made long exposures and multiple exposures in order to observe how she moved through a fixed point in space over time, which I otherwise wouldn’t be able to see with my naked eye…

This made me realize just how much I think about time. I consider the events that might’ve happened in one particular place over the course of 100, 1,000, or 1,000,000 years. I begin to feel a weight bearing down on me as I meditate on the randomness of when and where our lives happen to play out on the great timeline of existence. Then my thoughts often drift to old trees and I consider how fleeting and insignificant our lives must appear to them. I think about all the things that they might’ve witnessed and I give myself permission to, like them, surrender to the winds around me.

Nick Fancher 4/16/21 Nick Fancher 4/16/21

The Many Ways to Photograph a Dancer: Shoot with Ballerina Caitlin Valentine

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.

Nick Fancher 10/5/20 Nick Fancher 10/5/20

Long Exposures with Dancers Wrapped in LEDs

In my last post I mentioned how I’ve struggled for years to capture the essence of a dancer in a single frame. These are more attempts in this ongoing quest…

In my last post I mentioned how I’ve struggled for years to capture the essence of a dancer in a single frame. These are more attempts in this ongoing quest.

I started by wrapping dancers in LED lights. I had four different strips of LEDs, placing each strip on a different section of their body: leg, trunk, arm, and head. For the initial sequence I had the four strips all set to pulse through the whole color spectrum. Depending on how long the exposure was and how dynamic the dancers movement was determined what kinds of colors and shapes were created. I found that if the exposures were 5 seconds or longer the lights filled in to a bluish-white light, which was less interesting, so I directed them to move high to low and side to side as I snapped off 2 and 3-second exposures. I also tried out using my fungus-filled lens on a few of the frames, resulting in the hazy glow that you can see.

In the next sequence I set the LED strips to solid colors. Sometimes I turned them all to the same color, such as red. Other times I had each strip on a different solid color. I found the latter to be the most dynamic so far as it allows you to better see which parts of the dancer’s body made which shape.

After that I set all the LEDs to the same color and then added two gelled-strobes, placed on either side of the dancer in order to illuminate them separate from the lines of movement. The trick was then to pop the flash at the precise moment that the dancers were in a flattering pose, such as with an arm or leg fully extended. After shooting this way for a bit I found it the most helpful to take the flash trigger off of my camera and hold it in my hand. That way I could start the exposure whenever I wanted and wait for the perfect pose to manually pop the flashes.

For the final iteration of these experiments I implemented a smoke machine to see how the smoke would capture the moving lights. I started with the strobes placed to the sides as I did before but ultimately decided to place them behind her, aiming back toward the camera to act as dual suns, shining through the haze.

The more I play with long exposures and LEDs the more possibilities come to mind, which I’m really excited to explore.

Nick Fancher 10/2/20 Nick Fancher 10/2/20

A Window to the Soul: Long Exposures of Ballet Dancers

Sometimes all you need is time. I photographed Caitlin and Karen last week, two dancers from Ballet Met. The sessions were deceptively simple. A dancer, a window, and a tripod. For some of the shots I froze their movement, highlighting their pose and their poise. I also explored making long exposures in an effort to capture the grace and fluidity of their movements (for years I’ve struggled to adequately capture a dancer in a single frame). I also used my fungus-filled lens on a few of the long exposures, resulting in especially ghostly images. Here are some of my favorites:

Caitlin

Karen

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