p.1 #1 · Shooting at Lincoln Center(Alice Tully Hall)
I may have a job shooting ballet at Lincoln Center for a school for children with Downe's Syndrome. 13 girls with DS will be performing for about 10 minutes. I am trying to see where would be the best location to shoot from. My choices are the balcony where I would have some freedom to roam around, an elevated box stage left, with no one to block my view or down at ground level in one of the aisles(either left or right). The aisle sounds good but I dont know who may block my vision and how long they will let me stay there. I also hope my 70-200 is long enough to get some close ups. I am shooting probably the D600 because of its high iso and quiet(er) shutter than my D700. thoughts? thank you in advance, Michael
ps I will have a few numbers to experiment with before the school that hired me performs.
p.1 #2 · Shooting at Lincoln Center(Alice Tully Hall)
Howdy,
Sounds like an interesting photo op.
You wrote they are only performing for 10 minutes, so I would opt for the aisle and get close and yet far enough away to show more than one dancer. Your tele zoom would not be my choice for this.
p.1 #3 · Shooting at Lincoln Center(Alice Tully Hall)
Shooting down doesn't always look so good for ballet, or any kind of stage performance in my limited and biased opinion. If you're only there for 10 minutes, I would ask if I could sit in the center aisle however far back so your camera is stage level. You won't be able to get the entire stage in at 70, but they're more likely to be closer together. And the 200 will get you in nice and tight.
If you can't sit in the aisle, then you need an aisle seat. If you can't get that, then I'd go up in the balcony, presuming it's center to the stage.
p.1 #6 · Shooting at Lincoln Center(Alice Tully Hall)
I believe this hall has European style seating which means it does not have the three sections of seating and corresponding aisles - point being that the aisles will be way off from the center of the stage.
Have you considered standing at the back of the hall using a 200mm? I suspect that will put you at about stage level and will give you the option of being dead-on center or moving from side to side without bothering the audience.
p.1 #8 · Shooting at Lincoln Center(Alice Tully Hall)
If you were center row front and stayed in your seat then your images would be at an angle looking up at the performers. This would be what an audience member would be used to seeing but it might look a tad odd for photography.
I can tell you as a performer and as an audience member that it is as annoying as can be to see a photographer wandering around in the audience during a performance.
Are you able to view/photograph a rehearsal at Alice Tully? This would give you maximum flexibility.
? thank you in advance, Michael