p.1 #1 · Urban Portrait Series -- Dancers Offstage - Dana
Congratulations to friscoron for winning Feature Thread of the Week with 2 votes - View Previous Winners
I'd been waiting to do this shoot with Dana for quite some time, she's probably the top dancer at Ballet Chicago at just 15 years old. I wanted a different look so we went to the Belmont Harbor to start, and then ended up at the nature walkway just south of Lincoln Park Zoo, where I do a ton of engagement session shoots but had not yet photographed a dancer there.
As we got to the end of the shoot, the sun now down, the full moon was just rising. Perfect timing. She was pretty excited about the moon so I decided to incorporate it into her shots. She had no idea I was posing her with the moon in the shot. They're probably a bit cliche, but I don't care, it was fun and she totally loved it. That's all that matters.
1. She just staring dancing for me. I told her the direction to face and then she went with it. It was so beautiful, I could've chosen any of a dozen different looks, but this one was my favorite. http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5578/15091146798_64897ef140_b.jpg
p.1 #9 · Urban Portrait Series -- Dancers Offstage - Dana
Very cool set, Ron! I'm happy that you were able to shoot with her. I admire your dance work, and Steve's, and am starting think it sure must be fun to work with these classy dancers!
Number 7 was my favorite and I, too, voted. Excellent work!
p.1 #12 · Urban Portrait Series -- Dancers Offstage - Dana
I commented on a couple of these elsewhere, but just to repeat, the grand jete (#2) is really excellent. Getting a shot of a good dancer doing a proficient grand jete isn't all that difficult (good dancers can knock these out regularly), but what makes this one truly exceptional are: (1) the fact that she's absolutely parallel with the straightest of horizons [that's timing on your part]; and more importantly, (2) her expression - a smile that evokes serenity as well as joy. Whenever I see (or better yet, get) an expression like this, I just stop and stare at it. A third excellent element would be the loop lighting on her face. I like this one a lot.
p.1 #17 · Urban Portrait Series -- Dancers Offstage - Dana
Steve Wylie wrote:
I commented on a couple of these elsewhere, but just to repeat, the grand jete (#2) is really excellent. Getting a shot of a good dancer doing a proficient grand jete isn't all that difficult (good dancers can knock these out regularly), but what makes this one truly exceptional are: (1) the fact that she's absolutely parallel with the straightest of horizons [that's timing on your part]; and more importantly, (2) her expression - a smile that evokes serenity as well as joy. Whenever I see (or better yet, get) an expression like this, I just stop and stare at it. A third excellent element would be the loop lighting on her face. I like this one a lot. ...Show more →
Ah, you'll get a kick out of this. Ballet Chicago is a George Balanchine pre-professional school. After I get her with her perfect Grand Jetes about 5 or 6 times, she says the Balanchine method is to be slightly angled down, back foot slightly up. I look at her thinking you've got to be ... with me. No. We do it over and over and over. I'm convinced she doesn't really hit that angle but now we've got about a dozen of her with perfectly parallel Grand Jetes. I really appreciated how driven she was to get it exactly right. Took awhile to nail that expression, too. Thanks for your kind comments, Steve!
p.1 #18 · Urban Portrait Series -- Dancers Offstage - Dana
Nice series Ron. I do find the sharp background / large DOF in 4 & 5 to really take my eye away from the subject. Most other shots seem to have far shallower DOF.
