Lens Based
Size
Medium Digital photography on a Nikon D5100 camera and Iphone 13
Completion March 2022
Size
Medium Digital photography on a Nikon D5100 camera and Iphone 13
Completion March 2022
Exhibition Text
Whether it be feeling like you're flying with a jump or spinning on your toes, dance is everywhere. Photographing different elements from dance in everyday areas is a form of self expression. By using Silpa Sadhujan as inspiration for her use of movement in her pieces. Grant Parfery was another inspiration for the use of different lighting to set different moods. Along with Omar Robles for the way he uses different backgrounds to make dance so natural in public places. |
Inspiration
My first inspiration was Silpa Sadhujan. Silpa is a professional photographer who specializes in dance photography. Based in New York although her clients are from all around the world. Her work shows the love and passion that people have for dance. She combines her years of dance experiences and passion for photography to create captivating dance portraits like no other. This picture that was taken was one of my main inspirations because I liked the movement. I wanted my pictures to have movement. I knew when it was time to take the pictures that I wanted to have someone do this move because it is a very simple move. I really wanted to get pictures where the hair would be blowing in the wind to bring extra movement. I also feel like this move is easier to get correct and have your technique good compared to other Irish dance moves. |
Grant Parfery was another inspiration. He is a Glasgow based photographer. He likes to tell stories through his pictures and will catch all those funny little moments that will stir memories in the months and years to come. He is good at capturing the feeling in the atmosphere in every single shot. I was inspired by him because of his use of lighting. The way Parfery uses different lighting to bring out different moods in dance is really interesting. In his work he casts a lot of shadows all over. In the picture especially it looks like the girl is standing in front of the light. From behind it looks like she is glowing but in the front there are many shadows all around. The way Parfery uses the background to make them dull to have the dancer or the main focus of the picture be pop.
|
Another inspiration that I had was Omar Robles. He is a photographer that specializes in movement photography. Based in New York City, he transformed the aesthetic of his street photography by substituting the New Yorker with the New York dancer. I was inspired by Robles because of the way everything in his pictures just looks natural. With his use of common locations that you pass in your everyday life and adding the dancers doing what they love really can show how dance becomes natural for a dancer. I also was really inspired by the different poses he has his subject do. They are more complex compared to other dance moves.
|
Planning
My first step for planning this project was coming up with a theme and working from there. I thought bringing in Irish dance would be a great idea for a theme of self expression. With Irish dance I knew I couldn’t be the one dancing because of injuries and I wanted to be the one taking the pictures. After asking a dancer if she wanted to help me with this I started planning out what moves I knew I wanted to capture. I started drawing out dance moves that I knew would look good in pictures, knowing this from my inspiration pictures. I wanted to have bigger jumps for the idea of movement photography but might not be easy to capture. I also needed to have a good location for the pictures. At first we took a few in my backyard then we decided to move to a park nearby.
My first step for planning this project was coming up with a theme and working from there. I thought bringing in Irish dance would be a great idea for a theme of self expression. With Irish dance I knew I couldn’t be the one dancing because of injuries and I wanted to be the one taking the pictures. After asking a dancer if she wanted to help me with this I started planning out what moves I knew I wanted to capture. I started drawing out dance moves that I knew would look good in pictures, knowing this from my inspiration pictures. I wanted to have bigger jumps for the idea of movement photography but might not be easy to capture. I also needed to have a good location for the pictures. At first we took a few in my backyard then we decided to move to a park nearby.
Process
To begin taking the pictures we started with just a few simple poses to get the just of what setting I wanted the camera to be on. I used a 50mm lens and sport mode for all of the pictures that were taken. Towards the end of us shooting in my backyard I used my Iphone 13 for some pictures just to ensure I would have backups if something happened to the other pictures. Using sport mode it gives a fast shutter gives you the ability to shoot faster moving subjects without any motion blur. After getting the camera set up I began taking pictures of the dancer pointing their foot along with other basic dance moves. I was liking the way they were turning out, but I wasn’t liking the way the background looked in the pictures. We tried a few different jumps in my backyard just to experiment different styles that we liked. The pictures to the right include my experimentation from my backyard along with the process pictures I took in order to get the correct shot. |
|
|
After we decided to move to the park we took different poses in front of a door frame. I really wanted to take a picture similar to Silpa Sadhujan. She always takes pictures of her clients similar to this style. After this we changed locations to the middle of the street. This is where I wanted to bring the movement photography theme into my piece. I wanted the big jumps that you see in Irish dance. I kept the camera on the same settings as before, a 50mm lens and sport mode. This was a hard process just because we had to get the correct shot without making it blurry along with trying not to get hit by cars driving down the street. When looking through the pictures I saw how I got the shot of the jump along with the skips you do before doing the jump. I actually liked the before the jumps shots more because it brought the movement to life. I also used my Iphone 13 here too just to make sure I got good pictures along with making sure I got jumping picture in the air. I did this because it was so cold my Nikon camera froze so I couldn't go back to look at the pictures on the spot. Pictures in to the left are from the park and the middle of the street. It also includes portraits that were taken while we waiting for cars to pass down the street.
|
This is one of my favorites because when taking this we didn't expect it to turn out good. We were on the side of the street waiting for cars to pass and I just started taking pictures in portrait mode.
|
I liked this one because it messes with the viewers eye. This picture was taken at the beginning of the shoot when we were messing with angles. It messes with the viewers eye because she looks like shes standing on the ground but really she was about a foot in the air.
|
I think this one really shows the movement photography style I was going for. During this time this wasn't the pose I asked her to do, I wanted her on her toes. People were walking by when she was getting into the position.
|
This picture is another favorite because we got the jump to time right with the camera. This was at the end of the shoot and we were freezing and just wanted to get back inside. This one surprised me that it turned out so good because my camera was freezing so we could not go back to review the pictures.
|
Reflection
Compare and Contrast
Similarities
Critique
Overall I am happy with how my pictures have come out. I think this project helped me get out of my comfort zone considering I never worked with photography before. I was happy with how the still life pictures turned out with the dancer pointing her toe or holding a kick in the air. I think the hardest part of this project was getting the jumping pictures to look good. I wanted them to not be blurry which I found was easier than I thought but getting the correct position was hard. I think if I were to do this again I would take more pictures overall. It also didn’t help that it was freezing outside when we took the pictures so it made it difficult to do a lot of things. The weather wouldn’t allow for many pictures because we were so cold so we took as many as we could in a short amount of time. I think I would have changed the lighting on a few pictures to test it out. I also would pick a different day that would be warmer and easier to work.
I also would have tested out more features on my camera. I feel like I just stuck with it in sports mode or portrait. I think this would have opened my eyes to photography even more. I think another thing I would have done was more still movement photography. I liked when Silpa Sadhujan would have a dancer stand in a pose and move another body part to bring the movement. I also think next time I would use a different Photoshop app compared to me just using Photoshop on my Macbook.
Compare and Contrast
Similarities
- The poses- I tried to use the same poses as Silpa Sadhujan when she works with her clients. I liked the way she used different architecture and combined dance to create a piece full of movement. After looking through her work I tried to think of places we could take similar pictures.
- Location- I was inspired by Omar Robles for his use of location. I wanted to show the naturalness of dance in a dancer's life by having the dancer in public, for example a park. Overall I think I did a good job including the public into my piece. I also tied Silpa Sadhujan's use of location and how she used different spots for her pictures.
- The lighting- Grant Parfery used different lighting to set the mood in his piece. He used different Photoshop technique to create the different lighting and backgrounds where, I just kept the same natural lightning in every picture I took. There was no mood I was looking for besides self expression.
- I got less actual jumping pictures compared to my inspirations. I took more still or kicks that were easier to taken without making it blurry. I think this is because we were so cold we just wanted to get the pictures and leave but if it were nicer outside then we could of tested out different things.
Critique
Overall I am happy with how my pictures have come out. I think this project helped me get out of my comfort zone considering I never worked with photography before. I was happy with how the still life pictures turned out with the dancer pointing her toe or holding a kick in the air. I think the hardest part of this project was getting the jumping pictures to look good. I wanted them to not be blurry which I found was easier than I thought but getting the correct position was hard. I think if I were to do this again I would take more pictures overall. It also didn’t help that it was freezing outside when we took the pictures so it made it difficult to do a lot of things. The weather wouldn’t allow for many pictures because we were so cold so we took as many as we could in a short amount of time. I think I would have changed the lighting on a few pictures to test it out. I also would pick a different day that would be warmer and easier to work.
I also would have tested out more features on my camera. I feel like I just stuck with it in sports mode or portrait. I think this would have opened my eyes to photography even more. I think another thing I would have done was more still movement photography. I liked when Silpa Sadhujan would have a dancer stand in a pose and move another body part to bring the movement. I also think next time I would use a different Photoshop app compared to me just using Photoshop on my Macbook.
ACT Questions
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
This affected my work because of what I saw from my inspirations and I knew I wanted that in my project so I added it.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
To bring new ideas to dance and show the passion dancers have for this talent to the world and normalize it.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I have come up with the generalization that the average person would look at a dancer dancing in public is strange but for a dancer it is normal. I wanted to show how this affects our everyday life because overall dance takes over your life.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
My theme for my piece was self expression. I wanted to show how dance can affect a dancers everyday life.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
Using what I was inspired by and by background knowledge from dance to get the best pictures. With this I knew that I need to take burst pictures to get the best shot.
Bibliography
https://www.rinceandrepeat.com/gallery/#itemId=5ad285c5aa4a990467ec8a26
https://www.omarzrobles.com/
https://www.grantparferyphotography.com/galleries/artistic-dance/
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
This affected my work because of what I saw from my inspirations and I knew I wanted that in my project so I added it.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
To bring new ideas to dance and show the passion dancers have for this talent to the world and normalize it.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I have come up with the generalization that the average person would look at a dancer dancing in public is strange but for a dancer it is normal. I wanted to show how this affects our everyday life because overall dance takes over your life.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
My theme for my piece was self expression. I wanted to show how dance can affect a dancers everyday life.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
Using what I was inspired by and by background knowledge from dance to get the best pictures. With this I knew that I need to take burst pictures to get the best shot.
Bibliography
https://www.rinceandrepeat.com/gallery/#itemId=5ad285c5aa4a990467ec8a26
https://www.omarzrobles.com/
https://www.grantparferyphotography.com/galleries/artistic-dance/