Images from the 2010 exam program of Senior High School dance-students, a yearly event at the Atalante Theater in downtown Gothenburg.
Dance is a massive challenge to any photographer, where already the technical concerns are many. Changing lighting (often darkness!), exposure, focus, fast movement, it all gangs up on you for potential failure! To wind up with pictures that respond well to these conditions and also are esthetically pleasing is never easy. And over the years I found out that what is pleasing to me isn't necessarily so to the Dance teachers. They have criteria of their own...
I usually take pictures at dress rehearsels. But nothing beats a chance to be able to photograph at a real performance. Somehow the presence of an audience is reflected on stage, the expressions are sharper and the costumes do not lack the final touch.
Dance photographs that capture the essence of motion in a frozen moment are great in many ways. But I realize that it is more questionable to assemble stills into a slideshow sequence, which in a way tries to mimic a movie. Why not go for filming in the first place? A stills show cannot be a substitute for the movie's "realism". Yet I find that an image sequence sometimes conveys a quality that even a movie can miss. It gives the creator a greater freedom and a chance to evade certain limitations that even “realism” can impose.
Dance is a massive challenge to any photographer, where already the technical concerns are many. Changing lighting (often darkness!), exposure, focus, fast movement, it all gangs up on you for potential failure! To wind up with pictures that respond well to these conditions and also are esthetically pleasing is never easy. And over the years I found out that what is pleasing to me isn't necessarily so to the Dance teachers. They have criteria of their own...
I usually take pictures at dress rehearsels. But nothing beats a chance to be able to photograph at a real performance. Somehow the presence of an audience is reflected on stage, the expressions are sharper and the costumes do not lack the final touch.
Dance photographs that capture the essence of motion in a frozen moment are great in many ways. But I realize that it is more questionable to assemble stills into a slideshow sequence, which in a way tries to mimic a movie. Why not go for filming in the first place? A stills show cannot be a substitute for the movie's "realism". Yet I find that an image sequence sometimes conveys a quality that even a movie can miss. It gives the creator a greater freedom and a chance to evade certain limitations that even “realism” can impose.
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