Dancers: Urban Portrait Series

During 2009-10, I began conceiving of this series of shots of taking dancers off the stage and putting them in outdoor environments.  I had quite a few dancers from local dance companies who were kind enough to volunteer for these shoots, but I wanted to add an extra element and so approached the Houston Ballet with the concept.  The response was overwhelming, as 28 of their professional dancers signed up for the shoot.  So the idea of my doing this shoot by myself was thrown out the window, and a number of other photographers joined the shoot. 

I was fortunate to shoot with a principal dancer, Melody Herrera, and demi-soloist Peter Franc on one day; and a week later, I was shooting with corps de ballet dancers Katlyn Addison and Garrett Smith.

Later, I worked it out with fellow photogs Zuzi Lekova and Valerie Reeves to do a shoot with a number of dancers from the Revolve Dance Company.

Here's one of my favorite shots that did not include water of Melody Herrera and Peter Franc:

 When I shot with Garrett Smith and Katlyn Addison, my first idea was to shoot them in a static pose with the metro train rushing by.  I shot at a slow shutter speed to ensure I captured the movement of the train.  It wasn't until I downloaded this picture later that night that I realized I caught a picture of a giraffe on the metro checking out Garrett and Katlyn!  The giraffe was part of a Houston Zoo advertisement.

The shot above was a happy accident.  This is the shot I had in mind:

There were a couple shots that I was particularly interested in that I didn't get with my shoot with the Houston Ballet dancers.  One was doing a Grand Jete with loose hair flying and set against a colorful nature background.  Kaylee Kokowsky, of the Payne Dance Academy, agreed to drive down to this beautiful spot just outside downtown Houston to get these great shots.

In the shot below, Kaylee was wonderfully patient as we shot it time and again and again and again.  So many elements had to be perfect this shot to work: her face and smile, hands in the right place, legs in as my timing has to be right to catch her in the peak of her jump, and then just when everything else is right, the water trail had to be perfect to complete this shot.  Out of the dozens we shot, this was our winner:

 

Dancing is all about lines, and that's what I was trying to capture in this shot:

Here are some more shots of Katlyn and Garrett:

Peter and Melody were great sports in getting in the water fountain:

Here are the shots of the Revolve Dancers:

Here are two more shots of Melody Herrera that I just loved:

I went to a downtown parking garage rooftop and got this great shot of Emily Butler of the Artisan Dance Company:

That same day, I got a great shot of Anna Fallstich of the Payne Academy of Dance:

Jenny Crosson and I met to do one shoot at the Hermann Park and another at the Water Wall near the Galleria:

Heidi Karel Erickson of Studio of Dance is another fabulous dancer who will volunteer to go out on my crazy shoots with me.  We're scheduled to do a Grand Jete leap over a field full of wild bluebonnet flowers in April.  But last fall, she did the leap for a baseball concept shoot.  Here's what it looks like, and be sure to notice her eye black!

Here's another concept shot that is actually a composite.  I shot the master way out in an undeveloped area in Fairfield, just off 290 where the Outlet Mall is.  Some Harley bikers came in for the shoot and two dancers.  Jordie Lipsey of the Payne Academy is the featured dancer in this shot.  I then went downtown and took a shot in the Theatre section.  I really liked the idea of her dancing in the middle of the street!

 I arrived in Massachusetts in the late spring of 2011 and by that summer did my first Urban Portrait Series shoot with the Massachusetts Academy of Ballet in Holyoke, MA. 

Here's a fun shot featuring Abby Lieberman, Daniel Grzelak, Gabrielle Engle, Kelsey Chamberlain and Angela Gauthier.

 It was about this time that Connie Flachs had accepted an offer to dance professionally with the Grand Rapids (MI) Dance Company, so it was a lot of fun to highlight her in a few shots:

 Here are some more shots of Daniel with Gabrielle (outdoors) and with Abby (indoors):

Shooting with the backdrop of this wall filled with graffiti really adds to the "Urban Series" concept, and Angela did a great job getting some air time and contorting her body in ways that amazes me:

It was Abby's turn to show off her ability to do a Grand Jete, and she nailed it:

In December 2011, I returned to Holyoke to shoot inside the old paper mill building where they are located at Open Square.  The timing was awesome, with sunlight falling across the floor in one set of lines, and poles creating another set of lines.  That, and the red brick walls, just made for an awesome location with gorgeous light and incredible dancers.

Connie Flachs returned from her first 3 or 4 months with the Grand Rapids (MI) Ballet Company, and brought fellow dancer Yuka Oba with her.  Liam and Izzie from MAB joined us for the shoot: