Silhouettes

Once thinking through the different aspect of dance, it made me think about the reflection and shape formed by a shadow. With the studio lights facing brightly towards to the white back drop produced a strong black figure.

The photos are a combination of different positions or movement, with doing this experiments shows and highlights the obsurity and unknown expressed from the figures. In some of the images when the body and face is pressed against the screen theres a strong outline of their faces which kind of shows the idea of being trapped. The sense of needing to be free, with their bodys pressing against the screen and the dark outline.

These images I feel are very obscure and can express the unknown, but from previous research and experiments the idea of dance is very limited in this. Although I feel there is more to be stretch and thought through. There is definitely room for improvement and chance to express dance and the emotions it can express.

Dance Broken Down

Within dance there are a variety of aspects that could be researched into and explored. A dance itself often is created from a stimulus and based around a dance idea. This then leads towards a dance being choreographed to tell a story or narrative.
There is the physicality with in dance; how far the human form can be pushed to its potential, the limit it can reach. Then there's the aspect of performance, and expression, what the dance tells through the personal expression and feelings shown.
There's then an element of fun expressed through dance, the link towards attraction and the primitive urge.

Rineke Dijkstra said this: 

"I want to show things you might not see in normal life. I make normal things appear special. I want people to look at life in a new and different way, but it always has to be based on reality. It's important that you

don't pass judgement, and leave space for interpretation."

"I like it when photographs are democratic. I usually find that portraits work best if you don't have a specific idea of what you are looking for. You have to be open for anything to happen. If you try and force something, there is always the danger of a picture becoming too one dimensional"

"I try and look for an uninhibited moment, where people forget about trying to control the image of themselves. People go into sort of trance because so much concentration is needed from both photographer and the subject when you are working with a 4x5. Even the tiniest movement means you have to refocus"

The Dutch photographer Rineke Dijkstra tends to work in series, concentrating on individual portraits. She focuses on people in a transitional stage of their life, such as women after giving birth in 'Mothers', adolescents and pre-adolescents on the beach in her 'Beach' series and new recruits in 'Israeli Soldiers'. Her subjects stand facing the camera against a minial background, the simplicity of the resulting image encourages us to direct all our attention towards the isolated subject. Rineke Dijkstra's film Buzzclub, Liverpool, UK, Zaandam, NL (1996-1997) is a"videoportrait" of the very young, filmed dancing in nightclubs.

Shown at the Tate Modern in London, this "videoportrait" was a two channel video installation, which documented a group of teenagers from Liverpool and Zaandam dancing in make shift studios the artist created in each city. All set to a soundtrack of 90's acid house and rave.

"I broke my hip about 15 years ago and started doing self-portraits after swimming in the pool where I was doing physiotherapy. I was fascinated by capturing something unconscious and natural in a photograph, something that was miles away from the boring and predictable businessmen I had until then mostly photographed. I was interested in photographing people at moments when they had dropped all pretence of a pose."

 When looking through some of her work and finding out the aims of her images is intriguing to understand how she thinks and lives her work. The idea of photographing reality and not passing judgement, but making the image naturally beautiful by catching the dropped pose or moment of reality hitting is somewhat captivating.


There are so many different types of dance, and with the idea of catching the reality would almost be opposite to what we expect. Many of the photos we see from professional photographers such as Lois Greenfield have exceptional images of dancers on pointe/ballet etc, but these images show a very staged atmosphere. Where as there is always more emotional and feeling that goes into the art of dance.


Some of the images I have experimented in the past like the images on the field, dance studio, or photographing Replica, show the experimental process of lighting and positions. Although the images each give something different, like the shooting images and ones the on the field are quite unexpected especially ones linked to dance.


I plan to photograph different styles or situations of dance, I hope they will show the vulnerability and true self-consciousness of the realm of dance. 

Replica's Stimuli

Replica Dance Company are a small–scale contemporary dance company co-founded and artistically directed by Hannily Bendell and Thomas Pickard. They choreographed and performed the piece which I photographed during their rehearsal.

http://www.replicadance.co.uk/

I have a particular interest in photographing movement within dance, this lead me on to take images of Hannily and Tom.

Through discussion with Hannily and Tom, it clarified their idea and theme of their dance piece, as well as their initial influences.This is really helpful to the research and decisions I will lead towards. With decisions from their costume to setting, the youtube clips especially help me make important visual decisions to ensure that I have the best possible image.

The main idea for the piece is very simple: a man and a woman miss their train, they meet and it is about their relationship that grows from the initial meeting and whether they can be together or not.

This reviews sum up the piece well:

Dance Review

The story is set in 1930s New York and is partly based on the film 'Brief Encounter':

Brief Encounter Trailer

We were also influenced by the Chanel advert with Audrey Tatou:

Chanel Advert with Audrey Tatou

 Above are some examples of images of the 1930's fashion. Preferably would like to aim for my models to look similar to this era with extra props suchs as the briefcase which would also add character.

Replica Dance Company

 These photos are slightly different from the previous post, the previous posts link more to the love/relationship theme, these are other images from the workshop of which I feel show character and interest. 

Most of the images have blurred movement, from the start I spent a lot of time changing the settings and finding the best one to suit the constant movement but also the lighting. I felt there was no needed for the use of flash and would make the dancers look very bright, and this I preferably wanted to avoid. 

So using a setting which would capture there movement precisely without using flash was my main aim. This seemed to be near impossible, although when they were in moments of pause within the dance this gave me the opportunity to capture their movement with ease. They choreographed the dance well with the moments of stillness and paused in a balance/position, this helped me when photographing their movement. There specific movements and positions were obscure but linked with their theme.

Once looking through the images from the session, the images that were blurred, turned out to be more intriguing and successful. I feel they show the full extent of the movement from start to finish merging the colours and lighting.

So the following images of a variety of character and emotion through the movement.

These two images are very similar in the fact that they are both long exposed which produced a bundle blurred effect. The movements they did were caught in this image, but blended into one. I feel these images show a feeling of chaos and the sense of strife.

The camera in this photo caught the dancer in 3 of his positions blurred together, the colours of their skin and closes is highlights through the lighting and motion.

The effect of the motion blurred adds to the idea of them running or walking quickly.

The stillness in this image is highlights through the replica's of themselves through camera movement.

These two are similar firstly being seating on the chairs but with their movement, two different movements but linking in with the dance idea. The idea of them meeting and struggling in their relationship.

I like this image due to the background is in focus but the movement is captured again when dancing. With the motion blur it initiates fast pace and urgency.

The feeling of struggle is expressed here through the contraction of the back and arms, showing their pain and decisions in their relationship.

This last image intrigues me due to her body seeming to be stretching vastly above him behind her. The blur suggests the movement was a jump or lift with the body blurred in that direction, and the idea of her power over him seems great in this image.

Replica Dance Company

At Pavilion Dance, Replica Dance Company were practising for a performance, I was able to photograph there rehearsal. There performance was based around the connection between a man and women who met at a train station and the journey of there relationship. There dance created tension and the choreographic movement suggests just that. 

The below images are some of which I captured during there rehearsal, but also ones that link to and show a connect between the characters and their relationship.

I feel this image shows the intensity of the feelings portrayed through the dance. With the numerous number of arms wrapping him, it represents the action of capturing and within love, never letting go.

With the focus background and her figure blurred through movement creates the idea that she is trying to catch him up, he left her behind. 

 

This photo is very intriguing and thought provoking due to the movement blur of there body and faces. From the upright position into leaning forward creates the idea that they were leaning forward to kiss, or it could be leaning away from each other. 

 

The awkward position she is holding shows the tense moment in the dance, it could suggest strife or a breakdown. This position was caught it a pause, a long pause in silence. A moment of thought.

The still images of them up close in stillness initiates there close relationship and feeling towards each other. That moment of lust before things go wrong and tension is built. 

Ballet Studio Photos

Once I had researched into the Ballet photographers I felt excited to produce experimental photos to see what outcome I may produce. The photos are a few of what I took, and are not what I expected to get. Although within the dance studio the lightening was limited so with the use of a handy small lamp a few of the photos were experiments of use that. 

This image especially has a brown/orange glow, this was not intentionally planned although due to the lighting in the studio that may have been the reason. With the background not in focus the attention is focused on the pointe shoe.

With the use of a lamp in this image (and the ones above) adds the effect of the shadows behind her. From being below her makes her legs and body look longer and shows a sense of elegance to her, although the mirrors either side which are black from lights being turned off changes the atmosphere of the image.

I feel the blacked mirror adds more effect in this image from the previous, the worn floor leads the focus towards the pointe shoes themself. I do not feel this photo has much depth with it and does not bring much excitement with it.

This experiment helped to lead on to my next task and photograph dancers in rehearsal, this could hopefully lead me onto a final piece which has a more interesting story to tell.