I've been looking at movement in photography in dance for some time, trying to find a subject and a location. I had originally intended for a more typical studio based photography shoot, but for the type of shots I was looking for, I needed a much larger space with less confines. Consequently, these images are nothing like my original concept, but I am grateful for these challenges (isn’t life just full of them!!), as I came up with a much more interesting idea and learnt some new things along the way! All of the shots were taken in our back garden, everywhere is a studio!
Lois Greenfield being my all time idol, her influence is as subtle as a freight train, I know, I now have an even greater super fan complex. There are so many things to think about when trying this type of photography and a good deal of planning.
I knew that I would need a decent light area to, as evenly as possible, light the subject and so the trusty 120cm octobox was set up as the key light with a smaller soft box set lower to the right for fill.
From a composition point of view I wanted just sky surrounding the subject (me, I kid you not) to avoid any other distractions and use good old mother earth for the backdrop. With a six-foot fence behing me though I had a significant hurdle to overcome as there was no way I could jump at least 6-foot in the air. After a few minutes of pondering the answer came easily, perspective. We use it constantly when composing and so it was no different in this case.
The Nikon body was mounted on inversed tripod, a few inches from the ground and pointing upwards at around a 45-degree angle - enough to clear the top of the fence line. I attached a plumb line from as close to the focal plane as possible to the top of the fence. This line became the bottom edge of the frame, so all I would have to do would be to clear that line.
Being on my own at the time (Gareth was on another job) focusing would be another challenge. Again though, the simplest idea is usually the best. I marked a point on the plumb line where I would be jumping across and focused on that point. The Nikon has 3D tracking and of course continuous, but I would be using it on remote and timer, so, not this time.
Then, it was to the jump... Lots and lots of jumping from a chair across the face of the octobox. It takes a LOT of shots to achieve just a few.
Finally, there is the magical moment in movement, described by Lois Greenfield as the ‘peak moment’, when the subject is neither rising, nor falling, but hanging in the air. The downward movement is definitely more flattering than the upward, where the effects of gravity are most certainly evident. Controlling my facial features through what was a rather strenuous activity proved much more challenging! Suffice to say, I took a lot of shots, my legs ached for days, but I had a lot of fun!
Next up, I think it would be fantastic to try and re-run these shots with a subject in a wedding, prom or ball dress! Fancy it?
