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donb

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  • Connection to/interest in ballet** (Please describe. Examples: fan, teacher, dancer, writer, avid balletgoer)
    ballet photographer
  • City**
    Silver Spring, MD
  1. As a non-dancer, but a photographer of the dance, I have found this to be a very interesting line to follow. Initially I would have thought that perhaps ballet is a "sport", because of the very athletic ability I see in the dancers. It is a good point that there is no "scoring" per se, however, would not the "enjoyment level" or "quality level" of the ballet as perceived by the viewer actually be a type of "score"? Certainly the choreographer is very aware of the quality level of the participants in "his(her) dance". And, I also suspect that in reality each of the dancers is very aware of the competition between each other (in the corps) or with previous principals that have done the piece. In my mind, I also find it interesting to compare the ballet to womens' gymnastics. In gymnastics, although in many aspects quite different, in my opinion there is both art AND scoring, and thus would be considered a sport. However, in photographing both gymnastics and ballet, I find the two types of resulting images very similar, especially if I take the gymnastics photos in the studio. In fact, I often use the same type of lighting to take studio photographs of ballet dancers and of gymnasts. An interesting topic... but in the end, does it really matter? There is no question that ballet is an art. Cannot it be a sport also, if it makes someone happy to think of it so? donb
  2. Giselle05, In response to your request for ballet photography web sites, I have a number of ballet photographs on my new web site ballet-photography.com. These are mostly photographs of the Washington Ballet, but include a number of "prominent" dancers, often before they became well known. These include: Stephanie Walz, when she was with the "Young Dancers of the Washington Ballet", later with ABT Hilary Canary, later with ABT (note: I believe her name was changed when she joined ABT, I am not sure what it was changed to; if anyone can tell me I would appreciate that) Amanda McKerrow, sho starred with the WB and later went to ABT John Goding, who was (and still is) a long time principal with the WB Most of these photographs were taken quite a few years ago, but I am more interested in the design and composition of the image, rather than who the dancers are. I have many more that I like and have exhibited as fine art images, and I will be adding some more of them to the web site as I find time. I also did photograph Paloma Herrera for Dance Magazine when she was performing in Washington a few years back, but she is not yet on my web site. Some ballet photographs are also on my general photography web site at DonBeckerPhoto.com . I hope one or more of these dancers are on your "favorites" list. donb
  3. As a "sometimes" ballet photographer from a few years ago, this thread has been very interesting for me, providing a lot of information on some new people that I should look up for their photographs. Just based on the photographs I have seen in the past, it is amazing to me of the variety of images on ballet that have been taken. For example, I just looked at some wounderful interpretive ballet images on this forum (under the "Aesthetics" thread) by Marc Haegeman. Most of my ballet photography in the past has been in B&W, since somehow that medium seemed to provide the artistic feeling that I was feeling. I did take some color, but it did not seem to work as well. What do you think, do you like B&W ballet photos better than color? In addition, in the past sometimes only B&W film was fast enough to capture/stop the movement of dance. Of course, now digital imagery has changed that. Marc's photos mentioned above are both in color, and often use controlled blur to artistically communicate the feeling of movement and action. Thanks to all of you for your suggstions and contributions to the list of "best" ballet photographers! donb
  4. Marc, Thank you for sharing your excellent photography with us. Your interpretive visions of the ballet have now inspired me to experiment more with my own ballet photography. Mine has been rather formal, limited in part my lack of access to dancers. I have only been able to photograph some dress rehersals many years ago, and from the audience location where the angles are limited, other than work in the studio with some ballet students. I am a very new member here, so have not had the opportunity to see any other of your images. Do you have more of them on the web? If so, I (and many others, I am sure) would appreciate any additional information on their locations. Thanks again for your beautiful images. donb
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