Dance Pairs Photography with Max and Rachael
I present my dance pairs in a knot – Maxwell Richards and Rachael Da Silva. What you say? Well, let me explain the origin of this image.
For several years now I’ve been participating the the Chrysta Rae photography Scavenger Hunt on Google +. The hunt is limited to 300 people. Chrysta gives those people 7 words. They have approximately 8 weeks to capture one image for each of the seven words. The words can be interpreted any way the photographer chooses, can be shot with any type of camera and can be photoshopped. One of my words for this 19th round of the scavenger hunt was “KNOT”. The first thing that popped into my head was to take a pair of dancers and twist them into a knot.
Once I had my idea, the question became where to find my dancers. A few quick emails and texts later and I had Max and Rachael on board for an epic dance pairs studio session at Ron Clifford’s Crooked House Studio in Newmarket. I warned them that this could be one “twisted” session, but they were up for the challenge.
Max and Rachael have been dancing together since they were little and get along so well – both as dance partners and as friends. As I’m not a dancer I had to rely on their dance knowledge and creativity to come up with some poses that looked like a knot. From behind the camera I had them twisting just a little more this way and bending just a little more that way. Lots of chuckles were had – along with a few groans and “hurry up take the shot” or “I don’t bend that way!!”
A good time was had by all and I was super pumped with the results. The day I was editing my final selection, Kelby One’s Photoshop User magazine came into my mailbox (November issue I think). It had a “how to” article on creating this glowing box effect. I immediately though it would translate remarkably well to my dance pairs shot, and would definitely enhance the knot theme. And, as you see above, my final entry for the theme KNOT.
Below is the original image, along with some of my favourite images from the session. The colour versions looked great, but I really felt that making them black and white gave them that extra punch.
Thanks again Max and Rachael – you guys rocked this dance pairs session. We await the judges results. 🙂
Recent Comments