For the past year or so I've been doing a fair number of photos for the Adage Dance studio in Duncan. I enjoy working with the kids, parents and most of the time, one of the owners of the studio, Olivia, is by my side coaching the kids. Without her help, it would be nearly impossible to do any dance photos.
This past year (2014) I took on the role as the photographer for the Adage dance calendar. I was looking for a creative project and this came up at just the right time. I, along with the help of Olivia, had about 10 weeks to put this all together. Well, it started as 10 weeks... In the end, it worked out to be maybe 4 weeks due to scheduling, work and such...
I have posted all of the photos from the calendar here, plus a few of the photos that nearly made it!
The photo above (used in the calendar) and the one below were shot at a location in downtown Duncan that I had been eying up for some time. This was the perfect opportunity to put it to use. One benefit to shooting in this urban setting is that I was able to park my van right beside where I was shooting so I didn't have to pack my gear far. So I set up a big light stand and did a multi light arrangement (on the photo below).
This is the photo that nearly made the cut.
Here we had to walk a bit, so I packed what I needed in my pack and used more natural light, mixed with my speedlites. I really love working with the setting sun in the fall. The photos have a special feel to them that you just can't get any other time. The above shot was the one for the Calendar.
These little ladies are tough! When I was at this park looking for a good setting for the photo, the rain started. And it got dark. And it got cold. I didn't really want to go through with it, so when the girls arrived I gave them the option and they wanted to see it through! It was so dark in the woods, I had to set up extra lighting just to illuminate the background, never mind the lighting on the girls. Even with the lights, I think I was shooting at ISO6400 or something crazy like that! Lucky for Olivia, as she was unable to make it to this shoot. Too bad for Emily, as this was the only shoot she made it to.
Here was a nice, easy, downtown location. I got to park right there, no limit to the gear I could use! In the end, it really just comes down to the girls doing a great move, and me not missing it...
On the day of this shoot we had to scramble quickly to come up with a location, after the first location just wasn't going to work. Note to self - Always go and check a location first! Even if it means a separate trip or just arriving a half hour early to look around. On this day, we had bad intell - someone had told Olivia about a great location and when we got there, we just couldn't see anything of use...
So, I had another idea. And it kind of worked. But it meant a lot of walking with Olivia, the girls and their parents following me as I tried to come up with a plan. Plus I was carrying all my gear. No pressure! I found a spot that I thought I could work with and came up with the photo above. We thought we could be satisfied with that.
Then we were off to do another photo with another group of girls, same location (or, at least, same park) and as we walked around the bend in the trail this great location appeared. See photo above. I could see possibilities for a couple different arrangements and this is the one that I think really popped. The vines on the trees, along with the golden light from the sun really helped create a magical scene. This photo made the cut!
After we finished the photo above we all headed back to the parking lot. And we thought we'd try one more arrangement for the girls in pink (see below).
I'm so glad Olivia could arrange the girls around this concrete structure in an interesting way. I think this beat the photo we did just 30 minutes earlier on the trail so, yes, it was worth setting up another time to get it right. Or at least give the girls the option of choosing which they preferred!
The old Black Bridge in Duncan is kind of a notorious place. But this didn't deter us. There were a couple times when the girls were a bit scared of some of the foot traffic going by, and one time I had to grab one of my light stands as a very wobbly fellow stumbled by, but we survived!
Here was another shoot when the weather was less than stellar. Very dark skies and it was cold! We worked as quickly as we could and as soon as we finished and started to pack up, the rain came pouring down! We were all soaked before we made it back to the cars.
This was a location that I really wanted to put to use in a creative way and I finally got my chance. The Cowichan River was running quite high with recent rains and this added to the photos. The above shot is the one that made the calendar and the one blow is the runner up. You'd never imagine how difficult it is to set up lighting around a river until you try! Yes, I was quite nervous I would be losing some gear to the river that day...
The photo above was a bit more challenging than I anticipated. Due to the rising river level, it was very difficult to get access to the fish ladder (the structure the ladies are standing on). It was a leap of faith over rushing water, but being dancers, these ladies had no troubles :)
A day when we had more sun than we needed! This was a challenging shoot due to the extremely bright sun. It was not in the forecast. It was not anticipated. It was not welcome. But there it was, and we had to work with it. I had to set up a lot of lights to keep the shadows from getting too deep on the girls. Thankfully, the girls were tough and opened their eyes as wide as possible when needed to get the shot. However they may now have eye damage... Just kidding!
This is another one of those locations that just begs to see some action. And lots of other people like to use this location too! Cyclists, horseback riders, walkers... Yes, we had to work around traffic on this shoot, but other that that, it went very smoothly! The photo above made it's way into the calendar.
We even had time to do some nice individual shots!
This was the runner up shot.
And this shot made the cover of the calendar!
The Hip-Hop shoot took advantage of a great graffiti mural in town and I sprinkled in some lighting to come up with this. Thanks to the girls for adding their own spice to this one to come up with the best move! And once again, the rain started as we packed up. Good timing!
These are the lovely ladies that put on their game faces, under often challenging conditions, and helped me come up with this collection of photos.
Through the course of doing these photos I learned a few things, pack light! Always scout your locations and make sure you have something of value before you pack up and walk away. There's no opportunity for retakes in a situation like this. Given the time of year that we did this (autumn) the weather was a challenge at times. Weatherproof gear played a big part in being able to go ahead and keep shooting, along with tough, young ladies, who were determined to see the job through to the end helped push me at times too!
As far as I know, the calendar is sold out, but prints of these images are available from me :)
Beautiful work! I will be in touch for some prints. Karen Spiteri
ReplyDeleteThank you Karen!
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