Moving on to Dance

So from my original idea of focusing on the body and Nude, I have looked at many nude photographers, but one perfect way of showing how the body can move is within Dance.  Ballet is the most elegant of dance itself, and can show beautiful shapes with the body. I have decided to interlink dancing with my ideas so instead of creating nude portraits I will create dance portraits.  After this initial idea I have looked at different dance photographers and how I can come up with an idea.  Lois Greenfield is one of the most professional dance photographers and has captured beautiful images.

Greenfield says in her Bio;
"I've spent the last 25 years of my photographic career investigating movement and its expressive potential.  My inspiration has always been photography's ability to stop time and reveal what the naked eye cannot see.  My interest in photography is not to capture an image I see or even have in mind, but to explore the potential of moments I can only begin to imagine.  What intrigues me is making images that confound and confuse the viewer, but that the viewer knows, or suspects, really happened. I want my images to defy logic, or as Salvador Dali wrote, I strive to "systematize confusion and discredit reality."  I can't depict the moments before or after the camera's click, but I invite the viewer's consideration of that question."

Like Greenfield, I too have a huge fascination with photography's ability to stop time, I have always been interested in how life will keep going on whilst a split second of it is captured. I am intrigued in what she says about inviting the viewer's consideration of the question, Can you depict the moment before or after the click?, because it is something that I do not think many people even consider. I now know and can see whilst looking at Lois Greenfield's work how she feels towards dance photography and it really gives me a reason to experiment into this topic more.

I love Lois Greenfield's work with material - Here are some of my favourites below:

http://www.loisgreenfield.com/galleries/index.html

These images above and many dance images have a material within the shot, this is to show movement and is a very effective way of making the image interesting. I have tried this technique before and had a lot of fun with it. Here are four of my images below that show how I used the material within the image to create an effective prop.  My model's were still but with a dance movement it could have looked very effective.  I need to work on my lighting techniques and may try using this on location but it is definitely something I will consider. 

Lois Greenfield's quote:

"Ironically, freezing a split second gives the movement more solidity than it had as a fleeting gesture of dance.  We know that nothing in the real world can exist in two dimensions, yet photographs seduce us in believing that it is a valid representation of reality."

I truly believe in what she is saying here, photography convinces us that what was taken in that split second is real and that the movement has to be real even when you find it hard to believe. This is something I will aim to convey in my images depending on the models I can use for my shoots.