Pete Tsai - Beautiful Motion

Whilst I was looking for more inspiration and examples similar to my ideas I came across a Flickr page.  The photographer's name is Pete Tsai and he has a series and a 'set' of images called 'Beautiful Motion', even from the title of this set I knew that it was exactly what I was looking for, for my research.

His series had motion used with a black backdrop, exactly how I wanted to do my own images.  From the small picture of the whole set you can really see a difference in some of his images.  I would like to try out a number of different things to hopefully get some great final motion photographs.

Pete Tsai's first images of the set, were of a model called Julia who is a modern ballet dancer with a big red silk scarf.  Tsai says that his passion for shooting dancers comes from the beautiful images by Joe McNally and what he has done with motion blur and repeating flash.  These images below are a single exposure with the photographer triggering the left flash and the camera triggering the right side flash.  The camera was a Genesis 300b in a 40" brollybox, Camera right a Ranger Quadra with Deep Octa, everything was triggered with pocket wizards.

This dance motion image below was for a workshop on how to shoot long exposure motion, with 2 dancers and one martial artist.  On these images the leap was a bit too late but the arms and legs are extended out nicely.  They are shot with 2 lights, Camera right a 53" Elinchrom midi octa with Genesis 300b and a 100 hot light at centre snooted with cinefoil, triggered with Elinchrom Skyports.  Also used in this shot were 2 small LED lights held by the model.
This is the first image of his using LED lights and is something that I would consider trying out. I think it could be a very effective light source and could be very interesting.

These three images below were for a Full Moon Fire Jam and they were shot using Infrared.
The photographer shot with a full spectrum camera and infrared flash.  It is a very cool effect how there are colours but they are altered by the Infrared light as well.  The flash is invisible which is also a nice effect for the final images.  Strobist info: one SB800 with IR filter to camera left, triggered by a Elinchrom skyport speed.  I particularly like the middle image as I like how the lines of light have moved in an odd shape around the person in the middle, also the way the background has been set a lot darker so that the light stands out more.

The set of two images below this piece of text show a long exposure motion image.  There is a single exposure of 5 seconds in length.  The lighting has a balance of ambient burn-in as well as flash freezing action both sides.  The model has been required to spin a lot to test out different position techniques.  You can see the shiny star trails from the dress as the exposure has captured her moving across the frame. Both images are 5 seconds long.  Taking into consideration will be the length of the exposure with the lights used, I might not use flash at all in my images which would be the main difference here.

So the two images below this text are the martial arts guy and a ballet dancer.  These were taken for a workshop the photographer held about long exposure motion.  Martial arts moves are super fast, so more light was needed to capture him in motion, 2 lights were used with a hot light centre snooted.  The female image was shot with 3 lights and also the hot light at centre snooted.  I think both are very effective ways of creating moving motion.  They each show how the move had progressed into a different move or shape.  I will consider similar techniques but maybe without flash and see how that goes.

And the last images I am showing for my research base from Pete Tsai's "Beautiful Motion" series are these two images below.  These images have had me thinking about using a different light source of LED lights into the long exposures that I'm thinking about.
The image on the left is the martial arts guy showing quite a lot of movement within the one shot, so there was more light on him and a longer exposure time. I think that this is a really cool effect and shows him moving in all kinds of ways whilst holding the LED light, the light shows how he sweeps his arm motion in certain moves. Im not sure of the big light source coming in from the top left of the image, its almost like a distraction.

The image of the female on the right, shows her simply walking across the frame holding a LED light.  The light is very bright and captures lovely, her bright red leotard shows up well, but maybe a bit too bright for my liking.  I like this image though as it has a similar look to the ideas I have in my head of my ideas.  I am not planning on using flash in my images but will most definitely try out the LED lights.

Shinichi Maruyama - "Nude" Motion

I found these images quite a while back when I first looked into doing motion dance photography.  I automatically fell in love with them and thought they were simply beautiful.

Artists have long fixated on the nude human form, as I am one of them.  Japanese photographer Shinichi Maruyama has produced a series of mind - bending abstract digital images of nude dancers in motion.  The works are a kind of ultra-sleek, high tech re-imahining of Marcel Duchamp's "Nude Descending a Staircase", if the artist had been lucky enough to own a digital camera, I've looked at this in a previous post.

The swirling, pin wheeling, and butterflied shapes of the dancers in each piece (simply titled "Nude") are not the product of slow motion capture, but rather composites of 10,000 photographs combined into one fluid image.  They build on Maruyama's many years working with literally fluid materials: the inks in his "Kusha" series and water in his "Water Sculptures" series.

I found a small interview with Shinichi Maruyama which was conducted by Sarah Mathheson 2013 who is the Studio Art Mayor at University of Richmond; She asks Maruyama some interesting questions which I would like to show.

1. Can you describe your creative process as one that includes flow? If so, when do you experience it or what are the conditions that make it possible?  And do you consider your artistic process to be just as important as the finished product?

"Although being Japanese, we are not so familiar with the psychological meaning of "flow", however we are very much influenced by this state of mind through Zen culture such as Judo, Sado (Japanese tea ceromony), Shodo (calligraphy), etc.  All of these sports are art forms which are originated from Zen culture require self-discipline.  Being disciplined takes you to a state of mind of "flow."

"The Kusho series was created from memories of practicing calligraphy in my childhood.  I loved the nervous, precarious feeling of sitting before an empty white page, the moment just before my brush touches the paper.  Kusho is calligraphy in a way.  Instead of on paper, it is written in the air.  Throwing ink and water in the air numerous times requires self descipline."  vv

2. By stopping time and giving permanence to ephemeral, short-lived moments, you create a palpable feeling of tension in your Kusho series.  Is this an intentional juxtaposition to the flow of the piece?  Why are you so interested in movement and motion?

"Because I love the fact that it is beyond my control."

3. The newest of your series, Nude, uses movement and the human figure to construct new, independent shapes and forms.  How did you transition form Kusho to Nude?

"I tired to capture a moment which the human eye cannot in real time in Kusho.  In Nude, I combined those unobtainable moments together."

4. Why did you decide to abandon fluids as a subject and focus on the human figure?

"Because I am also interested in the beauty of the human body."

5. Is it important to you for the viewer of these works to recognise the human figure as the source of the images?

"Yes it is" 

Maruyama regarding the Nude series

"I tried to capture the beauty of both the human body's figure and it's motion."
"The figure in the image, which is formed into something similar to a sculpture, is created by combining 10,000 individual photographs of a dancer."
"By putting together uninterrupted individual moments, the resulting image as a whole will appear to be something different from what actually exists."
"With regard to there two viewpoints, a connection can be made to a human being's perception of presence in life."

Like i mentioned earlier, I think that this work is absolutely stunning and is such a good idea.  I know that if I had the right camera equipment and technology I would have thought of this idea and done this for my final pieces as it is such a great technique.  I know that it would certainly take too long with the time that I have left and I do not have the equipment.  But saying this, the project series is exactly what I have been looking for.  It uses the motion perfectly and what he says about his own work is fascinating.  I have the same feeling for motion photography as he does.  It would be interesting if I could get a close response to these images in the studio.

Reading through the interview with Maruyama had made me think about re considering a title for the project, I will also consider looking through my other research to see if I could find a more suitable title with perhaps a bit more meaning - this will be explained in a later post.

www.shinichimaruyama.com

Photographer : Lisa Byrne : Long Exposures of Sex

This project series by Lisa Byrne is called 'Simultaneous Perspectives (2007).  There is one couple here, but the images are split into set I, and set II.  These images show the photographic result of 3 pinhole cameras shooting simultaneously, over a period of 15 minutes.

The result of photographer Lisa Byrne's long exposure of a couple having sex, is haunting ethereal images mapping out the intense moments of closeness and distance during sexual acts.  It's actually quite amazing, (considering this is something I wouldn't ever do), to see the push and pull between the bodies and the energy in the air between them that you can't see.

The images don't attempt to describe the workings of the human body, rather, to share a thought for the inner body, the psychological body or sprit.  In her own words, Byrne hints that the reasoning behind her method is to pursue "recognition of an internal state, through a persistence of exposure."
The bodies, ghostlike, light, delicate and translucent, seemingly emptied of their entrails, fluid and floating, are set against a dense blackness.                                                                   vvv

This was something that I had seen for the first time ever.  I had never even thought of and idea like this so therefore wouldn't have even though of what it would look like. But although my first judgements was that it was strange and slightly porno, I then realised that the movements of the body throughout sex do actually create an interestingly different movement to anything else in life, like walking/dancing. It was just out of the ordinary. I do think that this series looks very good as to what Lisa Byrne is trying to convey.  I do think they have a sense of beautiful about them as sex can be a complete lovely, natural and pleasant thing whilst in love.  The lighting is kept quite dramatic but this could also be to circumstances considering the pinhole cameras, which also makes me think of how using pinhole cameras with this subject is interesting.  It would probably help the couple to be more relaxed as it wouldn't be a big camera pointing at them.

Either way, they are still relevant to what I am looking for, just not within dance.  The body movements are interesting, just shown in a different way to the other posts and research I have looked at.

www.lisa-byrne.co.uk

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This was actually the first image I saw of a long exposure of a couple having sex, I couldn't find the photographer name but it was found on Flickr under 'aqui-ali' with the image named 'Apres'.  I found it quite strange when listening to the words, but the image is very different.  You'd think you would see something un-neccessary but you don't, the long exposure causes everything to be a blur for however long the exposure time is for.  Which actually means that you see the presence of two people without seeing all of them. 

Interesting Dance Motion

I thought I'd just do a short small post on how different moves can be really subtle but effective.  Dance is so varied but choosing certain images that have more motion over others is key for long exposures. These first two images clearly only have a small exposure time but still have creative outcomes. The left images is more blurred than the right images but still both have flowing movements.  The right image looks as if there has been a strobe light or a flash because the dancer has moved but still has a static shape.  With long exposures, you rarely see an outline of the dancer or their body parts, an if you do, its usually faint, slightly blurred or been a very short exposure time.  I might test out using a flash to still the dancer in position as well as show movements but I'll see what happens at first shoot.

This image below show a single person standing in a studio with a black backdrop.  I found this image on Flickr and it says it's jus one from a series about body movement but I did not see the others.  The image is shot on film, which is something I am not doing.  But as you can see, the subject has moved only once, but the exposure has captured the line motion movement.

I really like this last image below and find it quite interesting to the other because it is shot outside.  You can quite clearly tell that it has been shot at night time and under a lamppost.  The lamppost is the light source, so comes from above and this works really well to show the body movement by the subject.  The person has obviously ran towards the pole like lamppost and held on and swung his feet around it towards the camera.  The exposure has captured the moving of his legs swinging around the pole.  I think it looks really effective as the hands are in the same position so there is not a lot of movement from the hands, but the legs look so ghostly and invisible.  I like this image, as it has given me different ideas towards my final images.

Photographer : Leif Norman : Verge Dancers

Winnipeg Manitoba Canada, Contemporary Dancers, Verge, 
Long Exposure Experiements, 
March.2.2012   www.leifnorman.net

Verge is an emerging artist company in association with Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers (WCD).  It is full of talented emerging professionals who work daily with Artistic Director Brent Lott, in preparation for a stage show.  It is a programme to help the School of Contemporary Dancers jump to a career as professional dancers.

Leif Norman says that his "idea was to use a dark neutral density filter, and a tripod, and capture a full hour of dance movement in one photographic image". But of course, that didn't work, he says, "everything looked very ghostly and cloudy even at 7 minutes".  He then shot everything at one second to 5 seconds as it created nice streaks and wiggly limbs.

I chose to show this first image because I think it just looks beautiful.  It may be because of the brightly coloured light shining, making the floor a bright pink and purple, but also because of how the dancers are moving.  The long exposure is probably around 3/4 seconds long, and the two dancers on stage show different motions. I love how the dancer nearer the front had moved quite a lot within the exposure time whereas the other dancer behind looks as if she has turned once. Its all experimentation with dancers, as you don't know exactly what they are going to do. But sticking to this length of exposure should come out with interesting results.

Here are some more of the photographs from the hour of dance.  I love how colourful they all look when next to each other.  The coloured light is obviously coming from the stage show lights.  It has actually made me thought, why haven't I tried this before, my mum works in a music centre that have huge halls that hold lots of different dance lessons and stage shows, I could have easily tested this out.

The main focus for me is the body movements as I am looking at how the body moves throughout dance and am capturing it through long exposures.  With the amounts of images I have seen so far with this subjects I know i am more than capable of producing long exposed dance images, but they will not have the bright colours like these, because i will not have the space, or stage for the performer, nor the bright stage show colour lights.

These two images below look very strange, eerie and mysterious.  They both have an exposure time of 7 minutes.  7 minutes is a lot longer than people think when it comes down to long exposed dance photography.  Dancers move quite quickly, therefore, whatever movements repeat the same positions and floor space in the 7 minutes will all blur together into one big blur.  Which is what has happened in these photos.  Both have a blur centre stage, of one or more dancers, moving around and around in the exposure time.  This is also effective but it can sometimes be too much.  Shorter times can have sharper motion images.

And lastly, the three images here also looks eerie and very ghostly.  This is due to the colours used or the turning of colour to black and white.  Black and white with this type of photography automatically makes the mood creepy and mysterious, whereas the colour ones seem a lot more upbeat.  These colours are still very effective, and I like trying to see how they have moved but testing colour and black and white is all a testing process. 

Yet again some more images and a photographer with work exactly relevant to my ideas, I need to look at a few more to see where my project takes me and how I will narrow down the dancer and what to do  in my studio.  I have the technique ready, I just need the dancer and then I can start properly.

Photographer : Jason Skinner : Dreamtime

I was searching through Flickr for long exposed dance photography when I came across these Images.  There was only two images together as a set called 'Dreamtime' (the top two).  The very top image is a screenshot from Flickr with a description underneath, and with the photographer and his website.

These photographs are long exposure photos from the end of Dreamtime by the world-renowned choreographer Elisa Monte as performed by 'The Las Vegas Contemporary Dance Theatre'.
Dreamtime is based on the aboriginal Australian belief that spirits can leave bodies at night moving in predestined ways.

The photographer is called Jason James Skinner, here is his website: www.jskinnerphoto.com

Because of the description of what the dance is about, it lets me understand why the photos have been taken the way they have.  The aboriginal Australian belief, being that the sprit can leave bodies at night is quite obvious in the first two images.  They show one dancer centre stage with her own movements being captured through the long exposure around her.  The movements signify the spirit leaving her body and her stood there show how the sprit is leaving.  For this to be what the dance is about, I think these photographers by Skinner, work really well. The lighting used on stage is quite bright but these are exposed correctly, to keep the background dark but a long enough exposure to see the movements clearly.  As much as photographing the dancers in a stage show is great, I would still like to bring the dancer to a studio and work with the movements in that space. 

 The two images below are from the same dreamtime stage show but were not on the Flickr site that I found the top images.  I found these on Jason Skinner's website.  I thought they looked just as good, because they still are showing the similar concept of the sprit and the body but just on a red background.  I do think that it looks good on red but probably more effective with the movements and long exposure on the black.
It exactly on my route to long exposures, they look great and I can also look back to see if my images show a similar way like the sprit exiting the body - it is in connection with the body and mind so would be a great idea to use within my finals.

Creative Long Exposure Techniques

Here I am posting some creative examples of long exposures.  They do not have dance included as the long exposure topic but they do show some creative effects that I could possibly use with a dancer.

These first two top images are by Rebekka Guoleifsdottir, and are both self-portraits.  She had written an article on extreme long exposure and though she'd write another on long exposures but for creative portraiture.  These images are called 'Playing Ghost'.  She says how one of her inspirations is Francesca Woodman and says how "it is difficult to not be moved in some way by the effortless beauty of her eerie and haunting black and white images"(shown below under top two images).
Photographer Rebekka, says that she wouldn't have normally tried to repeat Woodman's project in abandoned houses but was travelling around Iceland for a different project and said that she felt like she couldnt resist posing in a long black gown in an abandoned farm and try it out.

I think her two images above 'Playing Ghost' look very good, they look eerie and definitely fit with the title of ghosts.  The black ball gown plays a big part as the colour is necessary for the eerie look and feel.  The couple of seconds exposure time really makes a difference as you can see the movements and blur effect.  If the seconds were longer, a longer exposure time, she would have looked even more washed out and invisible, so yes, it is a very creative effective technique, which is why I'm interested.

Photographer Rebekka, explains all her technical terms in the previous article of hers about long exposures, but she explains a simple way of how to do it;

1. Set your camera on a tripod and make sure your ISO setting is at its lowest. 
2. Take a few test shots until you find a balance of settings that allows you a shutter speed somewhere between 1-5 seconds without overexposing the scene. 
3. You'll most likely have to close down the aperture to f.10 or more. 
4. If you're alone, use a timer or a remote, and place yourself into the scene, moving around a little or a lot, depending on how invisible you want to appear.  It's that simple. 

This short list, as simple as it may be, has helped me, I like seeing how others have done long exposures as it reassures me that I am doing my way correct.  Long exposures is all about testing and testing again until the look you want is right, and this is what I will have to do in my shoots. 

These images below are all by Francesca Woodman, who's work has always fascinated me. She uses long exposures of people in old abandoned houses to create the ghost effect as well, as mentioned above, Woodman is usually the inspirations to many that have tried this effect.  Her images are eerie, spooky and really make you think about who lived in the houses.  But as much as this is a great project and series, I would still like to have dance involved in my long exposures. 

Francesca Woodman

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 These two images below are slightly different to long exposures, but still show a very effective technique.  The effect is Multiple Exposures, this is a completely different section to playing around with exposures, I could look further into them, as I could potentially use this technique with my dancers, but I though I'd show a quick two images, so the idea is there, if I wanted to try it out.

For multiple exposures, you can use flash of lights, strobes or speed light flashes, to create the effect of the left image, where the face has moved to two positions and it almost seems as a flowing motion between the two. A blur is formed in the middle of the two head movements, very similar to long exposure.  Or switching a light off and on again, once moved in different positions, can give the effect of the right image below.  Which is the effect of two flashes, just by a bedside lamp instead.
I personally think multiple exposure look fantastic, and is something I tried many times before in back in College.  It is effective and can give great results of body movements.  It is very relevant to my ideas of body movement and motion, and may be what I end up doing, I might try flashes of lights when the dancer changes positions, but I shall have to wait and see.

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The last two images on this post are just of two more examples of creative long exposures.  The left images looks very creepy, eerie and mysterious, even though all it is, is of a busy station, along a street and has fast paced people moving along through a set exposure.  But because of how many people there were moving past the camera, behind the railings, the whole street looks like a sea of ghostly dead people.  It is a great effect and could potentially start off a series that could be held in different places, busy or empty, this is something I might consider.
The right images just shows an old man sitting at a table flicking through a rather big book.  Through the exposure you can see how he has moved his head and body whilst reading the book, but you can also see how he has turned the big pages too, whats interesting is how still everything is in the mirror on the wall in contrast to the old man reading. Again an effect creative long exposure technique.

All of these images have helped me to realise that I could literally use the dancer anywhere and still get a creative long exposure.  I think i will still try in the studio and see how it turns out and then, maybe see what it is like outside.  The only reasons I wouldn't shoot on location with long exposures is because it would take a while to get the lighting right and then it could change at any time, whereas in the studio I will be able to keep the lighting the same. I love Francesca Woodman's work with long exposures and will keep them in mind, but also Rebekka Guoleifsdottir's two images are also great.

Dance Portraits & Motion

Whilst hunting the internet for more research and examples of Photographer's work similar to my ideas, I came across a photo page called 'Piccsy' which is similar to Pinterest and Tumblr.  This is literally a search place to find different photography images.  I came across a series of images that didn't have a named Photographer, as most of the images are just taken and reposted anyway, but I still thought they'd be good to show.

The image below top, shows the website that I found the set of images, with no named Photographer. They are a short series of five images that have a dance portrait next to a motion long exposed image of the same dancer completing a move.

I think that these look really nice, simple and sophisticated.
The dance portrait on the left hand sides of each image has the dancer sitting down in a studio against a black backdrop and the photographer has a shot from waist up.  The images have a nice shadowy dramatic lighting but the light itself is quite soft making the images look angelic and innocent.
The motion long exposure on the right hand sides of each of the images is a long exposure of each dancer completing a dance move.  You can see that each image is blurred in movements and can see how they have moved.  This is also shot on a black backdrop, and placed next to the portrait.

I like this short series of images as they each show a dancer headshot, obviously as a dance portfolio image and have then got a long exposed images of them performing a move.  Its as if they each had to show a ballet move to prove themselves.  I like the colours used with each ballet dress and the lighting is good to show exactly what is needed to see.  They each show slight movements, so the exposure is not that long, probably only a couple of seconds. If I were to use different models/dancers within each of my images then I would consider this effect, the two images, still shot & motion shot, next to each other to form one image of that particular dancer. But I also think that if I chose to do a similar idea and show a still image of the dancer it would take away the fact of showing movements and motion, so I think i'll stick with a motion image on a black backdrop.  The rest of the images from this series are below:

New Long Exposures of Ballet Dancers

These images I have found for this post are of some high class Ballet Dancers, but the images fit in perfectly with my ideas and almost make me want to do dance photography in the future.  Working with long exposures with dancers on stage and in big studio's.  As soon as I saw these images I thought they looked stunning, especially the top image.

These painting like photos feature ballet dancers at the "Emerging Dancer 2013" competition final in London.  Photographer Leon Neal of AFP/Getty Images took these creative shots which show a handful of dancers gracefully moving across the stage.

Six finalists prepared and performed two solos in front of a panel of judges at Southbank Centre's Queen Elizabeth Hall.  Though Neal didn't capture any long exposures of the overall grand prize winner, Nancy Osbaldeston, he did take some beautiful shots of Lauretta Summerscales, the recipient of the People's Choice Award (top two images).

These two images (above & below) look beautiful.  The colours in these two long exposure images are great, the lines of green and pinks really stand out against the black background.  You can see where her arms have been and can see her legs in the positions that she was whilst carrying out some dance moves.  The left hand side image shows what the dancer is actually wearing that creates all of the colours.  The costume she wears has green band sections around both arms and legs and blue legs with a bright pink around her hips. With all the horizontal lines on the costume, when the long exposure has been shot, the lines are stretched out as far as the move goes and however long the exposure is for.  

The first top image is definitely the strongest as it looks as if its been a shorter move that starts kind of sharply and ends sharply, so the colours are wavy but still in a line. You see how the dancer has moved with her arms and legs, with probably a few quick spins.  The image below is obviously a much longer dance move as the lines and motion blur goes on for longer. I still love the colours and think they blur lovely together. These are great examples for motion blur, long exposure photography.   

The next two Images below, show a single ballet dancer in a all white ballet dress.
The same technique has been used to exaggerate the horizontal lines through the long exposure as she moves across the stage.  This looks just as effective too.  I love how the skirt of the ballet dress looks bumpy and wavy along but also looks so smooth. There are wiggles of lines from her feet and body parts.  I also like the simplicity of the image, there is a huge plain black backdrop on the stage and there is a lot of room.  The other images shows the same dancer in all white, but it must have a very short exposure because it is not like the other images but just shows a short blur.  You can still see her face but her arms, dress and one of her legs are in motion blur, but the foot on point on the floor is in sharp focus, so it must have been the very start of a spinning move, but still looks fantastic in the set of images.

This last images from the set is clearly a Male dancer. He has not moved a lot, nor as fast as the other dancers, but this still looks mysterious and effective.  You can see the way he has moved it is just not as noticeable as the female because is wearing a dark colour leggings.  The white shirt is the main focus.  As a set of images it looks great but my favourite is the first image.

I would love to try out some images like this will a dance company or group but at this moment in time I can see it being rather difficult.  I also wouldn't have a stage to take the photos on.  On the other hand, My mum works in The Mick Jagger Centre in Dartford and they have big halls that have plenty of space to perform big dance moves in, the only trouble would be the lighting, so I would have to come back for something like this.  I will take away the long exposure technique, and try to apply that to my shoots, and consider what I would like the dancer to wear so that the colours will stand out.

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As mentioned below, this Photographer has only this images in his portfolio (its a little strange to have only one) But it is still a great image and looks just as good as the images above.  I think the colours of this dancers dress looks great against the black, the blue really pops out and the wavy lines look fantastic.

Colour, light and Exposure times are things I need to remember and think about over the next few posts to see how I will shoot my final ideas.