There is something especially interesting about photographing a dancer outside the controlled environment of a dance studio.
Instead of a seamless backdrop, there are trees, trails and wooden bridges. Instead of carefully controlled studio lighting, there is sunlight filtering unpredictably through leaves casting a green hue over everything. And instead of photographing dance strictly as a performance, an outdoor dance portrait session creates an opportunity to combine athleticism, movement, personality and the surrounding landscape into something completely different.
That was the idea behind a recent PhotoArtGraphy dance photography session at Nixon Park in York County, Pennsylvania.
The session gave us an opportunity to experiment with traditional dance poses, expressive portraits, dramatic extensions, jumps and movement photography – while dealing with a few challenges that none of us had exactly planned for.
Those included 90-degree heat, extremely thick humidity, a surprise encounter with a snake and, before we were finished, an adult-sized praying mantis that apparently wanted to become part of the photo shoot.
In other words, it was a pretty memorable afternoon.
Taking Dance Photography Beyond the Studio
Dance studios are naturally wonderful places to photograph dancers. They’re where dancers train, rehearse and perform much of their craft.
But taking a dancer outside opens an entirely different set of creative possibilities.
At Nixon Park, wooded trails, bridges, greenery and natural textures provided backgrounds that contrasted beautifully with the dancer’s simple black dancewear. Instead of trying to make the location dominate the photographs, I wanted the surroundings to complement her movement.
That distinction is important to the way I approach photography through PhotoArtGraphy.
A location doesn’t necessarily need to be spectacular on its own. Sometimes the most interesting photographs come from finding an ordinary trail, bridge, field, wall, staircase or patch of light and figuring out what can be created there.
For dance photography, that becomes especially interesting because the dancer brings another element into the composition: movement.
A Familiar Park Seen Through a Completely Different Lens
Nixon Park wasn’t a new place to me.
When my three boys were younger, it was one of our favorite places to hike. We traveled its trails many times, exploring the woods and fields and spending time inside the Nature Center.
And whenever we were hiking, there was one reminder I gave my boys repeatedly:
Watch for snakes.
Apparently I needed someone to give me that reminder before this photo shoot.
While scouting locations for the dance session, I was concentrating on backgrounds, available light, possible shooting angles and places where we could safely photograph different poses. Looking for snakes – something that had been almost automatic when hiking there with my boys – somehow wasn’t even on my mind.
Until I discovered that I had just walked within a couple of inches of one. That definitely restored my awareness rather quickly.
Fortunately, the rest of the location scouting was considerably less eventful.
Photographing Grace, Strength and Control
One of the things I enjoy about photographing dance is the combination of qualities that a single image can communicate.
A pose can appear effortless even though maintaining it requires considerable strength, flexibility, balance and body awareness. A fraction of a second during a jump can create a photograph that seems almost weightless.
That presents an interesting challenge for the photographer.
The photograph needs to capture the right instant – not simply an instant.
Feet, legs, hands, arms, expression, hair and body position can all change dramatically within fractions of a second. With jumps in particular, there may be only a tiny portion of the movement in which all of those elements come together.
This session gave us opportunities to create both controlled, ballet-inspired portraits and much more dynamic photographs.
When a Still Photograph Shows Movement
Some of my favorite images from this session are the ones in which the photograph is completely still, yet nothing about the image feels still.
The airborne photographs are obvious examples.
When the dancer launched into a leap along the wooded trail, the combination of extended limbs, pointed feet, flowing hair and separation from the ground created images that communicate motion even though the camera has frozen a tiny fraction of a second.
Those are precisely the kinds of photographs I’d like to explore further with other dancers.
Different dancers bring different abilities, styles and personalities to a session. Ballet, jazz, contemporary, lyrical, tap, hip-hop and other forms of dance all present different photographic possibilities.
Rather than approaching every dancer with a predetermined list of identical poses, I’d much rather learn what a dancer does particularly well and build photographs around their strengths and personality.
Ninety Degrees Wasn’t Really the Problem
The temperature during the session was approximately 90 degrees. That was hot enough.
But the temperature wasn’t really what made the conditions difficult. It was the humidity.
The air was incredibly thick, and doing repeated dance poses and jumps under those conditions was demanding. Yet the dancer handled it remarkably well. She continued giving us strong poses, extensions, jumps and expressions despite conditions that were anything but ideal for an outdoor portrait session.
That’s also one of the realities of location photography.
You can plan the equipment. You can scout the location. You can think about the light. You can discuss wardrobe and poses.
But you don’t get to control everything.
Sometimes the challenge is figuring out how to make great photographs with the conditions you’re actually given.
Dance Portraits Don’t Always Have to Be Action Photographs
Movement was an important part of this session, but we also wanted to create photographs that showed the dancer herself.
That included traditional portraits and headshots.
For young dancers, those images can become particularly useful. Families may want beautiful portraits simply as keepsakes, while dancers pursuing auditions, programs, performances, modeling or other opportunities may also benefit from having strong head-and-shoulder and full-length photographs available.
That’s one reason I like the idea of building variety into a dance photography session.
The final gallery doesn’t have to consist of 50 variations of someone performing a leap.
We can create dramatic movement photographs, elegant dance poses, environmental portraits, close portraits, headshots and photographs that simply capture the dancer’s personality.
Sometimes the Insects Want to Participate Too
Our wildlife encounters weren’t quite finished after my earlier meeting with the snake.
At the end of the photo shoot, the dancer went to retrieve the cover-up shorts she had placed over a walkway railing.
She quickly discovered that she wasn’t the only one interested in them.
An adult-sized praying mantis had apparently decided that her clothing made a perfectly acceptable place to hang out.
Needless to say, its unexpected appearance generated another startled reaction.
Between the snake, praying mantis, 90-degree temperature and oppressive humidity, Nixon Park made sure this wasn’t going to be just another routine photo shoot.
And that’s part of what makes location sessions memorable.
Sometimes the stories that surround the photographs become part of the experience too.
Creative Dance Photography for York County Families
This session reinforced something I’d very much like to continue developing through PhotoArtGraphy: creative dance photography for individual dancers and families.
I don’t want that to mean simply reproducing the same poses in the same location for everyone. I’d love to experiment.
That could mean wooded settings like Nixon Park, urban environments, historic architecture, open fields, interesting staircases, dramatic indoor spaces or other locations that provide something visually different.
It could involve dramatic jumps and athletic movement or quiet, elegant portraiture. We could create something polished and traditional or something considerably more experimental.
The dancer’s abilities, age, personality and style of dance should help determine the direction of the session.
Photography for York County Dance Studios
I’d also love to work more extensively with dance studios throughout York County and surrounding communities.
PhotoArtGraphy can provide more than one type of photography for a studio.
That might include traditional individual dance portraits, creative pose photography, headshots, group photographs, promotional imagery for a studio’s website and social media, or professional photography during recitals and live dance performances.
And there is considerable room to get creative.
A studio may want consistent portraits of every student. Another may want something more editorial featuring advanced dancers. A performance may call for unobtrusive photography that preserves the lighting and energy of what happened onstage.
The photographic approach should serve what the studio is actually trying to accomplish.
Every Dancer Has Something Different to Photograph
One of the reasons I find dance photography so interesting is that two dancers standing in exactly the same location don’t necessarily produce anything close to the same photographs.
Different dancers have different strengths.
One may have extraordinary flexibility. Another may have explosive jumps. Another may communicate emotion exceptionally well. Another may have beautiful lines and control. Some dancers light up the camera with a huge smile, while others create their strongest photographs with quieter expressions.
That’s where photography becomes more than documenting a pose.
The goal is to discover what is visually compelling about the individual dancer and then create photographs around it.
Let’s Create Something Different
If you’re the parent of a dancer in York County, Southern York County or the surrounding region and would like something beyond the typical annual studio portrait, I’d love to hear what your dancer enjoys doing and explore what we might create together.
And if you own or operate a dance studio, I’d be happy to discuss photography for your students, instructors, performances, promotional materials or special creative projects.
PhotoArtGraphy is based in New Freedom, Pennsylvania and provides on-location photography throughout York County and surrounding areas of Pennsylvania and Maryland.
A dance photo shoot doesn’t have to happen against the same background every time.
It doesn’t even necessarily have to happen inside a dance studio.
Sometimes all we need is a dancer, a camera, an interesting location and a willingness to experiment.
Although next time I’m scouting the location, I’ll try to remember to watch for snakes.
And apparently praying mantises too.
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