david cooper photography

Exploring light and movement with dancers

 November 5th & 6th

Working over two days with both contemporary and ballet dancers,

you will capture dynamic movement and learn how to use short

duration strobes for freezing motion.

Back from a week of teaching at the Banff Centre their first

“Shooting  in the Performing Arts” program for photographers.

This  program has been set up by staff photographer Donald Lee.

The photographers had access to dress rehearsals and master

classes in all departments. We spent one day on stage with

studio lighting and various dancers and musicians. Here I am

testing a silhouette idea with the white cyc lit with a large

umbrella directly behind this translucent material.

I used the photographers as models before the talent arrived.

We shot on a medium format Hasselblad tethered to a computer.

Banff is full of  great talent on any given week so it was ripe

with opportunities for the photographers. They had great digital

workstations for each participant and on campus accommodations

for everyone.   Thank you to the staff at Banff ,all the students and

Trudie Lee for making this a memorable week in a beautiful part

of Canada.

We had a great weekend shooting at the studio with 8 amazing dancers and 7 photographers from as far away as Australia and California.

I took the group outside with one light on a boom, a portable battery and a Dynalite pack. I tried to simulate a steep street light in our underground garage.

The dancers bounced off the walls and we got one great frame. These are fearless people, jumping on concrete!

You can see from Ernest von Rosen’s angle how the available light looked without the strobe.

Thank you to all the participants who worked hard to make the weekend a great event.

Next workshop is planned in November.