Final Project Research

Dancing: research
Digital Photography Final Project


When brainstorming ideas for my final project, I though it would be fun to focus on dance as a theme. When scanning through online studios and library books, I noticed that most dance photography is very posed and staged. This was annoying because I wanted to create photographs that depict the true fun, and emotion dance conveys. So when looking through dance photography books in the library, it was hard to find photographs that modeled my artistic goal. But I did find a book called Dancers by Anthony Crickmay, featuring a photo (of dancer Karen Kain) I felt like I could base my pieces on. The photo is of a ballet dancer, doing an arabesque. I like this piece partly because of the difficult pose, but mostly because of the passion yet elegance the dancer conveys. I compare this photo to my final series (flipbook, and animation) for a couple of reasons. One reason is obviously subject matter. But another reason is the pose of the dancer. Although my project depicts the actual movement of the dancer, the final pose is similar (both involving some leg extension). Many of my photos also take a direct approach in capturing the image and are also similar in composition to the photograph of Karen Kain. I am happy though to have broken away from the traditional studio posed dance photographs often produced. My photos accomplish a fun atmosphere and connection to the mood of the dancer that I feel is often lost in dance portraits.