Introduction
My final project ‘A Day in the Life of a Dancer’ is a concept inspired by my own so-called “dual life” as a dancer and a student, along with a host of other roles and responsibilities. There are several aspects of this concept that I wanted to explore and portray through this photo shoot.
Firstly, I wanted to explore the idea that dancers are everywhere. They can dance anywhere, not just in studios, or in fancy costumes. Dance is not restricted to studios, stages, theatres and formal performance venues. Dance is pervasive, it is everywhere dancers choose to bring it.
Secondly, I wanted to show that dancers are not excused from performing everyday tasks like grocery shopping, taking public transport and so on. They have to experience the everyday routines of life as well. Yet, there is something about the way they deal with and carry out these activities that makes them stand out from the routine. It could be their passion, their confidence, or simply their different outlook on life that sets them apart as dancers.
Lastly, I wanted to give a hint that dancers can be inspired by their everyday activities as well. A simple trip to the bathroom can translate into something dance-related to them, because of the way they think and perceive their surroundings and environment.
Reference Artists/Photographers
I was inspired by many photographers on deviantArt that take beautiful still shots and motion blurs of dancers performing, particular ballerinas and contemporary dancers because of their beautiful lines and amazing flexibility.
After coming up with this concept, my friends also recommended a photography project to me for inspiration. This project is titled “The Ballerina Project”, and the official blog for the project can be found at The Ballerina Project Blog
This project grew from the idea of New York City being a magnet for creativity. Each photograph features a ballerina in an everyday place like a sidewalk, or by a bridge, and is a collaborative work of dance, fashion design and photography, played out against the city’s landscape.
Here are some photographs from The Ballerina Project:
Most of these dance photographers like doing photo shoots on ballet, jazz and contemporary dancers because of their distinctive lines, elegance and insane flexibility. These make for a potentially outstanding and impressive photograph. Being a Hip Hop dancer, however, has inspired me to photograph Hip Hop dancers in my final project as well. Hence many of my final project photos are of Hip Hop dancers.
Idea development
When I was planning my photo shoot, I realized that there were 2 approaches I could choose to take:
1) Use 1 model for all 6 photos.
2) Use 6 different models for the 6 photos.
The first approach would give the idea that this sequence of photographs portrays the life of ONE particular dancer. This is very much like a case study of one particular dancer's life. I felt this approach could potentially be relatively personal to people viewing the sequence.
The second approach would be more generic in nature and applicable to ALL dancers in general. Different people of different dance genres and styles, genders and personalities are represented through these 6 photos. I felt this would be potentially more relatable to fellow dancers. The variety of personalities and dance genres in each individual photograph made the sequence more interesting as well. Hence I decided to follow with the second approach.
When planning my final project, I also made it a point to brainstorm where exactly I wanted to shoot my friends. I drew out sketches of how I wanted them to pose, bearing in mind that their poses had to clearly reflect that they were dancers. I thought of 8 photo shoot venues, although I only intended to have 6 photos in my final sequence. This was because I was afraid that one or two shots would not turn out the way I wanted them to. The 8 initial venues were a library, food court, supermarket, MRT train, bathroom, an escalator, and street sidewalk.
To add final touches to the photographs, I decided to add in schedule timings for each photo. This was supposed to resemble the schedule of a typical student-dancer, or any dancer who frequents those places featured in the photographs. These timings would truly reflect how the ‘day’ progresses in the day of a life of a dancer.
Technique Used
I used a range of basic photography techniques for my photos, but mostly played with shallow depth of field by using a low-value aperture. This was in order to bring out the dancers in their respective environments.
For certain shots, I used freeze action in order to capture the moment at which my models struck their pose. Some poses such as the one taken in the library were difficult to maintain, hence I had to snap the shots quickly before my models moved out of their poses.
For other shots, like the jump shot in the supermarket, I made use of motion blur to highlight movement of my model.
I like having other people in the picture as background cal fare. They help make the scene look more natural, as if it was taken out of a scene from real life (and not a photo shoot).
For post-processing, I upped the contrast to give a colourful, striking and vibrant feel for all the photos. I was going for something bright and dynamic, just like the dancers themselves.
Failed Attempts
I initially tried using a single model for all my photos. My good friend Kris was kind enough and willing to help me with this. Although Kris was a cooperative and helpful model, there were some environments she looked somewhat awkward and uncomfortable in.
We also realized that some venues really were not looking good, and ending up either modifying or scrapping those.
This toilet shot here did not give the dynamic, clearly-dancer feel that I wanted to achieve from my photos.
The scene at the food court was also not going well. I had difficulty trying to compose a shot in a place like an eatery. I wanted to have Kris have some cutlery in hand while looking like she’s striking a dance pose, but it didn’t work out.
There was also the problem of many of the photographs not looking “dancer” enough. These here look more like fashion photos than dance photos:
Some of the venues I had in mind were a little more difficult to have a photo shoot at than I expected. All my venues are public places, thus meaning human traffic at these venues is relatively high. Taking photographs in a crowded place was difficult as I tended to get in people’s way, and people tended to ruin the shots by suddenly passing by unexpectedly in front of the camera, or colliding with me or my models. Some venues such as the National Library at Bugis did not even allow photography on its premises. This created additional problems as I had to think of alternative venues for these places.
Also, Kris is more of a Hip Hop and K Pop dancer, hence she would not be able to represent more genres of dance as a range of dancers would. When I decided to use 6 different models for my shoot, I liked the personal touch that each model gave to each photo, which one model alone would be unable to achieve.
Reflection
My final project helped me put most of the skills I learnt during this course to good use. I had to shoot quickly to avoid disrupting the crowd, and because I sometimes had limited time to shoot (like on the escalator and the MRT train before people started streaming in at the next station). Hence I had to make sure that I kept snapping focused images with appropriate composition. I learnt to quickly tweak my DSLR settings when moving from venue to venue, as I often had more than one shoot on the same day.
Working with models is difficult but rewarding. The hardest part was arranging to meet them, as I had to invest quite a bit of time to arrange for shoots with all 6 of my models. I’m very thankful that I had so many friends who were kind and willing enough to agree to help me with this project. I couldn’t have done any of this without them.
Many of the final photographs did not turn out the way I expected. They turned out even better. I believe this is due to the fact that dancers are so spontaneous. Their actions are never fully predictable. Although I had guidelines on where and how I wanted them to pose, I relied on my models’ creativity for most of the shots. I wanted them to feel natural and at ease whilst posing for the camera and thus did not wish to dominate and direct every single one of their poses. As a result, they came up with poses I never even thought of. I loved watching them interacting with their environment, making use of the things that could be found around them without me specifically directing them to do so. They would spontaneously grab snacks off the supermarket shelves and pose with them, as well as play around with the escalator and train handrails, library stools and even the cubicle walls. Spontaneous improvisation by my model friends led to even more satisfying and natural photographs. This was exactly what I was aiming for from the beginning.
I’m glad that I had the chance to do something close to my heart for my NM 3223 final project. As this was something that had great personal significance and meaning to me, I put in extra effort into the project to make sure that it worked. This project burned a lot of my time and effort, and the several consecutive shoots always left me exhausted. Yet, when I look at the results of my conceptual photography, I feel that it was worth the effort, because the photographs effectively communicate the concept I wished to address and communicate to my audience. Truly, working on something close to your heart for a project never fails to churn out more rewarding and satisfying results.
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