Dancer

Thank you for your thoughts.

As with everything - it's a personal thing

I wonder what it would look like in colour?

I have been reading all the wonderful comments. It seems the general consensus is divided, some want to include her head, the others don't. I do think, including her head would have made a different picture than this one. I didn't have the head in the original shot (its one of many I took during the live program). However when I selected this one, I felt the lack of head makes it a more abstract representation of energy, ecstasy and as Sam put it, sensuality. Perhaps (and just perhaps), in my opinion, including the head would have made the shot about both the dance and the dancer, while this one is more about the dance and the feelings associated with it.

My first reaction is to strong sense of motion. The slight motion blur is abstract, yet it's clear that this is a woman. We don't need to know any more. The strong backlight is really effective, playing on the translucence of her wrap vs. her body and the rest of her dress. I really don't miss her head.

This is a very nice description of the specific aspects of the shot, especially the translucence which I think sets the mood to a large extent.

+1 to Dave's and Sam's comments. Wonderful, evocative image. My only question, and a teeny, tiny one at that, is would it have been better to include more of her head/face in the frame (while recognizing that doing so might have been very difficult given the subject and circumstances)? Nicely done.

Thanks David for your comment. I gave my view in the first half of this post. Although I don't have a version of this shot with the head included, here is another shot from a different dancer with the full upper half of her body.

I like the informal symmetry. Nicely balanced composition. Don't miss the head at all.

Informal symmetry is something that I really like about organic shapes. You cannot place a finger on it, but it's there.

As with everything - it's a personal thing

I wonder what it would look like in colour?

Color has its own vibe, particularly, I like how the orange dress looks like flame of fire blowing in the air. However, I still went with the black and white among both versions. Thank you for your comments.

I like it in black and white with the warm toning you gave it.

Interestingly, the photo being headless makes it more intimate to me. Often, having something hidden will do that. One would think seeing a face would provide a desired connection but, in this case, I don’t think that would happen. I think the connection is to the dance, the motion, the sensuality of the tones and shapes and I feel intimately involved in all that without needing or wanting more of an identifier which I think would make it less special.

Although I don't have a version of this shot with the head included, here is another shot from a different dancer with the full upper half of her body.

Like I said, the head is a tiny issue, and I agree wholeheartedly that the image you have is dynamic and full of energy, and that not having a face does make it more abstract and about the dance and its energy. On that basis, I'll retreat and agree it is best as-is.

I like it in black and white with the warm toning you gave it.

 

Interestingly, the photo being headless makes it more intimate to me. Often, having something hidden will do that. One would think seeing a face would provide a desired connection but, in this case, I don’t think that would happen. I think the connection is to the dance, the motion, the sensuality of the tones and shapes and I feel intimately involved in all that without needing or wanting more of an identifier which I think would make it less special.

I also agree its more intimate, and may be because putting a face on the figure makes it more about a specific person with all the aspects of her personality, not just the dance aspect.

Like I said, the head is a tiny issue, and I agree wholeheartedly that the image you have is dynamic and full of energy, and that not having a face does make it more abstract and about the dance and its energy. On that basis, I'll retreat and agree it is best as-is.

Thanks David. As always, your comments are highly valued.

The no-face image in color is good too, but b&w is just amazing

Thanks. This seems to be the consensus, and I agree.

A friend of mine once said something like, "color is for color and B&W is for everything else".

I like everything about the original image- suggestive motion, anonymity, B&W adds the element of abstraction.

IMO the color version doesn't shape up to much, I guess because it is so monochromatic.

I do, however, like the color image of the dancer with her arms spread open.

I love this photo, @Supriyo! My preference is definitely for the B&W version. Your photo exquisitely shows the dancer's motion without the distraction of color.

Two personal notes:

- One of my 2 daughters is a professional dancer, so I've seen many 'dance photos' over the years. Your photos are truly excellent!

- I once took' action photos' of a singer and decided that the B&W version of my ''best motion shot' was the best. She was delighted with the photo and shared it on social media.

My compliments!

Mike

The black and white images and the color one are all interesting in my opinion. I like the movement and the various compositions. A nice sophistication of elements that made me stop and study them. I tend to thing they are all just a little bit noisy and would like to see them less so. You have a good eye for interesting images.

Thanks Tholte. I have seen your work over the years and really appreciate your contributions to this community. I agree with you about the noise, due to using a small 1" sensor camera, intentionally underexposed and high ISO to counter the low light. These kind of shots should surely excel using a DSLR or larger mirrorless. I think, I can play with the noise reduction settings in RAW processor to mitigate the noise problem to some extent.

A friend of mine once said something like, "color is for color and B&W is for everything else".

 

I like everything about the original image- suggestive motion, anonymity, B&W adds the element of abstraction.

IMO the color version doesn't shape up to much, I guess because it is so monochromatic.

 

I do, however, like the color image of the dancer with her arms spread open.

Thank you, Ricochet. I agree with everything you said. I like this image in BW as well (with the slight warm tones).

I love this photo, @Supriyo! My preference is definitely for the B&W version. Your photo exquisitely shows the dancer's motion without the distraction of color.

Two personal notes:

- One of my 2 daughters is a professional dancer, so I've seen many 'dance photos' over the years. Your photos are truly excellent!

- I once took' action photos' of a singer and decided that the B&W version of my ''best motion shot' was the best. She was delighted with the photo and shared it on social media.

 

My compliments!

 

Mike

Thank you, Mike. My little daughter is taking ballet lessons, and she is already showing me moves that amaze me! Dance is one of the great art forms that is not just limited to humans, but is present in courtship rituals of many animal species. I like dance performances and well choreographed ones can give a sense of carefreeness, optimism and euphoria, that are really prized feelings. Thats why I think, dance is also related to spirituality and religious ecstasy in some cultures.

I am currently reading about Alexey Brodovitch, the art director of Harper’s Bazaar (who was also a very talented photographer). His photo-book Ballet is considered a masterpiece and equally rare and expensive nowadays. I found the following excerpt from Wikipedia about his book:

Between 1935 and 1937, Brodovitch photographed several ballet companies, including the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, during their visits to New York on world tours. Although at the time he claimed the photos were only meant to be souvenirs, they evolved into something greater. The style in which Brodovitch photographed deviated from the sharp, straight photography popular at the time.[48] According to one colleague, his images "spat in the face of technique and pointed out a new way in which photographers could work."[49].

 

Brodovitch released a book of these photographs in 1945, titled simply Ballet, through a small New York publisher. The book contains 104 photographs of several ballets and is divided into eleven segments, one for each ballet performance. On the contents page, Brodovitch introduces each chapter in a typographic style that emulates the feel of the dance it is describing. He photographed with a Contax 35mm camera, no flash, and with a slow film speed.[50] The blurred figures of the dancers allow the viewer to not only feel the music, but also to follow the line of the dancer's limbs mid-step. The images beautifully capture the atmosphere on-stage, the frenzied behind-the-scenes action backstage, and the magical moments of the ballet. By bleeding the blurred, grainy pictures off the pages and into the gutters, he communicated the emotional impact of the dance without words.

Interesting description and some of it resonates with my thoughts about the expression of dance through static imagery. Although, original version of Ballet is out of print, a sort of compromise version is released by the Errata Foundation. Good for art, and future generations!

OP, are you making a project on the abstract dancers? Would be nice.

I didn’t, but now I am. There are others in the set that I shot. I have to look through them to see if there other interesting ones. Thank you for your encouragement.

Supriyo, although I find the color shots enchanting, For the reasons Sam enumerated, I prefer the OP image. It's the swirling clothing that conveys the emotion, aided by the presence of the dancer's arm.

I agree. Also the glittering light trails on her dress that remind me of fireflies.

Brodovitch’s Ballet was also a significant influence on Robert Frank. The sense of space surrounding the dancers in Ballet seems key as a means through which and by which each dancing figure's movement defines itself as well as being the space through which the individual dancers define themselves through each other. The OP image feels more zoomed-in and has less breathing space to it in this regard. Which as an observation is neither good nor bad.

I didn’t know that Robert Frank was influenced by the book, but not surprised. Sadly, the original print is long out of reach. Would be such a joy to look at the page length prints.

Yes, your distinction between this image and that of Ballet is apt, although there are fundamental differences between European ballet and Indian folk dance, and how the spirit of dance is conveyed in both i think. In ballet, the dress is minimalistic, accentuating the figure. In the Indian dance, the figure is partly obscured by the flamboyant dress, focusing more on its own flow and dynamics to convey energy. What I am trying to say is, if I zoom out and shoot the entire figure with blur, it doesn’t appear as well formed yet smoky/ethereal as the ballet, because I think the forms of the dancers are fundamentally different. However I think it’s still worth trying though.