Menlowe Ballet
Nov 18, 2014 16:48:20 #
A long-time friend, Ballet Master and Artistic Advisor at Menlowe Ballet in Menlo, California, invited me to take photos of the ballet company's dress rehearsal. I thought, "no way!," thanked her for the great honor, but explained I knew nothing about shooting in a darkened theatre, especially with the kind of equipment I had. She repeated her invitation saying she was absolutely serious...no pressure...there would be pro photographers there, so my photos could be whatever...but she had seen my photos on Flickr and thought I should do it, if only for the experience. After I got over my intimidation of the pro photographers' $$$$ equipment (you should have seen their lenses!), I was so happy I did it!
Both ballets depicted here are originals, choreographed by Menlowe Ballet's Artistic Director and founder, Michael Lowe. My husband and I went to the full performance the Sunday after the rehearsals. It was amazing, fabulous, enchanting and totally awesome (in the original meaning of the word).
BTW, in order to share these photos publicly, I had to get the approval of the Artistic Director, the Associate Artistic Director and the Artistic Advisor. Talk about being nervous of a critique!
The first three are from
"Legend of the Seven Suns (And How the Swallow's Tail Came to Be Forked)
World premiere - based on a Mongolian legend
The last two are from another of Michael's original ballets, "Plague"
Both ballets depicted here are originals, choreographed by Menlowe Ballet's Artistic Director and founder, Michael Lowe. My husband and I went to the full performance the Sunday after the rehearsals. It was amazing, fabulous, enchanting and totally awesome (in the original meaning of the word).
BTW, in order to share these photos publicly, I had to get the approval of the Artistic Director, the Associate Artistic Director and the Artistic Advisor. Talk about being nervous of a critique!
The first three are from
"Legend of the Seven Suns (And How the Swallow's Tail Came to Be Forked)
World premiere - based on a Mongolian legend
The last two are from another of Michael's original ballets, "Plague"
Water Spirits
(Download)
Swallow
(Download)
Journey to the Mountain
(Download)
(Download)
(Download)
Nov 18, 2014 16:51:09 #
Nov 18, 2014 18:46:31 #
Nov 18, 2014 18:47:19 #
Selkii wrote:
A long-time friend, Ballet Master and Artistic Adv... (show quote)
Beautifully dramatic!
Nov 19, 2014 06:23:55 #
Nov 19, 2014 06:43:25 #
Nov 19, 2014 14:13:24 #
Nov 19, 2014 14:58:33 #
Nov 19, 2014 18:24:15 #
Nov 19, 2014 20:56:11 #
I would say you did some beautiful shots!! Very nice!!!! You do know it is the nut behind the camera that makes the shot right? :):)
Erv
Erv
Nov 19, 2014 21:07:16 #
These are absolutely beautiful! What an honor to be asked to attend and take these photos. You should be VERY proud of your work!
Nov 19, 2014 21:28:37 #
And you were intimidated!?! Those shots are astounding! I would be proud and ecstatic to have taken just one of them!
Nov 20, 2014 00:30:59 #
Nov 20, 2014 01:01:31 #
Nov 20, 2014 01:27:42 #
Thank you, ALL, for your wonderful and supportive replies. I am still stunned by the fact I had this fabulous opportunity and that I was able to capture anything worth viewing. I did some online research beforehand about photographing ballet, otherwise, I really would have been "shooting in the dark."
frjack - I shot them all at ISO 6400, 1/250 using a Canon T4i with EF-S 55-250, f4-5.6 IS II kit lens, handheld. I tried other settings, but this was the only combination that got me usable shots in low light, and only after running them through Lightroom.
frjack - I shot them all at ISO 6400, 1/250 using a Canon T4i with EF-S 55-250, f4-5.6 IS II kit lens, handheld. I tried other settings, but this was the only combination that got me usable shots in low light, and only after running them through Lightroom.
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