Kathryn ([info]misspotsitt) wrote in [info]bellydancing,
2005-04-18 13:38:00
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Photographs and movements

I love looking at photos of belly dancers, particularly during performance, however I always feel slightly disappointed because often photographs fail to capture movement and the pictures can look posed or staged. Obviously there is an issue with photographing movement as it can be blurred and photographs deal with a split second whereas movement is often longer than that. However I was wondering if anybody had taken or seen any photos that they thought captured the movement and joy of the dance well?

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  • 19 comments

[info]jagnightwalker

April 18 2005, 12:53:06 UTC 7 years ago

Photos are tricky aren't they :) Never fails that the photographer will go to snap an awesome pic, but with the shutter speed it ends up being a pic taken MID transition where our arms are crooked etc.

I've only had probably 5 pictures taken of me that I feel captured at least ME dancing. Not necessarily the movement, but my own joy. I'd be happy to share them if you'd like.

[info]misspotsitt

April 18 2005, 13:53:12 UTC 7 years ago

If you want to yes I'd love to see them :)

[info]polymexina

April 18 2005, 13:35:47 UTC 7 years ago

i took some pics of the bellydance superstars i thought were awesome.

[info]mahsati_janan

April 18 2005, 15:43:46 UTC 7 years ago

We have a few I like a lot under our regular and recent events galleries. [info]cerice and we have the great luck of having a pro photographer present for a lot of our gigs - he gets to add the shots to his portfolio and we get good pics LOL

Feel free to take a look and see if there are any you like: www.troupeamani.com

[info]xtm666

April 18 2005, 15:58:17 UTC 7 years ago

take a look at these:

http://bellydancer.info/sarah2.html

this amazing dancer in NYC is also a professional photographer. i think her work is what you've been talking about.

[info]misspotsitt

April 18 2005, 17:56:47 UTC 7 years ago

Thanks for ther link, they're really interesting. While her staged photographs are incredabley beautiful and do contain a lot of movement, they are still lacking something a bit for me.

I much prefer the photos of her dances, I really like this picture



because although her arms look a bit funny you can really see she's dancing and she's smiling.

This is a great one too,



Though obviously her hair has a lot to do with that.

I love her costumes as well, they're really beautiful.

[info]xtm666

April 18 2005, 19:16:11 UTC 7 years ago

she does look cute in that one, doesn't she?

and i have to admit - i've been eyeing her costumes for awhile. in fact, they will be models for me, if i EVER get around to making my own. whats wonderful is that she provides information about where she found the coins and chains and designs for most of her work.

Deleted comment

[info]misspotsitt

April 18 2005, 18:00:10 UTC 7 years ago

Re: How about these...?

For me, I find that photographs of Tribal dancers, especially troupes, are the worst offenders for making them look like they're not moving. I don't know why. Maybe the heavy fabric in the skirts of tribal costumes or having big tassles rather than bead fringing and having your hair covered means you don't have light chiffons or long hair to swirl about, or perhaps the slight slower tempo required to keep a troupe together in a dance. The camera gets great photos, it just makes them look like they're standing still with their arms out.

[info]iknowitsasong

April 19 2005, 02:09:46 UTC 7 years ago

Re: How about these...?

be sure to check the pics of Suhailia on this page though. She definately looks in motion in some of them.

[info]pamcash

April 18 2005, 18:05:03 UTC 7 years ago

I was a painting major in school and I actually think about this a lot. i really like Degas, and I want to do a series of paintings of bellydancers in their practice gear, either practicing or resting between practices, without their stage makeup on or anything, etc. because that's how i know belly dancers, and the dancing (vs the "show") is what belly dance means to me.

i don't know if im explaining myself well

[info]misspotsitt

April 18 2005, 19:00:44 UTC 7 years ago

That's an excellent idea. I thin I do understand what you're saying there. More about capturing the spirit of the dance rather than the front of the performance?

[info]suzycat

April 18 2005, 21:48:40 UTC 7 years ago

I would love to be a good photographer so I could capture exactly what you're talking about. I have fond memories of some fantastic images of my folkloric class doing Tunisian in practice gear, belts and papier mache pots which were still all newspapery. If only I could have captured them!

[info]birdygrrl

April 18 2005, 18:25:22 UTC 7 years ago

I have a dear friend who specializes in photographoing dancers. He's mainly focused on the Contemporary Dance community here in SF, but he has an interesting way of working with live dancers. He spends time going to rehearsals and becoming familiar with the choreography, so that he can take the shot when the dancer is building towards the height of the movement. Oftentimes, photographers will go "oh wow!" and *then* take the picture, resulting in a blurry image. I think that dance photographers are in a class of their own...anyways, check out http://www.dancingimages.com

[info]misspotsitt

April 18 2005, 19:05:23 UTC 7 years ago

The dance photographs on the site are really great. Exactly what I mean about capturing the movement in dance.

[info]iknowitsasong

April 19 2005, 02:13:53 UTC 7 years ago

Oh my! Some of these shots remind me of a dance piece I saw in college. The Parsons Dance troupe did a performance at our university and one of the pieces was called "Caught". The stage was completely dark. No music. There was about a 30 second pause and then *BAM!* flash of light with the dancer "catching" the dancer leaping in the air. Every time the lights flashed he was in a different place on the stage in a different position in the air. It was amazing and I remember being so amazed that you couldn't hear him land. This is the choreography that got me studying them to see what people were doing with bodies in space.

[info]iknowitsasong

April 19 2005, 02:14:45 UTC 7 years ago

erm....

...i could have that dance company name wrong...it's been nearly 12 years now since i saw it. Apologies if I've mucked it up.

[info]suzycat

April 18 2005, 21:47:04 UTC 7 years ago

I think the trouble with BD photography is that the very nature of our dance is against us - it's not about leaps and making large shapes with our limbs, it's internal and more about feeling and musical expression.

I really like this photo of my teacher, which was taken onstage:

http://www.belly.co.nz/images/gendi-orienta-lgl.jpg

Otherwise I am SO a fan of the Degas-style images mentioned above, of people waiting, messing around, not actually doing their thing.

[info]blaspheme8

April 19 2005, 19:51:03 UTC 7 years ago

I'm sure sure if I've posted these before, but I took these:

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/12535447/
Mahsati Janan
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/12535521/
Cerice Janan
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/11094527/
Jim Boz (I have tons of him!)
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/11094292/
Johara

[info]jaii_lana

April 19 2005, 22:06:14 UTC 7 years ago

These show motion quite well, I'm the one in pink this was my first ever performance






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