Light Painting a Dancer: Jennifer

On Halloween, I had the chance to do some more light paintings. It was also my first time working with a professional dancer, Jennifer. We decided to try some urban settings as backgrounds, and more specifically wanted to explore the area around the Royal Mile. After a bit of scouting, we came upon a close just off the Royal Mile that seemed to offer a number of picture opportunities. All the pictures in this blog post were taken within about a 30m radius.

Light paintings typically stand out because the lighting is quite surreal and grabs our attention since we are not accustomed to seeing subjects in this kind of light. But there is another way to grab people’s attention, and that is by placing your subject in a totally unexpected environment. Like a dancer on a bunch of kegs at the back of a pub, as in the pic below. The light painting technique further adds to the surreal nature of the concept.

classical dancer on kegs of beer at the back of a pub on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland — This picture opportunity did not immediately present itself, as the location was somewhat hidden from view. But I’m very glad I decided to just ‘look around the corner’

The photo shoot took place on Halloween night, and we were fortunate to find some lit
carved pumpkin. The stairs also offered plenty of elements of design, such as lines, shapes and textures. I learned from Joe Baraban’s “Stretching Your Frame Of Mind” classes to look for these elements of design and incorporate them into my imagery.

Classical dancer on stairs with carved pumpkin, on Halloween night in Edinburgh, Scotland — It was Halloween night after all, and we jumped at the chance of a Halloween themed light painting

On the other side of the close, there was another location with similar elements of design, and it got my attention as well. I also liked the contrast between the urban setting and the classical dancer.

classica dancer in an urban setting off the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland — I really liked the pipes, the texture of the walls and the autumn leaves on the ground. It is also not the kind of location where you’d expect to come across a classical dancer, a good opportunity in my mind for an interesting image.

And finally, one cannot be with a classical dancer and not get a photograph of her doing the splits. Since this was my first photo shoot with a dancer, I didn’t really have an idea of how to place my subject relative to the background, or what kind of background works best. And while I’m happy with the lighting on Jennifer, I think the background needs a bit more work. This photo shoot got me to think about other ideas. So, maybe next time…. I’ll keep you posted.