Aerial Duo Performance with Rosella & Sarah

I don’t remember the exact circumstances of how this project came about, but I agreed to to another personal shoot with Rosella and her friend Sarah. They are now the driving force behind Dair Entertainment.

The shoot took place at Dance Base, Edinburgh, since their studio 3 offers the possibility of rigging a hoop, a trapeze and silks. The location also allows one to shoot against a dark background or a light one. This project would allow me to practice some more the lighting set ups I had used in the past, but also to experiment with new ideas.

With their first outfit, it was clear that the dark background would provide better colour contrast with their yellow costumes. And I decided to go dark and moody with only two lights slightly behind them.

Duo aerial hoop with Rosella Elphinstone and Sarah Lake
Symmetry is a powerful element in composition.
Duo aerial hoop with Rosella Elphinstone and Sarah Lake
In hindsight I should have moved a little to the right so both of Rosella’s legs would show.
Duo aerial hoop with Rosella Elphinstone and Sarah Lake
In this photo, I would have preferred Sarah’s hair not to cover her face, like in the pic below.
Duo aerial hoop with Rosella Elphinstone and Sarah Lake
I had to ask the ladies to move their heads to avoid the hoop casting a nasty shadow on their faces.
Duo aerial hoop with Rosella Elphinstone and Sarah Lake
With the hoop usually rotating gently, it took a few tries to get the light on the performers to work this well.

It was time to move to a trapeze set up and new outfits. Given the black tops, shooting against the light background. I thought dark and moody wouldn’t work with a lighter background, so I reverted to a more conventional lighting set up, with a couple of rim lights and a main light in front of the performers.

Duo trapeze with Rosella Elphinstone and Sarah Lake
A portrait (vertical) orientation works best for this set up.
Duo trapeze with Rosella Elphinstone and Sarah Lake
Similarly, this pose called for a landscape (horizontal) orientation.

But the translucent dresses gave me an idea. What if I put a light behind each performer? I just had to give it a go.

Duo trapeze with Rosella Elphinstone and Sarah Lake of Air Entertainment
Backlighting is the way to light translucent objects, like the blue and burgundy dresses.
Duo trapeze with Rosella Elphinstone and Sarah Lake of Air Entertainment
As in the previous pic, symmetry produces a strong composition.

One more outfit to go with the trapeze set up.

Duo trapeze with Rosella Elphinstone and Sarah Lake of Air Entertainment
Lighting the whole length of this set up proved to be a challenge.
Duo trapeze with Rosella Elphinstone and Sarah Lake of Air Entertainment
I really love this one.

And last but not least, silks.

Duo silks with Rosella Elphinstone and Sarah Lake of Air Entertainment
That is pretty impressive.

 

 

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