Shooting The Nutcracker

This weekend I attended the Woodlands Civic Ballet production of The Nutcracker. I got to attend their dress rehearsal so I could shoot some photos of these lovely ladies. I LOVE shooting dance photography. It’s definitely a challenge on my part, I have to click the shutter at the exact moment. I’m also fascinated by dancers, the movement, the poise, the athleticism. It blows my mind every time.

I’m also a huge fan of Edgar Degas, a painter who did quite a bit of dancer paintings. Bill and I got to see an art show of his complete works in Philadelphia last year and it was extraordinary. Some of my favorites of his works are not his completed paintings, or even the most popular ones, but his sketches and unfinished drawings are some of the ones I find the most interesting.

I’m pretty sure I’ll be doing some sketching from The Nutcracker photos I shot this weekend. Here are a few of my favorites from the evening.

I also have this feeling about dancer photography, that it should always be in black and white. Maybe it’s because the first dancers I took photos of I shot with black and white film. And there is something about developing your own photos and black and white and dance that makes my heart happy. Here’s a few black and whites that I really like.