Posts Tagged ‘Ashburn’

Arthur Murray – Ashburn, VA Spring Freestyles Show

Arthur Murray Ashburn, VA - ©TimeLine Media

It has been a few weeks now since the 2014 Arthur Murray Spring Freestyles. After all the work to edit, sort the files, and get orders out to everyone, I finally have some time to look back on this event. There were many great dancers and photos we made that weekend. This is the longest break between Arthur Murray events that we cover. So we try to prepare as best we can for the event. There are always new attendees that we want to make a good first impression, so we have some of our best photographers to help, and we have all our gear cleaned and ready to go from the start! From this first post, I have selected photos from the first professional show that closed out the event – a Cha Cha by the Ashburn, Virginia studio!

Westfields Marriott

Cha Cha professional show - ©TimeLine Media
Cha Cha professional show – ©TimeLine Media

Being the first of the professional shows that performed for the evening is a neat spot! The crowd is still settling down from the last general dance, and with no previous performance, the audience has a fresh palette. The song was “Come Dance with Me” by Michael Buble. These two had a lot of success in getting the audience pumped up with some awesome dancing! You can catch a video of the performance here:

If you look closely, you can see me hunched in some of the frames as I tried to keep up! A lot of people ask why I shoot from down low. Really, this is the best angle to capture any subject that you want to make larger, more heroic in the photo. From down here, it is much easier to compose a frame where they look larger than life! You would think that it would have a strange perspective, but with a lot of distance between me and the dancers, that angle is minimized, and you can hardly tell that I was as low to the ground with my camera!

Arthur Murray Ashburn, VA - ©TimeLine Media
Arthur Murray Ashburn, VA – ©TimeLine Media
Arthur Murray professional show - ©TimeLine Media
Arthur Murray professional show – ©TimeLine Media

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Dancer Portrait Session

©TimeLine Media - photography portrait session

Recently, I have the opportunity to photograph a ballroom dancer, Tyrone, in a portrait session. He is not only an instructor in ballroom, but he also does hip-hop and contemporary dance which makes for some great photos. In this nice neighborhood, it was a challenge to find a background that was appropriate for the usual grungy backgrounds that accompany this type of dance. Tyrone was a great subject climbing into a tree to make it look like a setting much different than the suburban park that we were shooting. Being in a tree, and his clothing really made for a changing the setting with limited resources.

Outside Portraits

©TimeLine Media - photography portrait session
©TimeLine Media – photography portrait session

Then we found a nearby gazebo that he used to display his dance moves. I used the gazebo to try to get some nice even shade for photos, then added the flash to fill him in the frame of the structure. I also experimented with the flashes as hard side lights. Punching these up in post processing made for some interesting portraits that work better with male subjects. With the photos where he was hanging at one side of the gazebo, I used a super wide angle lens to emphasize his stretched frame making him look longer. I was trying to work the setting that we had to get a variety of photos.

©TimeLine Media - photography portrait session
©TimeLine Media – photography portrait session
©TimeLine Media - photography portrait session
©TimeLine Media – photography portrait session

The last section we went to was against a fence lining a walking trail. Fences always provide leading lines to point to your portrait subject, but I was looking for something different. Using the flash, I happened upon a happy accident. I was hoping that placing the flash on the other side of the fence would make for some sharp repeating shadows that would fall on Tyrone. This did happen a little, but the reflective paint on the slats of the fence created hard reflections against each other which focused the light. This made a nice vignette to light that I could use in the portraits. This is definitely a new trick that I will have to remember for future shoots!

©TimeLine Media - photography portrait session
©TimeLine Media – photography portrait session

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Arthur Murray Summer Showcase Photos Done!

©TimeLine Media - Arthur Murray Ashburn - professional show

All the images from last weekend’s DC Area Arthur Murray 2013 Summer Showcase are now ready to view! There are over 7200 images from the entire event. To help you locate your photos, we have categorized them by studio and dance style. If you have any trouble finding your photos, please let me know. I am happy to help you find your dance pictures, or explain any of the printing or digital products you can get for them. Here is a direct link to the event:

http://proofs.timelinedc.com

There is an early bird sale of 20% off any photo order from this event until Monday, July 15, 2013. This includes albums, digital downloads, and prints. We hope you pass the link along to anyone that danced at the event, or any friends that you want to convince to join you in the fun at your dance studio!

Here are some of my favorite photos from the first professional showcase of the evening by Kimi and Tyrone. The dance was a Waltz from the Ashburn studio. Enjoy!

©TimeLine Media - Arthur Murray Ashburn - professional showcase
©TimeLine Media – Arthur Murray Ashburn – professional showcase
Kimi and Tyrone from Arthur Murray, Ashburn, Virginia ©TimeLine Media
Kimi and Tyrone from Arthur Murray, Ashburn, Virginia ©TimeLine Media
©TimeLine Media - Arthur Murray Ashburn - professional showcase
©TimeLine Media – Arthur Murray Ashburn – professional showcase

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

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