Posts Tagged ‘dancers’

New Jersey State Open – Showcases

©TimeLine Media - New Jersey State Open ballroom dance

At this year’s New Jersey State Open, the audience was treated to many solo showcases throughout the weekend. No other couples were on the floor for these dancers, and they had their music selection playing for their routines. When these came around, I could easily concentrate on the featured dancers, and ensure that I capture their dips, lifts, and smiles!

Showcase Routines

©TimeLine Media - New Jersey State Open ballroom dance
©TimeLine Media – New Jersey State Open ballroom dance

This was a nice diversion from the competition heats. There was additional artistic creativity on display with their additional costume accessories. Also, they crated choreography that matched the music or lyrics perfectly. It was clear that the dancers have been working on these for a long time!

©TimeLine Media - New Jersey State Open ballroom dance
©TimeLine Media – New Jersey State Open ballroom dance

For me, I also had a positive change of pace. From the background in the photos, I have changed my shooting position. I am now near the front of the ballroom where the emcee, and DJ were sitting with the New Jersey State Open sign behind me. Before the event began, I had a second set of lights setup in case I wanted to use more from shooting at the back, or in case I had to shoot from this side of the ballroom. It was setup nicely so that the photos still had the same quality from this side without any break in the flow of the event.

This bit of preparation I had to learn from previous competitions where I had not planned for this, and the photos suffered. I either had the right position but a bad lighting setup, or I stayed where I had been the entire event and capture only the backs of the dancers during their show dances. I bring this lesson with me every time I setup at a new venue… just in case.

©TimeLine Media - New Jersey State Open Showcases
©TimeLine Media – New Jersey State Open Showcases
©TimeLine Media - New Jersey State Open ballroom dance
New Jersey State Open ballroom dance ©TimeLine Media
©TimeLine Media - New Jersey State Open ballroom dance
©TimeLine Media – New Jersey State Open ballroom dance

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

Photo Sale Ending – 2013 New Jersey State Open

©TimeLine Media - Pro Latin competition 2013 New Jersey State Open

Atlantic City, NJ

Quick post today about the sale ending for the photos from the 2013 New Jersey State Open! Monday is the end of the early-bird sale for products ordered from this event.  The photos will still be available to view, share, and purchase, and they will stay up until the end of March 2014. Thanks to all of you that have visited the website since we came back from Atlantic City! We have enjoyed emailing and speaking with you about your photos. I’m so happy that many of you were pleased with the photos and have them hanging in your homes and offices now.

Portfolio Images

It is gratifying to hear how you are displaying the images, and I have seen many of them on social media so you can show off your hard work! I saved so many favorite photos from this event, and I will be posting some of them on the blog. The first set is one from each of the styles of dance over the weekend. The professionals competed in Rising Star and Open competitions on Friday and Saturday, respectively. No surprise, a lot of the portfolio photos came from here:

©TimeLine Media - Pro Standard competition 2013 New Jersey State Open
©TimeLine Media – Pro Standard competition 2013 New Jersey State Open

Keeping the top line straight while really moving across the floor is quite a skill. It is always a challenge to shoot as there are only a few instances where you can see the faces of both dancers. Patience is needed to keep your eye to the camera and follow the dancers across the floor until they align with your position just right.

©TimeLine Media - Pro Latin competition 2013 New Jersey State Open
©TimeLine Media – Pro Latin competition 2013 New Jersey State Open

The Latin competitions are almost the complete opposite. Almost too much to photograph! You can turn your camera in any direction and get a frame. With many couples on the floor, I feel like there are so many moments that I miss, but I try my best. Two different styles of dance, two different styles of photography! Thanks again for stopping by and checking out the sale ending soon.

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

Square Presentations

©TimeLine Media - square crop - Fashion NoVA model

It has been about 2 months since I last wrote about square cropping for photos. Now the new iOS 7 has a Square format for iPhone users to easily compose photos in this format. I have found it a much different way to compose photos in the app. I suspect this is the same if you switched from a 35mm format camera to an old 6×6 medium format camera.

©TimeLine Media - square crop -  Fashion NoVA model
©TimeLine Media – square crop – Fashion NoVA model

Like minimalism, the restrictions by using these dimensions can open up some creative possibilities. I have come across a lot of square collection lately in magazines that have caught my eye. Some are historic photographs, especially those looking back on the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination, and some are current photo projects just cropped to these dimensions. This is a very easy composition to put together into composites:

©TimeLine Media - 4 Composite Square - Flowers
©TimeLine Media – 4 Composite – Flowers

And the square format works for so many subjects – both still life and action photos. I had to look through the portfolio to find at least one ballroom dance photo that would work well. The challenge in finding one was looking for ones that had both dancers in full extension , but that would fit in the frame without too much extra space above and below them. I found one at the Arthur Murray Fall Freestyles. It was harder to find one that worked as well as this one!

©TimeLine Media - ballroom dance photo
©TimeLine Media – ballroom dance photo

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

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