These are from the shoot with Katie. This was just a few weeks ago. We had a fairly decent day this time. Katie and I have shot together several times and it is always very productive to shoot her, she is very professional and a beautiful dancer.

The trick to shooting dancers is to allow them get into a flow. This is very easy with Katie as she needs no help working a scene. I just find a setting, put her in it and set her loose to do whatever she feels.

All shot with natural light and the Nikon D3 with the 70-200 lens.
http://freestyleballerina.blogspot.com

This is a post from my Freestyle Ballerina project blog. As I am still working on getting more traffic to that site I decided to do some dual posts here.

This is from a shoot I did with Ann in downtown Boise last week, it was crazy cold and raining a bit.
Ann hung in there and we found a few good spots.
This is towards the end of the shoot with the Nikon D3 and the 70-200 and natural light.
http://freestyleballerina.blogspot.com/

A fellow photographer and I were doing an outdoor portrait dance shoot with Nicole a couple weeks. Nicole is not a professional ballerina but we were out having a fun dance shoot downtown.

So it got dark and we were heading back to our cars and the other photography tells Nicole to get in the fountain.....it was pretty cold and windy so I kind of laughed and said "no you don't need to get in the fountain". The other photographer talked her into it so I figured what the heck.

She we take a few shots and she tells her friend who came along with her to jump in with her...so before we knew it we are shooting a romance novel cover haha.
I just went with the flow and actually really like this shot.
A good example of letting a shoot progess freely, you never know where you will end up if you keep an open mind.

This was after dark with just the light from the fountain with the D3 and I believe this was with the 35 1.8, which is a DX lens but I works amazingly well and is super sharp wide open on my full frame.
This was taken at ISO 6400 and then a bit of noise reduction in Lightroom to arrive at this.

I kicked off my "Freestyle Ballerina" ballerina project blog last week. I will be adding a lot of content to the site over the next few months. Please like the blog and spread the word about my new art project :)
Here is the link:
http://freestyleballerina.blogspot.com/

"Freestyle Ballerina" facebook page.

Those of you who have been following me know I have more and more been increasing my interest in shooting dancers, specifically ballerinas. I have decided to make an art project of it. I am calling the project "Freestyle Ballerina".

I will be creating a blog for it soon and have already created a Facebook page for it.
If you have a minute please check out my page and remember to Like the page before you leave.
I will be adding a lot of content to the page in the next few months.

Here is the page:
https://www.facebook.com/FreestyleBallerina


Thanks!
MikeR

Freestyle Ballerina

I have been shooting dancers for 3 years, with an emphasis on ballerinas.
They are a perfect combination of all the things I like to photograph. Beauty, action and drama rolled into one.

Ballerinas make it look so easy, they are natural posers and very confident in their own skin.

The idea is that I find a nice looking setting and then I position the ballerina into the scene and ask her to "show me something" or something along those lines. The idea is for the ballerina to creatively use the setting or "Freestyle". I am often surprised with their creativity. Sometimes the smallest moves are the most effective.
Sometimes they need a little nudge...so I demonstrate a pose...they laugh really hard and then they come up with something better.

I plan to continue this project for some time and to incorporate the most skilled ballerinas who are willing to participate. As of today almost all the photos in the gallery are professional or apprentice level ballerinas working with local professional companies.  Boise has a large number of very good dancers and I am finding they are willing to participate.

We do have an national ballet company here in Boise and hope someday to have their ballerinas participate...not yet....that remains a work in progress. Hopefully as the work grows they will want to be included.

So almost all of this work will be with the Nikon D3 and the 70-200 2.8 lens. I find this to be the perfect combination for natural light work. The long focal length and thin depth of field are great allies in creating separation between the dancer and the environment.

Some of you may notice a few flash and even a couple studio shots in the gallery at present. My guess is that most of the shots in the gallery today, March 2013, will not still be there in another 6 months. I plan to cull the gallery as I work with more dancers.

So anyway as of this week I have officially named this project "Freestyle Ballerina".
On the surface it may remind you of the Ballerina Project work being done in New York.  Really this is not a copy of that project. Just 6 months ago I became aware of that work. The Ballerina Project is almost wholly photographed on black and white film. I love the look of it but plan in this work in take advantage of  the processing options made available with digital.

So without further ado I introduce "Freestyle Ballerina" to the world.
I hope the work is well recieved and enjoyed by many. Please keep checking back as this is a work in progress and many additions are planned. I am including a small sample of the gallery.

Here is the work in process gallery, please have a look: http://alloutdoor.smugmug.com/UrbanBallerinaProject/Freestyle-urban-ballarinas/28490996_L3k6vF#!i=1868944867&k=njbSRSq

...and here is my new Freestyle Ballerina blog page:
http://freestyleballerina.blogspot.com/

Outdoor dance portrait in Boise, by Mike Reid.

Outdoor dance portraits are my favorite subject to shoot and as dance shots go this one is the S--T! I love this shot. I am so glad this is my shot because if it was somebody else's because then I would have to say "Damn I wish I had shot that" haha.

Sometimes the elements all come together, right subject, in the right place, right light, etc etc etc...this is one of those for me.
I actually shot this three years ago but I re process it every once in a while just to get to play with it again.
You artists out there know what I am talking about.
Shots like this are why I keep loading up the gear and hitting it.

This is Katie Ponozzo my favorite boise dancer...really an amazing artist. I need to shoot her more :).