Highlight: Dance photography all day - and with a lunch break!
Lowlight: Commuting into Kings Cross during rush hour
English National Ballet
Eurostars
Martial Artists - Scott Elliot and Anton Simpson Tidy
LIFT.
Fill in: Had to get up at 6.30am after going to bed at 2am and squash myself and my kit onto a crowded train to Kings Cross - Harry Potter never had to suffer this. On arrival, I could see no sign of any dancing or activity except a load of commuters rushing about. In panic, I left a message on the organiser's ansaphone saying I was lost, ran around like an idiot for several minutes before realising that some of the commuters were actually performers and left another sheepish message on the organiser's ansaphone.
I was booked form 8am til 7pm and was not in a happy place. Getting up early is not my strong point, but the day turned out to be pretty relaxed as two photographers had been booked for the day and there was even time in the programme for a lunch break. Never the less, I decided to make the most of it and used much of the downtime taking portraits of the huge arrray of dancers on site - from willowy ballet dancers to bouncy hip hop artists, from eight years olds doing the do-si-do to eighty year olds funking out to the Eurythmics (I kid ye not) and even Boris Johnson turned up to do a turn with Arlene Philips. Martial Arts performers posed as painters, break dancers dressed as business men, ballet dancers acted as security as London Commuters went about their daily business.
Tech spec:. Light was very backlit and top heavy as most of the available light was from the glass ceiling. A bit of fill flash was needed in most cases. I kept the shutter speed high to freeze the movement, the ISO high so the flash was kept low so I didn't blind the dancers too much.
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Got some amazing photos! Hopefully work with you in the future.
ReplyDeleteAnton