I would say 99.9% of my photos are of landscapes or animals. Anything related to nature, I’m there. I’ll throw in a building or two every now and then, but I know where my photographic heart is. In the interest of becoming a better photographer — the whole point of this blog — I extended myself to my most uncomfortable photographic subject: people. Perhaps it’s my own prejudices, but I’m often quite reluctant to shoot people, as I often feel uncomfortable with people taking my picture. I felt the lament in the Busan fish market, as I could ‘see’ photos as I walked around, but often demurred on taking the photo lest I make the subject uncomfortable. I know I left some great photos in South Korea (Isn’t that a song?). The one time I did feel comfortable was at the Marblehead Festival of Arts, where I managed to overcome my hesitancy — and took some of my favorite photos of people. (Click for Full gallery)
So it is with that backdrop that I sought out the opportunity to photograph some dancers nearby. Because I was invited in, I could shoot to my heart’s content, without fear of offending or making uncomfortable anyone in the frame. In this case, the only difficulty was the environment: dark. Very dark, in fact. My lens is versatile but slow (Nikon 18-200, f/3.5-5.6), especially zoomed in. I learned from experience (i.e., my first 100 shots were blurry) that I needed to shoot at ISO 1600, 1/60 s to stop the action. If it was dark and the action slowed, I could drop to 1/40 s. So I shot in shutter priority mode (the best!) and ended up with some very grainy, dark pictures that I edited in Aperture and Dfine (to remove noise).
In the end, I feel I ended up with some decent photos – mostly of poses. The dancers were happy, which goes a long way towards making me feel I did my job. My favorite shots are zoomed in, which meant I missed a lot of action elsewhere. But it’s becoming more apparent as I practice that you can’t get every shot. Just sit and wait, and anticipate, and eventually the shot you’re looking for will dance into view.
