"la llarona" dance, a photo from Colorado, West

Photographer's Note

Before posting any more dance photos I felt that this was a good time to post this photo of the "Fiesta Colorado" dance group performing the "la llarona" or "Crying Woman" dance which is very popular in Mexico. This dance was a popular Aztec Legend and it become assimilated into Mexican culture in spite of earlier Spanish attempts to ban it as a "pagan" ritual. Dance photography has been my main area of photography for the past several years. I enjoy all types of photography but I enjoy the challenge of live dance photography without the benefit of fill-flash the most. The biggest obstacle of this type of photography is the shadow noise of high iso settings in digital cameras. In spite of the noise problem digital blows color slide film away for stage events.
(The colors are a little too saturated but I didn't want to risk a "flat" rendition and these are real candles on their heads and real theater lighting, not Photoshop tricks).

My role model for taking dance photos is my favorite artist of all time, Edgar Degas. I saw his paintings and sketches at the Denver Art Museum a while back and I marveled at his artwork and his genius. He was also an accomplished photographer and he and his fellow Impressionist artists were fascinated with photography. They liked to experiment with people only partially included in the frame or walking out of the frame. The dancer on the upper lefthand portion on the edge of this photo and looking out of the frame would not have bothered them at all. The Impressionists weren't so obsessed with symmetry. If I can photograph a fraction as well as Degas could draw and paint that would satisfy me. We may as well try to emulate the real champions in any field.

Bruno40, nisko, WepWaWet, jwmunro, enedimd, emjleclercq, thea0211, JorgeCK, jean11-3, plimrn, zmey, avene ha puntuado esta nota como útil.

Critiques | Translate

alagarcia (252) 2007-05-16 3:52

Nice.I like the composition and the impresson of movement.The dress seems to be painted by the strokes of brush as the painting of impressionism!
regards
alicja

nisko (2642) 2007-05-16 4:16

hi stan,
very special dance and nice capture by u!beautiful light and contrast..i like especially the moving dress effect:)..
stay well..
thodoris

WepWaWet (3798) 2007-05-16 9:22

Wow Stan!...
Great.. Great.. I like this composition. Ultra beautiful lights and unbelievable effect. Regards,
Seref

jwmunro (286) 2007-05-16 11:24

Hello Stan -

I hope you remember our discussions of this image when you first showed the slide to me the week after the shoot. My opinions stay the same, it is perfect! I think the motion feel generated by the blur, or is it the other way around, makes this image. Mater of fact it is the image. The color of the dress and the lighting makes the image ethereal and mystical. This is a winner in my book! Well done, bravo!

Thank you for sharing and it is really too bad others don't see this image the way you and I see it.

John

melmcree (18) 2007-05-16 12:01

This could be my favorite of this series. I love motion and the dresses look like they could be underwater, a nice flow. The light on her face is really nice as well. The most amazing part is the candle attached to their heads! Thanks for the luck on the fish and if I catch a big one I'll put it on TE!

leo61 (0) 2007-05-16 12:45

Hi Stan!
A very artistic shot with great colors and good contrast.The motion of the costume is very well captured and the blurr is great.Well done,under these difficult lightconditions.
Regards,Leo

danyy (0) 2007-05-16 13:43

Bonjour Stan,
j'aime beaucoup le flou lié au mouvement ici, on voir que les danseuses jouent avec les jupes. Cela donne des jeux de lumières et des trainées de couleurs tout à fait esthétiques.
Best regards.
Daniel.

enedimd (1532) 2007-05-16 14:12

Hello Stan,
Well done shot. Superb POV.
Impressive motion image.
Beautiful light and colors.
TFS,
Have a nice day.
Emir Nedim

emjleclercq (15778) 2007-05-16 16:59

This serie of dancers remains very intersting and this one is very different from the other, with the dress now blurred by the movement, whereas the head remains static and sharp, probably to support the candle which I did not noticed initially. Very nice mix of blue and white.

All the best,

Emmanuel

thea0211 (1365) 2007-05-17 1:35

hi stan,
i like this different approach to the dynamics of dance, too (looks like the dance itself is also spectacular!!! hope i get the chance to see it sometimes).
brilliant movement blur of the skirt, while the dancer's upper body is motionless and clearly in focus; you did very well keeping the second dancer in the frame as this makes the whole image talk about a completely different story: the group dance and i don't mind not seeing her completely but i appreciate the repetition her presence and her movements (almost similar to the movements of the foreground dancer) build inside the frame.
lovely colors and shades of them, very well used lighting, appealing game of lights and shadows.
well done, stan!
thanks,
dora

ps: i like Degas, too

feather (51130) 2007-05-17 4:47

John e-mailed me to have a look at this. I'm glad he did as it really is a beauty. It has magic in it. The contrast between the motion of the dresses and the stillness everywhere else is stunning and the black bg works so well. Excellent work
Kath

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baba_flies (8829) 2007-05-17 9:18

Hello Stan! I can see that this was a challenge and you mastered this in an excellent way, the atmosphere of the show is right there and you feel that you are in it. I love the move of her skirt bringing the dance feeling over. Excellent the colors, excellent everything actually. Super job. Barbara.

JorgeCK (2620) 2007-05-19 11:37 [Comment]

Show Comment

France (125) 2007-05-26 10:00

Hi Stan,
Beautiful atmosphere mixing candle and theater lights. As I looked at your dancers gallery, I thought : "He would try to give movement to his dancers by using low speed and blur instead of fixing them in their movements". And you did it here !
I really like the blur in the clothes but not on the faces. You find the good balance. The colors are great and the composition too.
Continue in this way. By experiment, I know that the result is less easy to control but with numeric, one does not pay the missed photos!
France

agbonavita (0) 2007-06-01 10:33

Magical photo Stan,

the woman face freezed and sharp and her moby and constando moviment, a dificult photo. the lights are great as well as the colors.

Well done
Andre

plimrn (21344) 2008-04-02 19:21

Hi Stan,
The contrast between the motion blur of the dress and the sharp detail of the faces and the FG dancer's feet give a very dynamic feel to this photo. I agree with John's comments as well.
HLJ, Pat

zmey (7335) 2008-04-16 5:32

hello stan

this is an amzing shot... the dancer seems like a ghots descending out of the darkness despite standing firm on the ground. real llarona ambiance... (i like several versions of the song, including the one performed in frida) and i think, the asymmetry brought about by the dancer walking out of the frame at the top actually has a lot to do with achieving this feeling. wonderful! i should return to your dance photos more often. there is a great lot to be learned from them, my friend.

with warm regards,
kristaps

avene (12675) 2008-04-17 18:48

hello Stan,
you'll see shortly why Kristaps directed me to this photo when I pointed to a prominent feature in one of the shots he's about to post :))
but whatever the reason, I'm here and I like a lot what I see. there's something ethereal, something magical in this photo, the flying dress is like a cloud she stands on. beautiful photo, it has the music in it.

take care,
Kristine