Dance Photography

Natural Light Studio – Year 2

September 30, 2013 by 4dancers

by Christopher Duggan

My Natural Light Studio at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival is a personal project that I started last year. There is a deck right behind the Ted Shawn Theatre where dance photographer John Lindquist made many, many photos.

I set up a simple but effective natural light soft box and backdrop and started inviting artists to the studio throughout the summer of 2012. (See some of my favorite photos from 2012 here.)I can’t believe I waited six years as festival photographer before starting to do something like this. It’s so much fun. My Natural Light Studio is a space for creative exploration, and it’s as much about what the dancers bring to the photo session as it is about what I bring to it.

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I really don’t come with any specific vision ahead of time. Some dancers come in costume, other dancers come in pedestrian clothes, and we make a portrait. I love the simplicity of it.

Most of all, I love that through this studio photography I’ve captured another 60 or so artists who are part of the Pillow’s remarkable history. Jacob’s Pillow is dedicated to preserving the memory of the incredible artists, performances, talks, exhibits and classes it has hosted throughout its history, and I’m honored to be a part of documenting the life of the festival. Finding a creative way to capture these artists is a joy.

Contributor Christopher Duggan is a wedding and dance photographer in New York City, the Berkshires and beyond. Duggan has been the Festival Photographer for Jacob’s Pillow Dance since 2006. In this capacity, and as a respected New York-based dance photographer, he has worked with renowned choreographers and performers of international acclaim as well as upstarts in the city’s diverse performance scene.

Christopher Duggan, Photo by Julia Newman

He photographs dancers in the studio and in performance, for promotional materials, portraits and press, and he often collaborates with his wife, Nel Shelby, and her Manhattan-based dance film and video editing company Nel Shelby Productions (nelshelby.com). Together, they have documented dance at performances from New York City to Vail International Dance Festival.

Christopher Duggan Photography also covers the finest wedding venues in the Metropolitan and Tri-State areas, in Massachusetts and the Berkshires, and frequently travels to destination weddings.

His photographs appear in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, The Knot, Destination I Do, Photo District News, Boston Globe, Financial Times, Dance Magazine, and Munaluchi Bridal, among other esteemed publications and popular dance and wedding blogs. One of his images of Bruce Springsteen was added to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and his dance photography has been exhibited at The National Museum of Dance and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.

His Natural Light Studio (http://www.christopherduggan.com/portfolio/natural-light-studio-jacobs-pillow-photography/) at Jacob’s Pillow is his most ambitious photography project to date – check out his blog to see more portraits of dance artists in his pop-up photo studio on the Pillow grounds.

Wendy Whelan – A National Treasure

September 3, 2013 by 4dancers

by Christopher Duggan

There’s just something about Wendy.

I never really had such all-access permission to follow such a star here on campus at Jacob’s Pillow. Wendy let me in her dressing room and while warming up in the Bakalar Studio, allowed me to photograph her performance from backstage…and always with a smile. She’s easy to work with and really trusted me. I was grateful for the whole experience.

Ella Baff introduced her before every performance as a National Treasure, and that’s the perfect description. There’s a reason she’s a superstar. She is just captivating.

My wife Nel was featured in a PillowTalk titled “The Art of Promotion,” focused on using film to promote dance. Wendy made a cameo appearance at the talk, and you can see the affinity they have for one another. They have tremendous respect for each other and it has been a wonderful collaboration.

20130816_PillowTalk-ArtOfPromotion-NelShelby-EllenBar-WendyWhelan_Christopher.Duggan_014

It was a fun week for me, and I wanted to make these images as a gift for Wendy – to commemorate such a momentous and important engagement for her.

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Contributor Christopher Duggan is the founder and principal photographer of Christopher Duggan Photography, a New York City-based wedding and dance photography studio. Duggan has been the Festival Photographer for Jacob’s Pillow Dance since 2006. In this capacity, and as a respected New York-based dance photographer, he has worked with renowned choreographers and performers of international acclaim as well as upstarts in the city’s diverse performance scene.

He has created studio shots of Gallim Dance, Skybetter + Associates and Zvidance, among others, and in 2011 alone, he has photographed WestFest at Cunningham Studios, Dance From the Heart for Dancers Responding to Aids, The Gotham Dance Festival at The Joyce Theater, and assisted Nel Shelby Productions in filming Vail International Dance Festival.

Duggan often teams up with his talented wife and Pillow videographer Nel Shelby (http://nelshelby.com). A New York City-based husband and wife dance documentation team, they are equipped to document performances, create and edit marketing videos and choreography reels, and much more.

Christopher Duggan Photography also covers Manhattan’s finest wedding venues, the Metropolitan and Tri-State areas, and frequently travels to destination weddings. The company’s mission is straightforward and heartfelt – create timeless, memorable images of brides, grooms, their families and friends, and capture special moments of shared love, laughter and joy.

His photographs appear in The New York Times, Destination I Do, Photo District News, Boston Globe, Financial Times, Dance Magazine, Munaluchi Bridal, and Bride & Bloom, among other esteemed publications and popular wedding blogs. One of his images of Bruce Springsteen was added to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s celebrated photography collection in 2010. His company has been selected for inclusion in “The Listings” in New York Weddings magazine.

Favorite Photos From Inside/Out At Jacob’s Pillow

July 31, 2013 by 4dancers

by Christopher Duggan

You all know by now that Inside/Out – the outdoor festival stage at Jacob’s Pillow – is my absolute favorite place to photograph dancers. The Pillow’s outdoor stage is magical. The trees, the mountains, the sky. Everything is perfect – as long as the weather cooperates!

20130627_IO_Peridance_Christopher.Duggan_050 — Peridance

The festival has already reached the halfway point, so I wanted to share some of my favorites from Inside/Out so far. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves…

20130703_IO_ArtOfMotion_Christopher.Duggan_019 — Art of Motion

20130703_IO_ArtOfMotion_Christopher.Duggan_001 — Art of Motion

20130628_IO_JeremyMcQueen_Christopher.Duggan_030 — Jeremy McQueen

Returning To Jacob’s Pillow

July 2, 2013 by 4dancers

20130619_IO_JamalJackson_Christopher.Duggan_043 — Jamal Jackson

by Christopher Duggan

I’ve been waiting 10 long months for this.

Every year, I am so excited to return to Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, to photograph amazing dancers and festival life and settle back in to our cozy cabin in the Berkshires. For the past two summers, I’ve been blogging about the week’s dance performances, students at The School and more.

But it’s always the performances on the outdoor Inside/Out stage that I look forward to most. Inside/Out is one of Jacob’s Pillow’s most celebrated series, offering free outdoor dance performances four nights a week during the festival season, with each show set in the lush scenery of the Berkshire hills. It’s a pleasure and an honor to make photographs that reflect the grandeur of the Inside/Out experience – watching dance atop a mountain, under the open sky. Especially since outdoor dance scenes have been iconic of Jacob’s Pillow since its founding. (You’ve seen John Lindquist’s photos of Ted Shawn & His Men Dancers, right?)

That’s why I chose to highlight Inside/Out during my photographic exhibition at the National Museum of Dance last year.

It’s great to be back! Especially since this season offers such a rich mix of companies – many I know and love and many I get to meet and photograph for the first time. This past week’s Inside/Out shows included dancer and choreographer Hari Krishnan. He was in From the Horse’s Mouth last year, and he’s become a friend of mine, so it was just neat to see him and photograph his company inDance.

20130626_IO_DancesforVariablePopulation_Christopher.Duggan_023 — Dances for Variable Population

We had fantastic weather for all the shows, too. See more of this year’s Pillow blog series here.

Interview With Dance Photographer Rachel Neville

May 29, 2013 by 4dancers

This week we feature another dance photographer–Rachel Neville. We reached out to her to learn more about her path into dance photography and are pleased to be able to share some of her beautiful images here with you today…

How did you wind up doing dance photography?

A knee injury brought me home from Europe where I was dancing in Germany in 1995, I think it was. I had quit high school to go train at Rosella Hightower’s in Canne so my first job was to go back and finish. The grade 13 art course turned out to be a photography course and I was hooked. I went to college for photography, graduated and started working right away. My first jobs were mostly in the wedding, portrait and commercial industry, I spent many years shooting dancers on the side for fun or doing what we call in Canada ‘recital photo’s’ (pictures at the end of the year of the kids in their costumes). It wasn’t really till we came to NYC 7 years ago that I started doing what I call my ‘real’ work or passion.

What do you enjoy the most about working with dancers?

Where to start? I love lines, shapes and textures. What more perfect a subject then but dancers? I love feelings and emotions and energy… again – dancers. Most of all, when we are shooting for a story line or a concept or some creative idea, I love it when it all comes together, the lighting, styling, background, dancer/s, when everything comes together and you get that ahhhhh moment. Its a bit like having a great performance, the high.. Dancers who have worked with me know that I get excited and do a little happy dance when that occurs. And dancers who have worked with me previously always are looking for that moment too, when we shoot.. I’m generally not satisfied until it happens, and they know that until it does we don’t ‘have it’.

What do you think is the biggest challenge when it comes to capturing dance with the camera?

Umm, I suppose you might expect an answer like ‘capturing the moment’ or ‘getting the dancer to look right in 2D what is normal in 3D’. I’ve not felt that to be a challenge for several years, but I think like anything else, once you master a challenge you move onto the next one. Right now I’m all about getting dancers in front of me to get outside their heads and give me something more, their energy, their personality, their character.. and having that come across. We all spend so much time looking at and detailing the body, our instrument, but when all is said and done if there isn’t a feeling or impetus behind a movement or shot, then I get a little bored.

Can you describe a typical “shoot” with a dancer or company?

Sure, it starts with a conversation or consultation, where I find out what a clients goals/needs/’why they called me’ answers are. Then we look to creating a look/feel/storyboard for achieving the maximum for the budget a client has to work with. On a typical shoot, we will arrive usually 30-60 minutes in advance so that dancers can warm up, get ready and feel comfortable with the space and me (this is important, if you are going to give your all with a photographer having some type of rapport with them in advance a little bit is helpful to be able to let go and give), and I or my assistant will start setting up our gear. We usually start with some basic movements or poses that we had thought out in advance for the dancer to get into the groove and for me to learn their body and facility. I shoot tethered to a computer so if I need to have the dancer see how they are looking in the 2D we can analyze and fix on the spot together. Once the ball gets rolling we move to other poses, costumes, improve a little bit, making sure we have several really good shots to pick from (I like to have the client’s choice be difficult in having just a few too many to choose from), all the time looking for those really special images. Sometimes it’s the client who has ideas to ‘play’ with, often times it’s me who suggests something a little different. The best shoots are really collaborations between everyone involved, whether that is just me and a dancer, or a director, dancer, and myself coming up with ideas and things to try. The more time you have to play, the better!

What has been your favorite experience in terms of working in the field thus far?

This is a hard question, I try to have every shoot be excellent. I think shoots where creatively we’ve done something I haven’t done before are my favorite. For example, going down to Arizona to shoot dancers in the Antelope Canyons will always be top of my list. I would love to go back there one day with more dancers from a company and do a calendar for them.

BIO: Rachel was born in Toronto, Canada where she trained to become a dancer before moving to Europe at 18 years of age. After a knee injury, she moved back to Toronto where she completed a degree in photography at Humber college in 2000. Working in weddings and commercial photography, her passion for dance had her move to NYC in 2006 with her photographer husband David Giesbrecht. Her work has been seen in many different posters, postcards and media outlets including Dance Magazine, Pointe Magazine, the New Yorker and others. She currently shares a studio in Williamsburg and lives in Queens with her husband and 2 young daughters.

Learn more about Rachel and see additional dance photography she has done on her website.

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