Lines Ballet Training Program at mint

The kick off event for 24 days of Central Market Arts lasted three days over the weekend of September 26, 2010 at the Mint Plaza in downtown San Francisco. Mint Plaza is a historical location. In the old days the Mint building is the place hosting the gold deposit of San Francisco. Inside the building, you can still see those heavy duty vaults.

On Sunday, students from Lines Ballet Training Program did a location specific performance using the windows on the Mint building. The students are energetic, out going and expressive. Perfect for my hungry lens.

It was in the middle of afternoon, high and direct sunlight presents a challenge for lighting. Those windows are under the shade. The light is very flat. Under such light, there is little difference between an infrared shot and a regular BW shot. But infrared adds a touch of dreaminess.

As sun dropped a bit lower, the shadow from building on the south casted a strong shadow across the wall, and lighting became very dramatic. Now, it’s getting really fun.

I had a Canon 5D and a Rebel XS with me for the event. Picked up Rebel XS just the day before from craigslist as a back up camera. But I found myself using Rebel XS most of the time because of EF-s 10-22 lens I had with me.

Many photographers like to use long zoom. The most popular lens for sports and wild animal photography seems to be canon 70-200 f2.4L. In fact this is THE lens that converted many photographers from Nikon camp to Canon. What this lens does for a photographer is to pull the subject close to him/her, and gets very personal. The experience amplifies when it’s up close and personal. Well, what if you can physically get up close and personal? That is exactly what 10-22 does for you. I love this lens tremendously for it’s call to get physically up close and personal.

When you shoot with this lens, you are so close to your subject that you have to be physically part of the action. Things gets very unpredictable when shooting that way. But that is the fun part of a creative process.

To see more photos of this event, go to my Facebook Album.