Some say that Yosemite Valley is the most beautiful 5 miles on planet earth. It’s a subjective statement, but no doubt Yosemite is one of the most inspiring places on earth. There were times when I drove to Yosemite more then 10 times a year. Each time, I feel totally relaxed and recharged.
Merging dancing with the beautiful landscape in Yosemite as well as the Sierra mountains around it has been my dream for many years. Among all, the place that attracted me the most is along Tioga pass. It finally happened a few times over the past couple years. Each time is an intense and fulfilling experience.
In late 2009, Daiane, Beata, Charles and I hiked an hour up to inspiration point above the tunnel view. We tried using the whole valley as well as the gigantic rock face on the opposite side of the valley as backdrops. My original intention was to go to a few spots along Tioga pass. But we didn’t manage to find enough time to make that happen.
In late August, 2011, Caitlin, Karen, Leda, Victor and I did the second trip. My intention was again to go to Tioga pass. But with so many interesting places in the valley, we again didn’t manage to go up to there.
Realizing time always goes faster than we anticipated, two weeks later during the labor day long weekend, Daiane, Michelle, Victor and I went straight up to Olmsted point along Tioga pass. That place is about 9000 feet elevation. Yosemite was packed with visitors. With a short hike uphill, we found some very inspiring views that are far away from the crowd. Being inspired maybe a understatement. With the half moon lighting up the clouds, the photo shooting lasted till 10pm, and everyone was exhausted, frozen and hungry.
One of the challenge of shooting dancing in a nature setting is to find the relationship between the dance and the environment, or the segment of the environment. I found it mostly an afterthought on what worked and what didn’t work. I guess with enough experience, a photographer can foresee what will work. In my case, it was a lot of a play of try and error. Very often being too clear of what I wanted in the photo end up restricting what we will get. I found it more fulfilling to start with an inspiration, and quickly letting go of it, and let new inspiration and intuition take over.
So I have to accept that I don’t really know what kind of photo will come out in the end of the day. Even if I go to a familiar place, once I really getting in touch with it, it always calls for some unexpected approach. It has always been a scary process, since I have no idea what will come out. Oddly, each time I play, something interesting, and totally unexpected, comes out. So with enough experience, I stopped worry about whether we will get satisfying shoots. Just play, and then play more.
Theory is always an afterthought. With the last few experience in Yosemite, I can spot a few elements that made the photo, like, landscape, sky, texture of rock or tree, rhythm of the land of tree. Each of them calls for dancers to interact with them in certain way.
Experiencing dance through a dance photo is very different from by the experience of watching a real dancing. Taking a slice of time and present the dance on a 2 dimensional space, is like creating a new reality. As a viewer, you miss so many visual and sensory cues that are exist when watching a live dancing. A photographer has to use tools like lighting, perspective, angle, framing, to create the new reality.
There are many different approaches to dance photography, two major ones are 1. as architecture, shape and form, 2. revealing the internal energy flow and movement.
Personally I’m more drawn to the second approach for the moment. I’d like to see the dancer’s whole body work in a relaxed and coherent way, like a resonator, finger tips connected to the top of the head as well as toes on feet. It’s something that everyone can do under certain situation, but not consciously. A well trained dance has much better chance and control over it due to heightened awareness of the body. It rests on the borderlines of knowing and unknowing, planning and spontaneous reaction, focused attention and open reception.
Can’t wait to go back there again, to explore more and to relax in the nature.