Time to regroup

Winter has arrived in Minnesota. We had a long, unusually warm fall, and although we knew winter would arrive sooner or later, we allowed ourselves to think we might escape the chillbanes. Nevertheless, the itching has started, and the mercury has plunged below zero. Tis the season for sitting on Santa’s lap and wishing for an escape.

Alas, Jean Paul Sartre closed that door with his play, No Exit. We are stuck with one another in this closed space called Earth. Residents of the frozen north know that feeling as cabin fever. Joe McGinniss wrote a description of it in his book about Alaska, Going to Extremes. He said it’s like a “12-foot stare in a 10-foot room.”

When the fever hits, it’s time to regroup and make some plans.

I will be stepping away next week. I’m going in for my first of two knee replacements. These surgeries will take me off the dance floor for some time and will constrain my photography. But I have plans to keep engaged with ballroom dance by studying choreography. And I will be studying the structure of Argentine tango music to improve my musicality on the floor when I return.

Of course I also plan to keep creating images. I have some bird feeders stocked up and look forward to shooting photos through my kitchen windows. Several red bellied woodpeckers have visited recently, and a giant pileated woodpecker has been whacking away on a pine tree in the backyard. It even paused at the feeder briefly. It must’ve left an impression, as I dreamed about him last night. To my surprise, we were able to communicate. Alas, I don’t recall what was said.

I recently had the good fortune to photograph Matt and Megan Sieberg, who bought the old Carrier’s grocery and hardware store building in Roseville that most recently housed County Cycles. Now called Showtime Studio and Cafe, it’s a multipurpose space used for music lessons, all kinds of music jams, dances, gymnastics, an art gallery and a nondairy coffee shop. You can’t walk in this place without getting involved in a friendly conversation.

I just bought a Sony A1 and wanted to use it before I had cataract surgery this week. (The surgery went well.) Unfortunately, I was unable to connect my new camera to my Macbook Pro before the photoshoot. I tried my workhorse camera, the Sony A9II, but it also failed to connect. It turned out to be a software glitch in the Mac, but in the meantime, I had to photograph the old fashioned way — by looking through the viewfinder. That disappointed me as I started photographing the Siebergs. Even so, Matt and Megan seemed to understand, and the shoot went well.

To be continued…

Harvest time

“He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.” — Ecclesiastes, 11:4.

The citation above relates directly to photography. It warns that indecision and fear will cheat the harvest.

The iconic French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson captured this concept in his book, The Decisive Moment. It had more relevance when photographers shot one frame at a time on film. Nowadays, digital mirrorless cameras can shoot streams of 30 frames a second or more, a process known derisively as spray and pray. Some photographers spend less time “observing the wind,” figuring that the camera will drop the shutter in and around the once elusive decisive moment. To some degree, this works. Yet many great dance photographers I admire eschew this process. They say if you shoot rat-a-tat-tat you will rarely get the optimum moment, as it will fall between the frames. So great photographers make a practice of thorough preparation, keen observation, and standing at the ready to strike at the decisive moment.

Luck, it is said, favors the prepared.

As my friend Richard Tsong-Taatarii once cautioned, “Do you know what we photojournalists call lens caps? Too-late filters.”

In relationships, it is often said, timing is everything. And photography is all about relationship. The artistry of the photographer doesn’t start with the framing nor does it stop when the shutter drops. It contains the life history of the photographer and the subject, continues through the preparation for the shoot and afterward, through the processing, when an image might be “adjusted” to emphasize an aesthetic. This can involve cropping, color balance changes, sharpening or softening, retouching, removing distracting elements (unless the shooter is a photojournalist), converting to black and white or sepia or split-tone images, etc.

I have been shooting a variety of subjects lately: Two post-wedding parties for the daughters of some friends. A short visit with my eldest sister and her children. Four days of a dance production at Cinema Ballroom in St. Paul, Minnesota. A handful of “street” photos, shot in and around my favorite coffee houses, and a portion of an Argentine tango workshop.

Soon, I will be taking a step back. I am having cataract surgery and a total knee replacement in December, with a likely second total knee replacement 4-6 weeks later. But that doesn’t mean I will set aside photography. I will be reflecting on lessons learned and preparing the soil for the bounty still to come.

Outdoor portraits

A friend of mine recently hired me to photograph a friend and former colleague of hers who recently had lost both of her parents. She thought it might ease her friend’s grief and help her focus on her future. Her friend Kathy called a few days later and suggested we meet at a city park called Centennial Lakes in Edina, Minnesota. The park is 30 minutes from my home. I hadn’t been there before and because I would not have an assistant to move my gear, I brought a wagon packed with anything I might need. Most of it would go unused.

We met at 9:30 a.m. under a bright blue sky. The contrast between the highlights and the shadows under the trees and bridges was dramatic and required careful balancing. I had to shoot at higher shutterspeeds to keep the brights from washing out, and that meant using a strobe on high-speed sync to fill the shadows on Kathy without making her look like a deer in the headlights. I used a medium-sized, silver Profoto umbrella with a white diffuser to spread the light from my Profoto A2 strobe. It had the power and performance to pull this off without being overly heavy. I had it mounted on a lightstand and used a sandbag filled with metal shot to keep it from blowing over the breeze. The one time I forgot it did blow over, but thankfully, the fall was cushioned by the umbrella and some shrubbery. No harm was done.

Kathy and I walked through the park looking for open shade. I positioned her so the bright sunlight acted as a backlight, then placed the strobe slightly to her side, feathering the light across her. We spent about an hour, stopping at various locations and shooting just under 200 photos. Kathy made one costume change along the way.

Back in the office, I spent perhaps four hours culling and editing photos. I always shoot in raw mode, which captures the most data. My Capture One software enabled me to tone down excessively bright highlights when necessary. I was pleasantly surprised at the results.

The best thing about this shoot was taking the time to get to know Kathy a bit. She has a ready smile, despite her grief. The park was a place that she enjoys, which helped put her at ease.

I write this as we just passed the fall equinox. The leaves are beginning to turn. Farmers Markets are filled with the summer harvest. Families are looking forward to Halloween (el Día de los Muertos), Thanksgiving and religious holidays. It’s a perfect opportunity to make some year-end portraits. Let’s get together before time escapes us.

R-e-s-p-e-c-t

I finally did it. I photographed a wedding. Not a wedding, exactly. A reception. But the issues are the same. Weddings and similar rites of passage are events that cannot be reproduced. The pressure is on to get things right. Yet professional photographers know that things always go wrong. Missed focus, storage card failures, injuries, lighting disasters. It’s always something. So we plan ahead with redundancy in mind. Extra SD cards and batteries. Spare lenses and camera bodies. More lighting than we will every use.

And that says nothing about content.

When people asked me to photograph a wedding I had a standing response: I won’t photograph the wedding but I’d be happy to photograph the divorce. It was a rude joke meant to tell those who ask, don’t ask. There are wedding photographers who thrive on the stress of shooting these events. It’s a highly developed skill and I admire them. You can find these amazing artists by Googling world’s best wedding photographers and similar phrases, plus your location. Minnesota is full of wedding photographers, and many of them are highly skilled.

Even so, some dear friends asked me to photograph their daughter’s wedding reception after the photographer they had initially hired had to bail out on short notice. I had known the bride practically since she was born. I reluctantly agreed. They assured me that whatever I could get would be fine. I loaded up my car with enough gear to shoot five receptions and headed out on a 175 mile drive to Island Lake, Minnesota. The reception was at a lakeside home owned by the bride’s maternal grandmother and her husband. The incessant summer rain had threatened but the weather broke right on cue, providing beautiful skies and temperatures for the entire event.

I did my best. The photos captured the spirit of the reception but I wouldn’t compare them to the work of those who do this for a living. I am happy to leave this sector of photography to the experts as I return to my humble pursuit of photographing dance, portraits, headshots and street scenes.

It’s not too early to book your family portraits for the holidays.

I’ve got eyes for you

I am preparing to shoot a wedding reception in a few days so I haven’t been actively seeking clients. Even so, I like to keep busy.

My jujutsu instructor recently asked me to come to his annual clinic, Camp Kodenkan Midwest, near Duluth, Minnesota. My body has some infirmities that make me reluctant to practice martial arts anymore but I figured I could contribute some photos and get some restorative bodywork — a tradition in Danzan Ryu jujutsu — in the process. In short, I made the daytrip and exercised my shutter finger. As you can see, these are just grab shots, but they kept me looking through the lens.

Then a friend I know through Argentine tango asked me to make her headshot. It was Saturday, and I asked when she’d need it. “I have to send it in on Monday,” she said. Yikes! I told her to come to my place Sunday morning and we’d get it done. I sent her off with a USB drive with the images she needed for what she hopes will be her new job.

Rachel Sayre

In between assignments I like to visit area coffee shops, read a book, and do a kind of street photography. It’s a fairly new interest of mine. Sometimes I just observe. And when I do end up shooting, few of the capures are what I’d call successes. Still, it’s an opportunity to train the eye.

I am reading a biography of the great photojournalist W. Eugene Smith titled, Let Truth Be The Prejudice. It underscores the fact that I am a dabbler compared to an iconic photographer like Smith, who dedicated his entire life to the work. Nevertheless, I persist. I’m keeping my eyes open for you.

The shadow knows

Bus stop shelter, Minneapolis

If God created the world ex nihilo, meaning out of nothingness, then who created the nothingness?

If God is all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere, and if there is evil in the world, then our God-given logic leads us to conclude that God also must have created evil.

I have grappled with these concepts for as long as I can remember. I have studied the great thinkers on these subjects. Now I am thinking that the way to understand the apparent duality is to step back and realize that light and dark, good and evil, are just aspects of the same thing. I believe it was Thomas Aquinas who concluded that because everything that God created was good, then evil was the absence of good; a failure to live up to the full expression of being human.

Om mani padme hum. Yin and yang. In and yo. Inside and outside. Negative and positive. Male and female. Mind and matter. What we see when we divide the whole this way is the relative strength of one polarity in contrast to another. Yet it’s a false dichotomy. We look at each aspect separately in an effort to understand it, then we seem to forget that it only exists as part of a whole.

Photography is writing with light. But what gives an image character is “the shadow aspect.” I recently enter a juried photo competition by that title. My self-portrait, with the faint shadow of a skull, projected through a Day of the Dead paper banner, was among those selected for an exhibit at the Praxis Photo Arts Center in Minneapolis. The opening reception is Aug. 17, from 6-8 p.m. The show runs through Sept. 14.

It’s my second showing of an image there. I confess I don’t understand what gains recognition at these photo competitions. The self-portrait wasn’t my favorite image among those that I had entered, which you can see here:

I also entered a competition titled “Motion Blur.” None of my work, seen below, was selected for that show. I was somewhat surprised because I am happier with this work than I am with my earlier winning entries. Perhaps this is just the negative contrasting with the positive. I’ve entered four competitions so far and have come out with two positive results and two negative results.

In other words, perfect balance. We shall see what lies ahead.

Getting to Yes*

Elsa Browning Boucka and Dicke Boucka celebrate their marriage at a reception on a Paddelford Riverboat in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* My apologies to authors Roger Fisher and William Ury, who wrote a fabulous book by that title on how to negotiate for anything without giving in. This column has to do with the negotiation that takes places internally when someone asks you to do something and your reflex is to say no.

After my wife died, I considered some of the mistakes I’d made during our 23-year marriage and vowed that in the future, if someone I cared about asked me to do something, then I would say yes unless I had a darned good reason to say no. Inertia doesn’t cut it. Trying to live this way has opened me up to new experiences and people and has nearly always made my life better.

Lately, I’ve been too busy to make many photographs because I’ve been facing a deadline: my daughter’s July 13 wedding reception. I’ve been painting my house, cleaning and redecorating to welcome guests. I’m happy to report that the reception went off without a hitch, which is a miracle considering the inclement weather and flooding that surrounded it. We boarded a riverboat in St. Paul for a sweet cruise and sit-down dinner with nearly 100 friends and family who came from as far away as Gabon, Africa, Paris, France, and from coast-to-coast in the United States. The party at my house afterwards was a blessing, and allowed me to offer headshot “party favors” to anyone who wanted one. Some did, as you can see from the gallery here.

I brought my camera and made a few snapshots of the bride and groom before the photographer they’d hired came over and asked if I was going to be her competition. I assured her that I was not. I did not want to add to her angst.

Which brings me to the title of this column. I have sworn that I’d never photograph a wedding for hire (though I like to joke that I’ll photograph divorces). The stress of getting things right is too great. Even so, I have agreed to photograph a wedding reception in August for the eldest daughter of some dear friends. The photographer they had planned to hire bailed on them and they asked me to step in. I could never turn them down, so I said yes. With luck, I’ll have something to share here after that event.

I am not a wedding photographer. I have the utmost respect for what they do, but the thought of doing this just about makes me break out in hives. Of course, that makes me look forward to it in some strange way. I do love a challenge.

Speaking of which, I am once again free to book new photographic assignments. If you want a headshot, a portrait, or documentary style photos for your website, please consider my work, then give me a call if you like what you see.

Just don’t ask me to shoot something dangerous. I just might have to say yes.

Change of pace

Sea Horse. Found object, Grand Marais, Minnesota

Things have slowed down for my photography as I work on painting my house in advance of my daughter’s upcoming wedding reception. I decided to paint her old bedroom a neutral gray and turn it into a headshot studio. I have a much larger space in the basement to use when needed, but the ceiling is lower, which makes it hard to get my key light as high as I want when using larger modifiers.

I’ve been filling my creative time by taking some street photos, mostly in local coffee shops. (You can see a selection above.) The clientele at these neighborhood hangouts differs markedly and is ripe for documentation. I’d love to produce a book on the cafe culture of Minnesota. We’ll see. But given my current level of distractedness, it probably won’t happen.

Meantime, I decided to enter a juried photo contest at Praxis Gallery. I managed to get one image in the show, which runs through July 13 — the date of my daughter’s reception. The range of images in this juried show is impressive and inspiring. I am posting all of my entries here. If you have followed my work you may recognize them.

I have decided to throw my ego to the wind and entered another of the juried shows. This one is titled, “The Shadow Aspect.” It appeals to my love of chiaroscuro, especially that of the Dutch master painters. In a similar but inverted way, I love the use of empty space in Chinese and Japanese paintings. The contrast creates a penumbra transitioning between light and dark, absence and presence. It would feel great to have one of my images selected for this show but I’m not counting on it. There are so many great and creative photographers.

Generally speaking, I move on after I finish editing a photo. I suppose it’s a good thing to be compelled to take another look at my own work, and to see the work of others who tackled a similar theme. That said, it’s important to remember the wisdom of the Desiderata, especially this passage:

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. — Max Ehrmann, c. 1927

La pisada

Jay Abling and Rachel Moon teaching at a Tango Basics “boot camp” at the Minneapolis Center for the Performing Arts.

The most basic step in Argentine tango is la pisada, the walk. It derives from the Spanish word for step - pisa - and is related to the word for floor - piso. It involves the change of weight through the standing foot to the moving foot. As simple as that is, it can take a couple of years of regular practice with a master instructor to develop a good pisada.

David Wolf and Connie Cohen enjoying a dancing at the recent Grand Milonga in St. Paul’s Historic Triune Masonic Temple.

Readers of my blog know that I photograph all types of dance. Argentine tango is among the most challenging to photograph because it’s difficult to capture the sentiment of the dance, which is the dancers’ expression of the music in a small, intimate abrazo, or embrace. “Show tango,” developed for the stage, can be just as exciting as ballroom dance. But the essence of Argentine tango is social dance, usually on a crowded floor. “Milonguero” tango - old style - emphasizes a close embrace. “Nuevo” tango - modern style - allows for a relaxed or even an open embrace. Regardless, all styles of tango emphasize the importance of the pisada.

The Kingfield Ensemble wrapping up at the Parkway Theater at the close of the Minnesota Tango Music Festival on May 11, 2024.

I recently was asked to photograph a concert of several Argentine tango music groups and a large tango dance with live music. I also was asked to photograph Gri Montanaro and Gastón Torelli — two master tango instructors visiting from Bueno Aires — to document their first trip to the United States. This follows my recent completion of a project to photograph 10 different dance groups at the Tapestry Folkdance Center in Minneapolis.

Gri Montanaro and Gastón Torelli, master instructors from Buenos Aires, at the Lake Harriet Bandshell.

All of this leaves me reflecting on what I’ve learned. I realize it all comes back to la pisada. Gastón Torelli told the dancers in one of his classes that they will come to a moment when they’re lost in their dance. Either they’re thinking of their next move, hanging on to an error they just made, trying to figure out what their partner is doing or simply experiencing a brain freeze. In those moments, he said, just find the beat in the music and STEP. The dancer steps to the beat, then progresses to find the axes — the partner’s axis as well as their own. Beat, axis. Beat, axis. The pisada is the process where that takes place.

I am now listening for the beat in my photography. I recently attended a talk on street photography by the photojournalist Jefferson Wheeler at the Praxis Photo Arts Center. The gallery was in the process of putting up a new installation, so I was able to take in two full shows all at once. The quality and variety of work was impressive. I left thinking that I had much to learn. Pondering that, I remembered the pisada.

A dance is composed by moving from one foot to the other. It’s may sound trite, but it really is about the journey.

Gri Montanaro and Gastón Torelli, master tango instructors from Buenos Aires, strike a pose at the Walker Art Center’s sculpture garden.

The Kaleidoscope

Photography offers us a window through which we can isolate the world and our positions in it. We release the shutter and freeze time, allowing us to appreciate the discreet moments that flow one into another.

When I was a boy my father gave me several glass prisms and demonstrated how they could “break” the white light we see into its rainbow components. Later, my mother gave me a kaleidoscope made of stained glass and mirrors that created a jumble of colorful designs. I loved the colorful creations these devices revealed. Standing back, I could see that what makes the whole are myriad parts, each with its own expression. I am mindful of this as I reorient my photography business toward creativity, even at the expense of profitability.

I’ve been busy making dance photos for clients, but I also am taking my cameras with me wherever I go. Some days I grab street shots. Some days I photograph friends — gratis. And some days I just look around and try to see the world with fresh eyes, leaving my camera on the table. I feel refreshed and look forward to shooting more than I did when I was constantly trying to justify my work within the confines of a business plan. Ultimately, I believe this works better for my business as well. But I have detached myself from the outcome to savor the process.

I now have time to consider the meaning of my work, and my existence here in this time and place. The story remains incomplete. The viewers of my images will fill in the details — or not. I no longer will worry about that.

I am reminded that the meaning of life is living. And no matter how many times we get distracted by the jetsam of daily living, we can always step back, look, and see.

Change of plans

After meeting with my financial advisor, I have decided to scale down my photography business rather than close it this year. What does that mean? Reluctantly, I have ended my studio lease in Minneapolis. When I need a studio I’ll just rent by the hour or shoot on location and charge my clients for any related expenses. I also have eliminated my expensive, redundant online backups. I’ll just do manual backups and store the data off-site so that if disaster strikes my network-attached storage (NAS) drive — which already creates a mirror image of all my work at home — I’ll still have off-site redundancy.

So what prompted this change? The year started out strong with several clients seeking photos, ranging from portraits to marketing images to documentary style photos of group dance classes. This is the kind of work I would have continued to do in any case. Of course, I would have declared all of the income, but keeping my business open allows me to continue deducting expenses, which I have scaled back, for income tax purposes.

So there you have it. I am happy to take on any portrait and headshot assignments. I also will be doing a lot more personal work, including dance photography and street photography. I might even throw in some abstract, landscape and still life photographs. The point is, I will let creativity drive my decisions of what to photograph.

Our time on this earth is short. Let freedom ring.

Adios

As the end of the year draws to a close I took some time to reassess my photography business. After starting up in the face of COVID and pursuing the growing business through my spinal surgery a year ago, I have decided to face reality and close up shop. I have cancelled my studio lease as of January 31, 2024.

Truth be told, while I love photography more than ever, I don’t love marketing enough to make this into a viable career at my age. I have no doubt that if I had started the business at a younger age I’d be doing fine. But I am a realist. At 68, I just want to shoot what I want to shoot.

What this means for those of you who still want me to take their photos: Nothing will change. I will still be making photographs and yes, charging for them. (I will still be reporting any income to the IRS. However, I won’t be deducting expenses.) I will convert my photographic activities to a hobby. This way, I won’t have to track my expenses or try to justify my purchases. I won’t need to spend money on signage, professional services and rent. I can cut costs by canceling my expensive business backup plan (though I continue to maintain redundant backups in my home).

I am grateful to all of you for supporting me and Danzante Photography LLC and hope we will continue making photographs — and memories — together in this, my second retirement.

The photos posted with this blog entry were my last professional shoot of the year. Special thanks to Bonnie Burton and Ed Soltis for making it happen.

Giving back

The Klingbeil Family

When my friend and fellow Argentine tango dancer Shandy Potes Mangra asked me to take some family photos for clients of the nonprofit Angel Foundation, which supports adults diagnosed with cancer, I said I’d be happy to do so. Then she told me it would be unpaid, and I said regretfully that I couldn’t do it. I have to make money from my photography to keep it going, I explained. She said she understood, and thanked me.

My assistant, Susan Martin, left, with Angel Foundation Health Equity & Community Outreach Manager Shandy Potes Mangra.

When I thought about it some more, I got a visit from the spirit of my late wife, who died in 2014 from frontotemporal dementia and ALS. After she died, I vowed that going forward, if I was ever asked to do something new I’d say yes — unless I had a good reason to say no. I told Shandy I had changed my mind.

Naomi Moturi, adult and family programs manager for the Angel Foundation, scheduled the shoot for 5-8 p.m. on Sept. 21. Initially, 24 families with 111 members had signed up for the “Making Memories” photo session! I was starting to dread the assignment. As it approached, however, Moturi said the list had dwindled to 16 families and that fewer than a dozen might show up. These families are dealing with incredible stressors and illness, so that’s not unusual, she said. I was relieved.

The Pressgrove Family

My assistant, Susan Martin, helped me set up an hour ahead of schedule and we waited. No one showed for the first hour. Only five families arrived in the remaining two hours. One arrived in three cars, with 19 members, ranging from infants to adults. (They noted that several others couldn’t make it!)

The Page Family

The Schuldt family

Despite the low turnout, Susan and I got a lot out of this assignment. We met some wonderful families and shared in their circles, if only briefly. No one mentioned the gorilla in the room: cancer. They simply enjoyed one another, and it showed.

The Pezerovic family

While I cannot afford to do this kind of work for free very often, I’m glad I agreed to do it this time. So many things are worth more than money.

Reflections

Window light on plaster.

I decided to go through some old photos and take stock of what brought me to this point in my photography. I started with some abstracts, as I am reading a new book about Minor White, a former editor of Aperture magazine who was an early influence on me. His work, blending Zen thought and photography, is profound. I then moved on to a folder labeled “work”, and found many photos I had forgotten about.

These photos were photojournalism, mostly from the end of my career as a reporter for the Star Tribune newspaper. I was pleasantly surprised by the storytelling evident in these images. Most of my career was spent in what we called “hard news.” I investigated governmental malfeasance and misfeasance, and like all reporters I covered crime, disasters and a smattering of feature stories that happened to cross my beats. My favorite work centered on exposing white collar crime, and when I tell tales about my career I tend to focus on those stories. I was not the photographer for these “big stories.” We relied on staff photographers for that, for good reason.

At the close of my career I covered “Outstate” Minnesota, meaning anything outside of the Twin Cities. This involved reporting simple but somewhat interesting stories that were often little more than space fillers for our Minnesota page. This is when I got to contribute my own photos. Our full-time photojournalists were busy covering bigger stories and they didn’t have time or the inclination to travel great distances for minor stories. At the time, I didn’t think much about this work; it was perfunctory. But looking back at the images I realize what an honor it was to be let into the lives of these strangers, some under duress, yet like all of them, full of hope that this reporter/photographer from “the cities” could help them in some way. As I look through the images I wonder what became of the people who let me into their lives. I know some of them have died. Others have moved to new stages in their lives, as I have. Perhaps we will cross paths again one day. If so, I hope I have my camera with me.

Below is a gallery of some of those images. I hope you will forgive me for including some images of my colleagues, who made this work possible, at times thrilling, and always enjoyable in retrospect.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Negative space

It seems I have had nothing to say for awhile, so I hope you appreciate that I did not feel compelled to write something just to fill a blog entry. The term itself reveals its dispensable nature. Blog: A blah log. Take it or leave it, yadda yadda. Yet while nothing much has been happening to me of general interest, babies were being made and born. Great minds and bodies have gone to rest. Wars have been fought. Spectacular sporting events have taken place. Lovers have found one another, or bid one another adieu. All the while, our world spun relentlessly, edging toward its demise. I say our world because there are undoubtedly others out there in the vast reaches of the universe. We are significant, but in miniature.

Too much to contemplate? Then turn inward and start there.

We started in space and as a photographer I pay close attention to it. In the studio, I start every session by setting my camera so that no ambient light encroaches. I then add light to carve out my subject and transmit my vision.

The word photographer means a person who writes with light. The only light I want in a scene is the light I put there, or allow in. Without darkness there is no definition to light; It’s just a blob of energy. Light needs dark to reveal itself.

My photography lately has been workman-like. I made some headshots of three lawyers for a marketing brochure. I made some portraits of an amateur ballroom dancer and her professional partner. I grabbed some snapshots at Argentine tango practices and parties. And I shot some personal photos, seen here, of a friend’s expansive garden. The work was good enough but it’s not the stuff of dreams. There was no Mona Lisa in the bunch; no Monet’s garden. Nor should there have been. It was journalism. In French, Arthur Schopenhauer wrote, the term means day labor. It is the lowest form of writing. And yet, journalism has brought kings to their knees and presidents to ignominy.

Daniel Norton, a New York photographer and educator, suggests making time at the end of commercial photo sessions for some personal experiments. Many will fail. But that is the negative space against which art might emerge.

One of my tango teachers recently showed me a print that another student had given her. It was a simple black and white photo of some leaves. We stood before it for a moment and I realized that the composition is what made the image work. The light traveled along the shadows of the leaves, tracing a golden spiral. I left her home refreshed, eager to get to work.

House detail, south Minneapolis, Minnesota.

I’m back!

Mishiko Bregvadze and Alena Khoroshevtseva put on impressive demonstrations at Go Wild! Minneapolis Dancesport.

It’s been a minute since I’ve written in this space. I’ve been busy, though I’d be hard pressed to say with what. Suffice to say I haven’t had much to say so I took a break.

I recently photographed a ballroom dance competition called Go Wild! Minneapolis Dancesport, and boy did the dancers live up to the name. You can see most of the results here https://danzantephotographyllc.shootproof.com/gallery/21482145 Many of my photos were sent directly to clients who pre-booked my services for exclusive coverage of their rounds, so those images are not included in the gallery behind the link.

Amateur dancer Ed Fukunaga with his pro partner Shelley Judd at Go Wild! Minneapolis Dancesport 2023.

I find this concierge service more rewarding, both financially and artistically. It allows me to concentrate on just one couple at a time on the dance floor. The ad hoc photos of various dancers, shot at random, also can be great but the exclusive service offers more personal attention. My clients seem to like it as well.

I also brought my kit to a recent Argentine tango milonga (party), which was held at a private residence in the Minneapolis suburbs. Not many homes have such a nice ballroom, with large, inlaid wood floors and an alcove for a live band. Regular readers may recall that I have launched a personal project on Argentine tango and its many facets. This milonga is one I will not soon forget.

It’s been too long since I’ve made any portraits or professional headshots. I currently have some openings in my schedule so if you’ve been thinking about it, please reach out.

I’m available for studio or location work, including family reunions and other events. Give me a buzz or drop me a line

Beach Bash

In 2017 I competed as a novice “bronze” dancer in four different styles (American Smooth, International Standard, Rhythm and Latin) at the annual Ballroom Beach Bash, a DanceSport competition in San Diego. I won a number of trophies and accolades that year, not knowing at the time that part of the glory was simply because I had entered so many different dances. (The top competitor awards are skewed toward the dancers who compete the most, rather than those who place in the top spots most often.) I had entered as many dances as I could afford in 2017 because I had a number of ailments at the time and thought I might be dying. And also because I suspected that my pro partner, Nicole Piechowski, was planning to quit her job in St. Paul, Minnesota, and move to California, a suspicion that later proved to be true.

Fortunately, I overcame my health concerns and continued dancing. This year, I returned to the Beach Bash as a silver-level competitor in three styles (Smooth, Standard and Latin) with my pro-partner Grace Jungers. We did exceedingly well in individual events, but this time I did not win any overall awards because I aimed for quality rather than quantity.

Pro dancer Eric Hudson with amateur Annabel Bavaud in 2017.

During my first Beach Bash I also photographed my friends who were dancing. I was just getting into dance photography but I was reasonably happy with the results and gave the images away. My friends encouraged me to do more, launching me into what later would become my business, Danzante Photography LLC. This year, I didn’t try to photograph the pro-am events because I hadn’t arranged to do so in advance with the floor photographer, a master craftsman named Stephen Marino. He told me the professional events were fair game, however, and I gladly shot them on two nights, together with a few evening events featuring serious amateurs who are on their way to become pros.

It’s safe to say that both my dancing and my dance photography have come a long way since 2017. I am posting a gallery below of my most recent shots.

My next photography assignment will be in Sacramento, working as the official photographer for the American Judo & Jujitsu Federation’s annual convention. Please stay tuned. If you have any dance events you want photographed, or if you want portraits or professional headshots to update your brand, please let me know as I am back working again after recovering from spinal surgery. You can see my work in those categories by clicking the links above.

Let’s get personal

Rob Peterson and Shauna Dodge demonstrating tango artistry.

Anyone who spends much time as a photographer will tell you it’s important to have a personal project going. It refreshes perspective and creativity and reminds you of why you love this artform. A personal project can free up your mind because you don’t have to please a client; you can just play.

I recently started a project photographing Argentine tango. I went to a few parties, called “milongas”, and made some images. Next, I asked some friends to pose for me in the studio. This is just the beginning. I plan to shoot many more dancers, both on location and in the studio, before I’m done. I expect to pursue this project through the end of the year, when I plan to go to Buenos Aires, the birthplace of Argentine tango.

The dance has a few different forms. When you ask anyone to describe Argentine tango in general they offer adjectives like sexy, intimate, passionate, intense. “Show tango” can be flamboyant, and in a way, it’s easier to photograph because the dancers often come apart and you can see both of their faces. Traditional tango, by contrast, is done in a close embrace, making it hard to get both faces in the shot. Show tango travels across the floor in sometimes dramatic fashion, with climactic dips and lifts. Whereas traditional tango travels around the edges of the dance floor in smaller, constrained moves punctuated with elegant flourishes, foot play, and embellishments.

I’m looking for models. If you can embody this dance and want to pose for me please let me know. I cannot pay you but will exchange digital images for your time and your release allowing me to publish the photos.

Intimacy

I recently began a personal project photographing Argentine tango, a dance style I have been seriously studying only since September. The dance is characterized by a close embrace, though there are extended forms allowing flourishes by the dancers. The dance has been called a “three-minute affair.”

What captivates me about this dance, however, is the inherent intimacy between the partners. While it certainly can be sexy at times, intimacy is more than that and doesn’t need to be sexy at all. It’s a meeting between two beings, an interaction that fosters a sense of understanding and trust. Without that intimacy the dance is just a mechanical display of technique that leaves one disappointed in the missed opportunity.

In that sense, it’s like portraiture.

When I make a portrait I am seeking that common bond between my subject and my vision of the person. To do that we need to drop our guards, if only for a moment. You can project any image of yourself that you like, but behind the chimera you create is your true self. If I do my job right the viewer of the image will get a glimpse of that and want more. Portraiture does not seek to project an image, but to celebrate the person before us. If that’s not intimacy I don’t know what is.

Come along for a ride with me as I embark on this photographic journey through Argentine tango. I expect it to take me at least through November, when I plan to travel to Argentina to explore the native roots of the dance. I will be shooting at a variety of locations in the meantime — at my studio, at milongas (dance parties) at practicas (practice gatherings), and on location. If you’re a dancer and want to participate, please reach out to me.

Of course, I am still a working photographer seeking clients for headshots, portraits and events, particularly those involving any type of dance and athletics. I am proud to announce that I will be traveling to Sacramento at the end of April as the official photographer for the American Judo & Jujitsu Federation’s annual convention.

Some final thoughts: Jean Paul Sartre explores the nature of consciousness in his book, Being and Nothingness. He contrasts the existence of an unconscious being, such as a rock, with the conscious being of a human. We humans are always trying to understand our true nature by comparing ourselves with the world around us. Essentially, we are trying to achieve that simple experience of being that we share with a rock, but which is often obscured by what Buddhists call our “monkey mind.” Buddhists seek nirvana through mindfulness and meditation. Sartre suggests that we come closest to understanding our true nature in moments of extreme pain or ecstasy, when we cast off our ego, if only for a moment.

Perhaps he’s right. But I would argue that practicing intimacy is another way to reveal our true nature.

En avant

Ana Santos, wearing her mother’s dress and wedding veil.

When Ana Santos emerged from the dressing room wearing a white tutu trimmed in gold and a matching leotard I took a deep breath. It had been awhile since I had photographed a ballerina, and I wondered if my plans would measure up. We weren’t going for any artsy invention, but rather, something clean and simple to show the grace and budding beauty of this hard working 12-year-old.

Test shot of Ana Santos.

As I was testing my lights she rose en pointe and I quickly hit the shutter. It was the first image of a two-hour session and I knew it was a keeper. Her nonchalant expression contrasted with a posture developed through years of sacrifice and hard work. She looked as though she was standing in the kitchen waiting for a snack.

I asked Ana what music she would like to hear and she chose Lizzo. We worked steadily through a variety of poses and leaps against black, gray and brick backgrounds. My assistant, Amanda Joy Redd, monitored my laptop for exposure, framing and wardrobe issues as Ana’s mother, Ligaya Carlos, herself and accomplished dancer, offered suggestions and corrections.

We worked fast for two hours, as we had to pack up quickly to clear the studio for another photographer. (I share studio space with several other photographers in Northeast Minneapolis.) I am posting my personal favorites in the gallery below. Enjoy. Contact me if you’re interested in dance photography, portraits or headshots.