Recent work - October 2017

Here's another selection of images taken over the past few months. There's something about taking commissioned work out of context and with less explanation than with a typical blog post, and putting them into these 'mixed bag' posts. Especially those shots may have come from larger series, but which would have been picked here as being the most interesting, the most representative of the set etc. Without some blog-type explanation, they could be anything, so you can see them on their own merits rather than as the usual (and rather boring-sounding), "examples of commissioned work". 

Tanguera

One of the posters currently around London advertising the show at Sadler's Wells. 

My original image, and (below) another from the set.

Battle

I came across one of these online the other day so dug out some more - they're from a dance competition a while back with a variety of styles for each battle, including Krump, Breakdance, Tutting, Boogaloo and House:  

1000 Pieces Puzzle

1000 Pieces Puzzle is a Belgium / UK dance & education exchange. Artists on the programme went on a two-week residency in Brussels and London, taking part in workshops around choreography and dance, as well as developing their entrepreneurial and leadership skills.

I photographed the culmination of the project, a performance at Rich Mix in Shoreditch:

Sadlers Wells workshop

Images from a workshop run by a dancer from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at Sadler's Wells for Mousetrap Theatre projects:

Physical Justice

A few images from Physical Justice, at East London Dance:

Red Channel

This was a (very quick) portrait of a dancer at East London Dance, where I was covering Collabo. I photographed her during the interval, although I took the photo really for myself: they tend to use the shots from the performers in action. I loved the dark red wall with her makeup:

I knew the makeup was uneven at the time, but I also knew this could be tidied up quickly in photoshop, and extending it across the bridge of her nose using the same technique would be simple enough.

I was wrong. 

Playing around with blending modes, brushes and hues (for a lot longer than I'm prepared to admit), it still didn't look right. And no matter what I did, it was ever so very slightly asymmetrical.

I was beaten. So - as I always do when I have a PS problem - I phoned my friend James for The Answer. He told me that yes, it could be done - but it wasn't as anywhere near as straightforward as I'd thought, and I'd been approaching it wrongly anyway.

What do do... I liked the picture, but didn't have the patience to start again. Well, I'd been approaching it with the belief that was all about the makeup, that it depended on it.

But what if it didn't? 

Selecting the red channel (less than three seconds' work) pretty much took care of the issue in a couple of clicks, producing a rather different picture. I might yet hire James to take care of it as I'd envisaged it, but in the meantime I'm happy with the result:

Collabo

I was invited to East London Dance to cover Collabo, an annual collaborative and interpretative showcase between performers and choreographers.