Dance Comp, photos ! Any here to study! asap!

[guitarbug]

I was wanting to look at any dance competiton images that may have been posted here! For intencive study.lol!!!!!!!!!! Just want to get a idea of what I will be shooting this weekend and get some ideas! Thanks, you have help me in the past, don't let me down now! lol! Sorry, I think I am loosing my mind from over stress!

[carrbowl]

Hey Chris..your stress is wearing on your typing skills Did you mean to say you are doing some shots for a competition for dance this weekend...and you want some samples??? Do you know what kind of dances they are doing? I am doing some research myself and have some websites that might be helpful if you give me some more info.

[guitarbug]

Thanks Renae! I got this a little late. I am back now and it went well! Crazy, but well! It was not the actual photography that was the problem, it was the uploading of 11,000 images of Dancers that I shot 1 after another from sun up to way past sundown! It was the Nationals for the MA Dance company out of Plano bieng held in San Antonio this weekend. I shot all the soloist! I got real good at it after about 5-10 people! You start to anticipate thier every move and manage to predict what they will do next! Oh yea! It was School of dance type of dancing, kind of like cheer or rockets style. I am not of the school of dance, so I am lost at what to call it! It was very fun, but grooling work.

[engstrom]

Chris, what len(s) did you end up shooting with? How were your exposures? When do we get to see the pictures?

[guitarbug]

Hey John! I ended up using a Cannon with a F2.8 28-70 I believe! It was not because my lens or camera would not get a good exsposure, in fact I think my D80 with the Sigma 28-70mm was just as good if not better. The only thing was that they use a Mac with compact flash to upload the images straight to a mini hard drive on site. I shot about 11,000 images straight for 2 days morning to midnight with hardly any breaks! The lighting was not as bad as I thought, the only problem was the changing light from these giant windows on my left. At times I learned not to shoot the right side of the floor because it got a little darker at night. It was definitly a learning experience, I got into a rythum with the dancers and started to know what they were goimg to do next. It was real cool, I was the only one in the room allowed to photograph them and it seemed like the dancers would play up to the camera. I actualy felt like it was the dancer and I working together alone in the room with the rythum of the music keeping time of the whole shoot! It was pretty wild and I managed to get some great shots concidering the background was very complicated with curtains in the middle, windows on the left and a inlet with a piano on the right, all while a 30 MPH girl was in my viewfinder! The photos are all on 5 star media's hard drive and will not be posted on thier site until Wed I believe! I will post some when I get them! Thanks for your help! Oh yea, if I ever plan on a event like this again I may become a Cannon guy!

[tc82742]

MA is an insane competition anyway.
the one here in houston last month had two gyms going at all times.. and was soo stressful. my poor DD danced at 7am, and at 8pm.. we were there all day.
i cant imagine what it was like for the actual photographer..

[engstrom]

Congrats Chris - it sounds like you did well. As for shooting that many images, I guess you know why they paid you now.

[guitarbug]

Absolutley! Non-stop every 3 to 4 minutes was a new dancer then when that schools girls finished thier solos another would start! I almost quit smoking this weekend without even trying! lol! At one point I looked at the anouncer an gave him the cut throat look, then told him if we don't take a break someone is not getting thier photo taken! The compac cards could not keep up! So I got to go out for a smoke and a lousy chicken wrap for about 15 minutes! 2 days of this was just about all I could handle. They are going to have to up the anti if they want me to do it again! But like I said earlier, it was a great learning exsperience for me so for that I am greatfull!

[guitarbug]

Thanks John! Yea they are going to pay me a flat rate, but I would rather per image!lol!