Photographing a dancer

We spent a wonderful afternoon doing a photoshoot with ballet instructor Christian Dedeene at dance school Rose De Leyn in Brugge, Belgium.

I worked with Christian as he free-styled an impromptu choreographed piece for me. He was moving quickly. I worked with the available light, going with the flow. Technically it was challenging as I tried to balance keeping the ISO as low as possible against a high enough shutter speed to keep everything sharp.

I think our collaboration produced some interesting images. These images tell a story and are some of my favourites because of the gestures and intensity.

Before becoming a dance teacher, highlights of Christian's career included five years as solo and star dancer with Maurice Béjart's company. Béjart was one of the greatest choreographers of the last century, and Christian says he learnt a vast amount from the maestro. Christian regularly performs his own choreographed pieces.

We first met, 24 years ago and recently teamed up again. We are looking forward to collaborating in the future.

I love photographing dancers.

Till next time.

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