Chris Korsak

Portland Branding, headshot, and product photographer

Experimental long exposure portrait of a dancer named Heather

Dancing In The Park

June 26, 2021

I’ve been getting back into doing photo collaborations again and these photos are from a recent shoot I did with a dancer named Heather. We spent a couple hours in a local Portland park and created a variety of dance images from serene to eerie.

My intention for this shoot was to pair the look of a dark stage with some experimental lighting techniques I’m currently playing with. This look can be easily achieved indoors with low ambient light, but it’s not always possible on a sunny day. Since it was way too bright for this look at the beginning of our shoot, I decided to start simple and take some environmental dance photos to get into the flow.

Jumping in the air in a forested section of the park Dancing in the baseball field at the park

It was really fun to try and anticipate all of her jumps and twirls during the first part of this shoot. The setting sun also created a perfect counterpoint to all of the graceful moves I was documenting.

Tennis Court Studio

After the sun was low enough, we made our way to a tennis court in the park. To simplify the background for the remaining photos, I attached a black fabric to the chain link fence perimeter. It worked well enough, and that 10’ wide background was just enough to create some of the looks I had in mind for this shoot.

For one of my lighting setups, I set two colored lights on both camera left and right. Depending which direction she turned (below), her face was either red or cyan.

Experimental portrait photography using gelled speedlights Experimental portrait photography using gelled speedlights Experimental portrait photography using gelled speedlights Experimental portrait photography using gelled speedlights Experimental portrait photography using gelled speedlights Experimental portrait photography using gelled speedlights

For the last two photos (above), both colored lights are positioned camera left. This created some pretty interesting overlapping colors in the shadows.

Gjon Mili Inspiration

When putting together inspiration photos for this shoot with Heather, I came across photos by Gjon Mili. He was one of the first photographers to use electronic flash. He photographed Pablo Picasso, and Salvador Dali. He even assisted one of my all time favorite photographers, Edward Weston. Damn, what a resume! I’ve seen his famous stop-motion look a number of times, but I’ve never tried it myself. These photos are my first attempt at this technique, and I will definitely have to try this again.

Experimental portrait photography in black and white Experimental portrait photography in black and white Experimental portrait photography in black and white Experimental portrait photography in black and white

I love the complexity of shapes in the above photos. It’s like trying to solve a never-ending puzzle with your eyes!

Conclusion

Photographing a moving subject presents its own challenges, but it also opens up a whole new world of possibilities for my photography. I can’t wait to do more dance photo shoots in the future!

-Chris