Ranting Details

Baring It Again

Just wanted to share a few more photos from my Broadway Bares shoot!  I was lucky enough to have a handful of shots featured in a NY Times slideshow, which you can check out here!  I still can't believe I had the chance to photograph this event...

 





More (semi-nude) photos after the jump!!!

Dancing in the Woods

Here are a few shots from the performance of Avi Scher and Dancers that took place this past weekend at Jacob's Pillow!  More photos coming soon!

(Elysia Dawn)


(Abi Stafford and David Prottas)

(Alexsandra Meijer)

(Abi Stafford)

(Jared Angle and Alexsandra Meijer)

(Nancy Richer)

(Christian Tworzyanski and Melissa Hough)

Avi's Pillow

I had the pleasure of traveling to Jacob's Pillow yesterday for the first time to photograph Avi Scher and Dancers for a program called "Inside/Out."  Unfortunately, due to weather, the dancers were forced to perform in a studio (when they were supposed to be on the glorious stage you see in the last picture), but that didn't stop us from running out between downpours to snap a few shots! 

Jumping Keigwins

Let me put it in plain and simple terms: Keigwin and Co. are fierce, fierce, fierce.  Buy your tickets now and witness the fantastic new piece, Triptych, currently playing at the Joyce! 

Ingrid: Nordic Princess

Ingrid is a product design major at Parsons.  Ingrid made everything laying on the blanket.  Ingrid is fierce.  Ingrid is my Nordic princess. 

Triptych: Gun Assistant

Did a photo shoot today in the East Village (pictures coming soon) and was lucky enough to have the phenomenal Michael "Big Guns" Lowney as my assistant/stand in while my model was flirting with passerby traffic! 

Triptych: Triptych

Larry Keigwin's Company is just days away from the beginning of their 2009 Joyce Season, which means you still have time to buy your tickets!  I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek of the program (which includes his fantastic Bolero, Natural Selection, and Love Songs, as well as a world premiere of a piece called....Triptych, a word you Ranters know I have more than a passing familiarity with) and I can officially say that Keigwin and Co. are gonna blow the roof off the Joyce.  The dancers look stronger than ever (the new piece is especially hypnotic; an aerobic, technically challenging work), and Larry's choreography continues to evolve in delightful ways.  GRAB YOUR TICKETS NOW!  (More photos soon!)  Here are a few pics from Triptych!

Rated Fantastic

I was recently sitting in the Joyce Theater with a fellow photographer, discussing the mental focus it takes to shoot dance.  In all honesty, you have to stay so tuned in to every minor change of movement, every single body spinning around the stage, that you rarely get a sense of the complete piece, and while the act of photographing is extremely enjoyable, it's a different type of enjoyment than the type you get from watching a show.  Shooting music?  A different experience altogether, as I found out when I shot the unfathomably great concert: Rated RSO at Joe's Pub. 

A collection of music by the uber-talented Ryan Scott Oliver, Rated RSO still lingers in my mind over a month after I left the theater, a rare feat for anything I photograph.  Perhaps this stems from the fact that when shooting music, I'm more aware of when I've taken "the shot" and can then relax a bit and listen to what's being performed. (Helps when the performers aren't constantly moving around the stage.) And what a stellar performance it was.  From the cast of up-and-coming Broadway performers (not to mention the wonderful Kate Shindle, no up-and-commer) to Oliver's varied, clever collection of pop-rock showtunes it was by far the most enjoyable, well-directed musical theater concert I've been to in my years in the city. 

Apparently I wasn't the only one who was impressed.  Oliver's career is already starting to take off, beginning with a Playwright's Horizon reading of his show Mrs.  Sharp, starring Jane Krakowski and directed by none other than Michael Greif (Rent, Next to Normal). 

(Kate Shindle (center) and cast.)


(Geoffery Kidwell, Lyle Colby Mackston and Mat Burrow)


(Morgann Karr)


(Natalie Weiss)


(Katie Gassert, Arielle Jacobs and Grace Wall)


(Cait Doyle)


(Alex Brightman)


(Jay A. Johnson)

Picture of the Day: 6/15/09

(In honor of last night's True Blood season premiere...an outtake from my shoot with Jessica Hershberg and Jake Wilson.)

Trey Is So (serious)

During my first year in ABT I was lucky enough to be plucked out of the corps for a featured part in a World Premiere ballet: Trey McIntyre's Pretty Good Year.  Over six grueling weeks of rehearsal I not only had the chance to get to know a completely different vocabulary--one where legs and arms jutted out on unexpected counts and men lifted each other as much as they lifted the women--but I also had the chance to work with a choreographer I'd looked up to for quite some time.  As a fellow graduate of NCSA, Trey McIntyre was always someone I admired.  His patience and dedication to bringing out the best in the cast's young dancers--whom all had very little experience-- made my respect grow. 

Over the years I've encountered Trey on various occasions and I've had the chance to watch several of his pieces performed by companies all over the country.  One thing I hadn't done was photographed his work.  That all changed yesterday when I shot (serious), a piece on the program this week at the Joyce Theater, where the Trey McIntyre Project is making its New York debut. 

I was extremely impressed with the athleticism of the nine dancers that make up this fledgling company.  Fortunately, they all get a chance to shine, none more so than Jason Hartley (another NCSA grad), who devours the stage.  Watching the show last night, after photographing during the day, I was surprised at some key moments I missed in the piece...and others I wouldn't have expected to capture, yet somehow did.  'Tis the reality when shooting choreography you've never seen before, I guess.  Do yourself a favor and don't let the week pass by without seeing the work for yourself.  Just head to Chelsea and grab a ticket! 

(Jason Hartley)

(Brett Perry)

(Chanel DaSilva and Jason Hartley)

(Brett Perry)

(Jason Hartley)

(Jason Hartley and Chanel DaSilva)

(Jason Hartley)

(Chanel DaSilva and Jason Hartley)

(Brett Perry and Jason Hartley)

(Chanel DaSilva, Brett Perry and Jason Hartley)

(Chanel DaSilva and Jason Hartley)