I started taking pictures when I was quite young.  I imagine most photographers will trace their roots to their youth.  I still have the Brownie Starflash that was my first camera.  The subjects were typical – brothers, airplanes, cousins’ dogs, and the like.

After a long spell with a Kodak Pocket 110 Instamatic – everybody had one of those, right? – I graduated to an Olympus OM-1.  I still have that, too.  (The Olympus that is J.)  I was going to sports car races and airshows pretty often at that time.  Both of those subjects are fast paced, live events.  Sports car racing is “unrehearsed;” you never know what is going to happen.  I found the trick was learning the flow of the event, preset focus, preset the exposure and then shoot a fair bit of film.  Over time, I learned how to anticipate the peak of the action.  I didn’t have a motor-drive at the time, so that last bit was really important.

Fast forward a “few” years and my daughters are dancing and playing soccer.  Again, both fast paced, live events.  I was coaching soccer, so couldn’t do much with photography there, but dancing was something new to me.  Dance, particularly ballet, was dynamic, fast, fluid, and beautiful.  I found myself drawn to photograph it.  And the photo that clinched the deal – Suzanne Kritzburg at the apex of a grand jete – is at the top of this page.  She is much more beautiful than I am J.

There is a flow to the dance with peaks and valleys.  The performances are live, or rather, alive.  The dancer gives the performance life.  They cannot stop, back up, and do something over.  They must press on as if nothing was wrong.  I must be as much in the moment as the dancer is, with no chance to ask for another take.  I must press on as well.  In a manner of speaking, we work without a net.  If we miss it, the moment is gone.  For me, the trick is to anticipate the peak of the movement.  To predict the peak, I have to understand the movement.  The music will gives me a clue as well, so having a love of classical music has helped.  The dancer’s moment is where I live.

You, the dancer, and your art are what I am…