July 12, 2015 / / Dance

Dance of the Water Cranes

Yesterday I met up with Philippa Gjöres Clark, Johanna Lindqvist and Therese Larsson on Lidingö, which is a small island just east of central Stockholm. We had been brainstorming ideas, and decided to do a sunset photo shoot on a beach. We used an online sunset calculator to make sure we would have the right light. The previous days we had lots of rain here in Stockholm, but magically it cleared up for us and we got a beautiful evening. As it got darker we experimented with balancing the natural light with flashes. Here is a selection of my favourite photos, the best ones are towards the end.

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After looking at the first few photos we decided to try and incorporate the clouds in the photo’s composition.
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We spotted a puddle, and as some of you might know I love reflections.
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Therese Larsson posing with the setting sun behind her.
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Johanna Lindqvist. Here I am shooting vertically, to get more of her shadow in the shot.
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One more flying photo with Johanna Lindqvist.
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Therese Larsson stepping off a stone. I like how dramatic it feels.
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Therese Larsson in one of my favourite photos from the evening. Notice the reflection. We were timing the waves to get it. My jacket proved to be water proof.
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Philippa Gjöres Clark getting ready with the red bucket…
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The sun came in and out of the clouds, here we managed to time it when it was shining on Therese Larsson as she jumped.
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It was getting darker, so we decided to bring out the flashes and give them a try, here on Johanna Lindqvist.
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Philippa Gjöres Clark leaning/falling backwards into the water.
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Walking out on the stones.
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A bit of hadouken inspired photography.
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One more photo on the same theme.
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Philippa Gjöres Clark, lit from the left by an external flash.
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Johanna Lindqvist in her pimp outfit. That fur was great, and I like how the light from the flash plays with it. There are a few more photos with it later. Here we were borrowing a barbecuing family’s smoke for some extra atmosphere.
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Almost the same pose as the previous photo of Johanna Lindqvist but I like the framing in this photo better.
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Therese Larsson moments before I asked her to strike a pose. I like these (almost) candid photos.
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We first lit Therese Larsson from the front, but that put too much focus on the legs, so we moved the flash to the right side of the frame. With no light on the face it became more mysterious.
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Therese Larsson with a bit of water flying in the air.
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Philippa Gjöres Clark again falling backwards. Here we are trying to incorporate the stones in the framing.
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Another one of my favourites. Here Therese Larsson is jumping up and kicking water. We are lighting her with two flashes from the left and right.
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Johanna Lindqvist putting on the ballet shoes.
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Johanna Lindqvist on point.
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Philippa Gjöres Clark. I like the pose and the lighting of the skirt, only wish I had stepped back a little so as to get more of the reflection.
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Philippa Gjöres Clark
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We were experimenting with a tree stump and the pimp fur coat. Here a behind-the-scenes shot.
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The final fur coat photo with Johanna. Here because we were relying on optical flash triggers I had to photoshop Therese and Philippa from the frame. Need to buy me a new set of radio triggers.
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Philippa Gjöres Clark lit by one flash from the left.
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We squeezed in one last photo before leaving the beach just after 23:00.

This was my first dance photo shoot in Stockholm, it was a lot of fun! Many thanks to Philippa Gjöres Clark, Johanna Lindqvist and Therese Larsson!

If you want to see more dance photos, check out the dance category on the blog.

/Johannes

CategoriesDance Photography Stockholm

TagsJohanna Lindqvist Philippa Klondiras Therese Larsson

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3 Comments

  1. Dan T
    July 12, 2015
    Reply

    Mycket snyggt, igen! Fast det vete sjutton om jag inte tycker första bilden (hopp och moln) var snyggast. Förvisso i hård konkurrens.

    Nyfiken teknisk fråga: är alla blixtbilder tagna med ljuset direkt från blixten (/blixtarna)? Alltså, inga paraplyer eller så?

  2. Johannes
    July 12, 2015
    Reply

    Hej Dan! Tack så mycket! De flesta blixtbilder är tagna med diffuserkåpa, några med helt bar blixt, och sedan var det en bild vi testade med snoot:en för att begränsa ljuset. Vi har rätt hårda skuggor som du kan se.

  3. Dan T
    July 12, 2015
    Reply

    Ok! Hårda skuggor är väl en del av estetiken.
    Jag visade bilderna för Sofia (fru) också, hon var mycket imponerad.

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