One of the highlights of the Darien performing arts year is the Darien Arts Center Dance Show, put on each October. This year, there were something like 18 different numbers, covering ballet, modern dance, hip hop, Indian Bollywood and other genres.

I had the privilege of photographing the dress rehearsal again this year. It’s a thrill to see how much fun the adult and youth dancers have putting on this show. Everyone’s enthusiasm was infectious.

Photographing a dance performance is difficult – I have so much respect for photographers who specialize in this work and do it well. They have to deal with poor lighting, strange lighting colors and fast moving subjects. Contrast that to my work in the studio where I have perfect lighting, colors I can control, and subjects that generally sit still !

For those of you who are interested in the technical details – I shot these images at ISO 4000. This produced some “noise” which I was able to reduce or eliminate in Photoshop Lightroom.

The other camera settings were generally: 1) manual mode, 2) shutter speed 1/800th of a second, 3) aperture F4.5, and 4) continuous focus.

To steady the camera, I used a monopod. A tripod would have been difficult, as the action moved so quickly. It would have been helpful to attend a rehearsal before the dress rehearsal, so I had some idea of the choreography and thus could anticipate the moves. This year, I was not able to do that, and so had to guess a bit as to where the action was going to be.

Congrats to all on a fabulous show!

Working both in the studio and on location, photographer Blake Robinson serves the Connecticut communities of Darien, New Canaan, Stamford, Norwalk, Westport and Greenwich.

“Individual, Indelible, Iconic Images”