As I’ve successfully passed all my exams in may 2018, I could concentrate my strenghts on the upcoming gala in Cracow Opera, that we had at the end of every school year. As I was spending now almost every minute in the rehearsal classroom, I knew the choreographies not only that I was dancing, but also my friends. And I have to acknowledge, photographing ballet dancers is very tricky. They are pure grace, beauty and joy, but often they have issues with their body image. They are always being told to lose some weight, not to eat before important performances and not to drink during the exercise - so the body isn’t cooled and you sweat out more. So when you show them the photos, they always see flaws!
As it happened, the big days came, I took my camera to the theatre wings with me and took the pictures in between the numbers, when I had a spare minute. It was the first time when I had a chance to experience capturing movement in the dark, environment and super bright stage lighting. It was a challenge, i didn’t know what ISO and shutter speed to put (and I had a cropped frame, DX, and could operate only on low ISO due to terrible grain. Also, I could make only few pictures, because my camera was everything but silent!! And I couldn’t disturb the audience or the young dancers concentrating all their human mind and body powers.
And about this time, I’ve made my first investment and bought a bright 50mm 1.8 lens, that made a huge difference in the quality of the photos. I never picked up the 18-105mm again.
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