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The Ones I Like List of 2008 – A Countdown [#7]

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on the eve of a swan song – I have to admit, when working with a human subject in my photography, nerves tend to get the best of me. This is none more true than when I am working with an artist whom I admire. That was clearly the case when I photographed Tyann Clement, a soloist with the Houston Ballet, for Downtown magazine this past fall. The assignment was to get some backstage photos of Tyann, photos that would be used in a Q&A type story about Tyann’s then upcoming retirement.

Before I go any further, I have to tell you that I love Edgar Degas. Love him. That should give you an inkling about the amount of pressure I put on myself for this shoot. I love Degas. And with Degas’ paintings, he set the bar pretty high for the rest of us who are trying to tell a two-dimensional story of a ballerina’s life. If we climb 20% of the way to the bar he has set, we’ll be doing pretty good. It’s not easy to bring something extra to a ballet photograph. Sometimes, when all the elements are there — the costumes, the pageantry, the lines — sometimes…getting an exceptionally interesting image is made all the more difficult. Easy is sometimes hard.

Out of challenge comes enlightenment. It was the night before this shoot, the nerve-racked night before this shoot that I learned how to use the exposure bracket on my camera. I also figured out the sweet spot, the perfect f/stop for the lens that I was using (f/8 on the Canon 17-40L for those keeping score). Finally, I committed to using a tripod — something that I had previously reserved for long-exposure water shots. I was going to do everything that I could to get the “technical” right, so I can focus on the composition without distraction. And the little bit of studying beforehand really did make a difference. (That and the fact that Tyann was incredibly gracious and easy to work with.) The photo shoot resulted in my favorite set of portraits to date, photos that I do think tell a story, that I do think rise to that 20%.

This leads me to my plans for the new year — it’s off to school I go. No turning back; I’ve already enrolled. While my degree-seeking days are over, I’ll always be up for a class or two. The particular class that I’m taking will run for a few months and will focus on lighting — all kinds of lighting. I’m not so much interested in studio lighting, but it sure would be nice to learn how to expose a daytime shot correctly. Uh…no…seriously. I’ve spent a great too many hours trying to correct improperly exposed photos. I’m enthusiastically looking forward to the class.

And before I finish up, I do want to give a mention that, coincidentally, today Tyann will be dancing in her last performance with the Houston Ballet — she’ll be dancing as the Snow Queen in the Nutcracker production. After the curtain falls, Tyann will be “hanging up” her ballet slippers for other pursuits — which will include finishing up her business degree, among other things. My best wishes for her going forward.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, December 28th, 2008 at 12:51 am. It is filed under My Favorites - 2008. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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About Katya Horner

Katya Horner, better known as "Slight Clutter" in the photography community, is a professional freelance photographer based in Houston who is as comfortable with editorial and commercial work as she is with fine art photography. Her photos have been seen in over 50 print and online publications.
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