Bollywood

aktse

I went to my second live bollywood production by an amateur production company that uses the performances as a fundraiser for a charity benefitting India. The dancers/actors are mainly engineers and programmers from the silicon valley and the lighting is done by volunteers.

Translation: Lighting is very uneven and you don’t know what to expect from the stage.

In general, I’ve learned that bollywood is normally built upon a romance story and then people break into song and dance at random moments. This production was built around a hip-modern Indian girl from England looking for a traditional Indian guy and a progressive Indian man who's pretends to be old-school Indian. Or, that's how I saw things in the beginning.

I must admit – I didn’t get the performance at all and I became *completely* lost me when the guy in the ski mask popped out. They background was a big screen and they showed a movie and then, the movie stopped and people came out to dance. And it felt more like modern-abstract dance/hip hop than traditional bollywood.

1. Opening Dance Sequence


2. Duet


3. Romance – I think


4. The guys


5. Ladies


5. Attitude


7. Completely lost – don’t ask me what this scene is about or how it fit in with a love story theme.


C&C welcomed.

Art Scott

A good job...but there are a few with the feet cut off and I would like to see waht the feet are saying also......from what I know of Indian Culture the feet are very important......well they are very important to all types of dance.
This is just my opinon not a carved in stone law...:D

Over all nice exposures thumbbow

I am just crazy about Eastern Indian culture and dance....even Bollywood.

firedancing4life

Great series...Love the color!

Nikolai

Good series, April! Thank you for sharing!

Awais Yaqub

Nice series !

dadwtwins

love #1 and #4 April. Never easy shooting in the dark with a fixed lens. Maybe someday they will come out with a lens 24-70 f1.2 Man the would be a huge lens but it sure would be nice in these situations.

Great job April

aktse

Art Scott wrote:

A good job...but there are a few with the feet cut off and I would like to see waht the feet are saying also......from what I know of Indian Culture the feet are very important......well they are very important to all types of dance.
This is just my opinon not a carved in stone law...

Ah yes. The all important feet! And I think it’s a very good opinion. I did get some with feet full intact.


I think most of my composition issues were caused by shooting with two prime lenses – 135mm f/20 and 50mm f/1.4 on my 20D and 40D. My other lenses weren't fast enough... I was more concerned about nailing the exposure than the composition since I had no control over what or when things happened on the stage.

The frames with the feet cut off were all shot with the my 135mm. Would it be better with a tighter crop? Waist up? Would that save the photos?

firedancing4life wrote:

Great series...Love the color!

Bollywood tends to be very colorful! If I remember correctly, you live in the bay area. Let me know if ever want to go on a local shootout or something.

Nikolai wrote:

Good series, April! Thank you for sharing!

Thanks Nikolai! It wasn’t an easy shoot and I just wanted to show some of the energy and culture.

Awais Yaqub wrote:

Nice series !

Is Bollywood just a Indian thing or do Pakistani culture have something similar?

dadwtwins wrote:

love #1 and #4 April. Never easy shooting in the dark with a fixed lens. Maybe someday they will come out with a lens 24-70 f1.2

If they ever made that lens, I think I would get it! I can never get enough light! And this is one of those time in which I had your D3 and ISO 6400!

Oceanlights

I just love Indian cultures and its traditions.


You caught good shots indeed and 4th photo is my personal favorite.