Damian Woetzel at Boston Ballet
Last night Damian Woetzel was a guest dancer in Boston Ballet's Nutcracker. Damian is a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet and his performance here was a rare treat. The ballet wanted a photographer for this performance and they called me. Man, talk about pressure to get the shot. One performance only. Shoot during a real performance, not a rehersal, so I had to stay in my seat, all the way over on the right side. In retrospect, I might have used a longer lens, because the best shots I got of him where stage right (or is it left, the audience's left, anyway) on the other side of the stage and I ending up cropping quite a bit to get these. If I were a better photographer than I am, I'd have remembered this solo from the rehersals I shot and this out. Maybe.
Anyway, I did get some shots and the ballet is happy enough with them that they gave one to the Boston Phoenix to use with a review.
Anyway, I did get some shots and the ballet is happy enough with them that they gave one to the Boston Phoenix to use with a review.
If not now, when?
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I kid I kid...I was on the left side...we were the group that let out the big whoop when J. McPhee came up for his bow. Anyway, the dancing was great. I saw what you meant about the Arabian dancers, too, though it looked like they were different than those you shot before.
Great shots and congrats on getting the gig.
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I always wanted to see Rudolph Nureyev.Aha well.
That isn't the half of it. He's in Boston because he's getting his masters degree in public administration at The Kennedy School. There's more. See: this Boston Globe story about the performance.
Bill used to stand in the back with his camera on a tripod when he took photos for the Robert Ivey performances. Of course, the venues probably weren't as big as you were dealing with.
good shots! and congrats!
I imagine that your wife enjoyed it, too.
Did she warn you when he was about to fly?
ginger
Yeah, I know. It was an interesting situation. I was there at the request of the company. So it was their decision. I wish I'd had a less noisy camera. The 5D really does make a racket. I suppose I could have shot less often, but I was bracketing 'cause the light was so variable. I think if you were bothered, you could get tickets for another night. At least one person did get that offer. I don't know if she accepted. Rehearsals are just tons better. In this particular case, there wasn't one.
I got this of him:
Almost a completely different cast last night than on opening night. But the company has great depth these days and there is more than one dancer who can perform most of the big parts equally well.
Ian
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I looked at your gallery to examine the exif data. Most of these were shot wide open at f1.2 with the 85mm lens. That is exquisely shallow DOF and a rather slow focusing lens too. And the 5D is no race horse at focusing either - or did your 5D get faster after its near death drowning? I have very high regard for what you accomplished here in very difficult conditions.
I am surprised you chose the 5D rather than your 1DMkll. Apparently you wanted the higher pixel count rather than the slightly larger image with the 1.3 mag factor? Is the 5d quieter than the 1DMkll?? Or what?
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Thanks, Jim!
I'm just finding I get better low light performance with the 5D. And with the same pixel density, roughly, there is more image, more forgiving to crop.
Both cameras are loud. If anything the 5D is louder.
Ballet is lots easier to time than sports or wildlife. After all there is that music.
doesn't the 1ds have a "silent" shutter mode?
That rings a bell, but I can't put my finger on it. Probably if the iDs has the 1D does as well. That would be good to know about. How can it work without a mirror lockup?
Sony R1 doesn't have a mirror, can be as quiet as you like, but I don't think it would have been up to the task.
Anyway the damage is done now. I don't think they'll ever invite me back for a performance, but I think they will invite me to every dress rehearsal, which actually suites me.