Paying keen attention to the compositional designs of a dancer’s body motion, Richard Calmes has the ability to freeze the graceful motion of dance into a still image that allows the viewer a chance to observe the body’s form in a new way.  One glance at Calmes photography of dancers gives a respect to the fluidity and command that a dancer has over their body movements after time and much practice.

His work varies from studio work to location and performance work.  But in any setting, Calmes uses a fast shutter speed to freeze the motion of the dancer to produce a static and dynamic image.  Calmes work varies from artistic studio to documentary.  He chooses to bounce between photography genres and to concentrate on the subject instead.  To calmes it is the dancers and the motion that is consistent with his work.  But even his studio, performance, and location work all have a style that is unique and distinct.

Calmes uses a Canon 5D. The full frame sensor of the camera is known to produce vivid colors and a dynamic range of contrast and light.  Calmes preferred lens for his photography is the Canon L Series 70-200 F2.8 IS.  Calmes uses this lens to produce his location and his studio work, utilizing the available depth of field to separate the dancer from the background while gaining enough distance from the dancer to produce a visually pleasing perspective view.

You will notice that the majority of Calmes’ work is photographed indoor and typically on stage.  In order to freeze the motion of the dancers he must use a high shutter speed, a wide-open aperture, and pay close attention to the lighting.  In his on stage work, the dancers are lit from a variety of stage lighting.  This is often a difficult condition to shoot under without proper access and location and keen attention must be paid in order to achieve his style of stopping motion.

When comparing the contrasts between the locations and styles of Richard Calmes work, it is obvious that he goes past the boundaries of producing ordinary photographs.  Giving attention to color, detail, texture, and lighting, Calmes utilizes varied techniques combined with his professional equipment to produce a body of work that stands out from the crowd.  From the flowing waves of the dancers’ costumes, to the graceful movement of the dancers’ bodies, Calmes command of composition and stylistic grace matches that of his subject matter and enhances the experience of the viewer beyond that of the average photograph, transporting them to a world of color and mystique with a front row view into the world of dance. 

To see more of Richard Calmes' body of work visit his website at www.richardcalmes.com.

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written by critic, September 01, 2009

The photographs are wonderful; the writing sucks! Bad grammar abounds, as well as technical inacurracy. "This is often a difficult condition to shoot under without proper access and location and keen attention must be paid in order to achieve his style of stopping motion." Just what does that mean???

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