World Tutu day 2nd February
Well you probably know I love a good ballet shoot so it would be remiss of me not to publish a few shots in honour of World Tutu Day! It seems there is a day for everything now but I can get on board with this one.
Ballet is without doubt one of my favourite genres of photography but it is really difficult to get locations for it and work in the studio just seems lacking. The one exception to that was my very first ballet shoot with Freespirit at the amazing Natural Light Studio in Northampton but that was a tough day. Four hours driving each way, pretty much, to pick up Freespirit and then drive to the studio and back with a four hour shoot in the middle. Studio hire and model/dancer hire also makes it expensive. That particular shoot probably totalled up to the best part of £300 in total. That said, it was a fantastic shoot.
Next to my studio is Chatham House (although there seems to be many of those). It is an old Georgian building in need of a lot of TLC but has received some grants to carry out work on it. We have been lucky enough in the past to have access to it for a small fee. The old wooden panels in the first floor rooms make for a superb location but it is safe to say it is colder than my studio in winter! I have managed to do a few shoots in there though with the amazing Emma Day and Charlotte Rintoul.
The shoot with Emma came with other challenges as I had an idea for using helium filled balloons giving the impression Emma was being lifted off the floor. I had been planning it for a long time and got a bottle of helium for Christmas (yes I actually asked for it as a Christmas present!) By the time we shot, it was May, and I think half the helium has escaped and instead of dozens of helium filled balloons we had about 5 or 6. I actually hijacked my daughter's A Level project for the shoot with Charlotte but in fairness I had done most of the arrangements. My biggest regret on that one was not taking any shots where we used some smoke grenades but the ones Hannah got were fabulous.
I was also fortunate enough to be allowed to shoot in the the beautiful Nurstead Court near Meopham in Kent. This fabulous old house, used as a wedding venue, formed a spectacular background to my shoot with Nina Jess. Having shot there on a charity fashion show event I knew it would be a great place to do a ballet shoot.
It took forever, but at the end of 2020, I finally manage to do an outdoor autumnal ballet shoot. It was something I had wanted to arrange for ages and after finally getting a date in the diary with the lovely Sophia we still had to re-arrange a number of times due to pesky viruses and British weather. As part of this shoot I was introduced to 'shopping for tutus' and discovering the differences between pancake tutus, romantic tutus, bell shaped and doubtless many more.
Here then, is a brief gallery of tutus and dance skirts from these various shoots to enjoy. Click on an image to enlarge it in the Lightbox.
