Photo Stories
Retired photography teacher, Trevor, was asked by local parents to photograph their daughter’s dance sessions
One photographer gets his dancing shoes on and captures some groovy moves while another shoots amazing sculptures
After 36 years as a teacher, retirement provided the opportunity to do other things. I’d been interested in photography for about 15 years, using my Canon to photograph school proms and other school events, improving as I went.
During my last two years in teaching I took on one of my biggest challenges in teaching A-level Photography alongside my other responsibilities… When I retired, I decided to use my budding photography skills to set up my own “not for profit” photography business, Tjphotography, to raise money for a local disabled swimming charity. Through the generosity of a friend, I was soon able to open my own photography studio and offer portrait sessions, family photo shoots, and much more.
One day, I received a request from a former student, now a mum, asking if I would be willing to undertake a dance shoot with her eightyear-old daughter, Tabitha. Although I’d not done this before we gave it a go and produced some great photos.
She showed the pictures to her friends at dance school and this soon led to several other requests from mums for similar dance shoots for their kids. Izzy produced the most amazing shapes, which were even more dramatic when converted to black and white.
The studio lights were able to freeze the action of a dancer’s leap or spin, however it was not possible to use any burst mode on my camera indoors, as the lights needed a second or so to recharge. It became a case of trial and error, as the young dancers repeated the same movement until we were both happy that the perfect moment of the movement had been captured. They said that I was so patient