Shadow Dancers

Early on in my freelancing business, I had no idea what I was doing (I still don't know much, but I know a least a little more now). I had no mentor or support system. I had been working a regular job for years, so, both freelancing and marketing my photography services were completely foreign to me. 

As a mom of a daughter who did dance and sports all throughout her childhood, one idea I thought would be great would be to take action photos of young dancers or athletes so that their families could fully enjoy the recital/game but still have the memories later. I remember even talking about this to an random Uber client who was in town for his son's traveling basketball team and he thought it was a wonderful idea.

At first I had no idea how to let people know about this service.

However, two of my nieces took dance lessons at a very large dance school. The school's recital lasted a full day, with a mix of entire dance classes, duos, trios, and soloists taking turns to be on stage. It was a real event, nothing like a typical dance recital which usually lasted an hour or two.

I wanted to support my nieces after recently moving into the area, so I went to their recital. That's where I realized the magnitude of the recitals for this particular dance school.

With camera in hand, my family and I found a group of seats that were close enough to see the dances well and yet far enough away to see the entire group easily. We got there early in order to make sure we didn't miss any of their pieces and, because I'm a photographer who loves to practice whenever possible, I also took photos of other groups that performed before and between their dances. 

There was another motive, though. I though about potentially using those photos to show my skill and experience to the school's owner to try my idea for the next year's recital.

I think my stomach started churning sometime that next February whenever I thought about approaching them with my idea. I knew the deadline to talk to them was no later than early May (the recital was in early June) but I became more and more terrified thinking about doing it as it got closer to the cut off time.

It finally occurred to me that I could cheat a little in how I would do this. I wrote up the proposal, printed out some of the photos, and planned to go a day they don't teach classes. I left the full envelope with their receptionist and practically ran out because I didn't want them trying to talk to me about it then. I wanted to know if they liked the idea first... if they didn't, then I wouldn't have to talk to them at all.

Once that step was done, I had to wait to see if I would hear back from them. I included my email address and phone number, but said I preferred email. That weekend seemed like it went on forever, but on Monday, I got an email that they loved the idea of me shooting the recital!

I was so excited, so sure this would be a great boost to my business. I made flyers to give to parents and started thinking of everything I would need to shoot an event that large.

My then-boyfriend/now-husband, Travis, and I loved to shoot together so I approached him about helping me out. He loves fine arts as well as shooting action events (like sports) so he was up to the challenge.

Between the two of us, we took over 10,000 photos that day (yes, you read that right). I spent all of my spare time and some of my sleep time - waking up at 4am or 5am to work at my desk until I left for my part-time job - the next full month culling, organizing, editing, and uploading the photos in my gallery site for the parents to view and hopefully buy. 

I would love to share some of the adorable images of those dancers that day, but I have no way to get in touch with them for permission. The featured photo for this story was taken by my then-boyfriend/now-husband, Travis.

The other shot is from a rehearsal for a local non-profit's main fundraiser each year. The lighting tech was trying out various lights for this couple and, at the same time, I was taking photos in order to work on my settings for the performance the next evening. Magic happened when the front lights were off and the back lights were strong and full of color. 

You might be wondering if I kept doing the 10,000 image recital each year. I did it again in 2019 but the next year the recital was canceled due to COVID. By the time another year rolled around, I was writing as well as doing photography work, so I didn't have time to take on such a big project.

I do love taking photos of dancers and if I could find a better way to do it, I'd do it again. In fact, maybe I will.

                          (Travis Frontz took the first image and Tracy Riggs Frontz took the second.)

 

The photos above aren't available to order, but we have many other gallery images available as custom prints, fulfilled by a professional lab, at https://NovelPhotos.Instaproofs.com.

If you have any questions, email NovelPhotos@yahoo.com.

If you don’t have time to order today, feel free to take a business card and order later using the middle QR code. The photos will be under “Trussville Library Gallery.”

If you have any questions, email us at NovelPhotos@yahoo.com.

If you want any hand-signed, get in touch with us before ordering. We can direct you to a gallery that doesn't have our digital signatures on them and we can work out what works best for you to get the signature you want.

To order a signed copy of Tracy’s book: Behind the Lens of a Storyteller – My Journey as a Photographer/Writer, go to https://NovelPhotos.instaproofs.com/BehindtheLens Note that shipping is included – be sure to use the coupon code “SHIPPINGINCLUDED.”

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                          (Travis Frontz took the first image and Tracy Riggs Frontz to