Day 10 of 12 tales from behind the lens with MCO Contemporary
I love working with dancers, I think you probably know that. When I was approached by Megan Walters to help her launch her new business venture, MCO Contemporary, as a dance teacher, choreographer and performer, I was very happy to help.
We had to create a video capturing the essence of her dance classes and an improvisation dance piece. Beyond that Megan needed some new headshots as she hadn’t had any professionally taken.
Megan, being a good northern lass, was a joy to work with. We met up near her very cool apartment in the Liverpool docks. If you’re not familiar with the area, international freight and big, burly dockers have long since moved out so it’s a lovely place to be. It was properly windy this day with plenty of hard sunlight making things a little tricky. I didn’t have an assistant with me so putting up diffuser panels to softboxes was not an option unless I wanted to see them blow halfway up The Mersey.
We found some shade from the wind and hard light and there were some nice, soft graphics from a garage door. Natural light, soft and pleasant. I wasn’t too worried if we couldn’t get something we liked because later on, we would be in the LIPA dance studios to record the improv video.
Obviously, it was best to get nice headshots taken before Megan performed. Single flash in a Lastolite Ezybox and a tri-grip reflector to lift some of the shadows. The bars on the back wall of the studio gave a nice, soft, horizontal graphic to the background and the flash gives a lovely pop to Megan’s face.
Camera and settings
- EOS Canon 6D
- EF 70-200 f2.8 L II IS USM at 160mm
- f4.5, 1/125, ISO 250
Join me tomorrow for the penultimate image from 12 tales from behind the lens.
Thanks for visiting, it wouldn’t be the same without you.
