Center Stage Dance Academy in Huntley Comp Team Portraits

Each year, I photograph Center Stage Dance Academy’s competition teams, their Envision team, usually in February. Then I come back in May to do their recital costume portrait session. It’s always fun to spend as much time with them as I do as I get to know Debbie Nowotnik and all the dancers really well.

Debbie likes my white backdrop and marley flooring. She really likes the clean dance shots that I get with my white setup and four lights. The lighting and flooring allows her dancers to do action shots if they’d like, and they know they’ll have a safe landing on my marley flooring, not cloth drops like some photographers.

Along with doing poses and action shots, we always do head shots as well. I know the dancers like one side of their face better than another, quite often anyway, so i photograph one side at a time so I can get the lighting perfect for their face.

My powerful Paul C. Buff Einstein lights allows me to freeze the action, no matter how fast they are spinning or leaping. Take a look below at sample shots of my photo session.