Are your pictures real? Yes! What you see actually happened in my studio. There were no wires holding up the dancers, no retouching, no manipulation at all. I think there is a sense of reality to the images that comes through; that integrity is very important to me.
Back to Top		How do the dancers jump so high? I use great dancers who can do incredible things. The height of their jumps are actually accentuated by the camera. If I need them to jump even higher than they normally can, to fill up my square format, they might take off from a stool. What is more important is the shape that the dancers can make in the air.
		How do they land? Most of the dancers use their arms to break their falls. The floor is sprung, so it "gives" a bit on impact. Sometimes dancers land on a crash pad, just off-camera. However they land, none of the dancers get hurt.
Back to Top		What is the background? It's a 25-foot-wide cyclorama, which is essentially a white wall and floor with a curved horizon, like seamless paper. It can also appear gray or black, depending on the lighting.
		Why do you prefer black-and-white? To me, color seems too much like real life. Black-and-white, on the other hand, conveys a sense of abstraction from reality. It's not a replica of the scene, but a new creation. I love the shades of gray, and especially the rich blacks.
Back to Top		What film do you use? All of my black & white photos are shot on 120-format Kodak Plus-X Pan Professional Film. I particularly like its sharpness and wide tonal range. Our in-house darkroom uses all Kodak chemicals, including Kodak Developer D-76.
		Do you also shoot color? Many advertising and commercial assignments require color. My technique is basically the same, except that I have to make a few lighting adjustments. For these assignments, I use 120-format Kodak Ektachrome 100 Professional Film.
Back to Top		Why a square format? I started out using a 35mm camera, but converted to the 2 1/4-square format because the larger film size provided better sharpness. I found that composing within the square format was more challenging at first, as the dancers often have to jump higher. But I like the weightless quality of the square, as if gravity doesn't have any influence on my subjects.
		What about the black borders? The borders often interact with the subjects, either by containing the dancers or by cropping them. This interaction reminds viewers that they are looking at a photograph. The borders are real; they are the limits of the frame on the film.
Back to Top		How do you keep everything in focus? The dancers always move across the frame, not toward or away from the camera. I first focus on a small mark on the floor. This tells the subject where to land. When there are more than two dancers, they generally move in separate planes, at different distances from the camera.
		How can you tell what the picture will look like? Through experience, I've learned to anticipate the dancers' movements and "previsualize" the final image. Of course, there are always surprises. At the moment of exposure I look at the subject directly, rather than through the camera. That's because the viewfinder blacks out for an instant. By the way, it's a waist-level viewfinder. So the movement of the dancers is reversed left to right. I've gotten used to it.
Back to Top		Do you use a motor drive? For many years I've used a Hasselblad medium-format camera with a 150mm lens. This short-telephoto lens is extremely sharp. Also, it lets me shoot from a little farther away, creating a somewhat "flattened" perspective. I make one picture of each jump, and then wind the film to the next frame. Each picture gives me an idea for the next one. There's no need for a motor drive, because the lights take a few seconds to recycle.
		What stops the action? Partly it's the camera, which synchronizes with electronic flash at shutter speeds up to 1/500 second. The main exposure is provided by my Broncolor flash units. I set them to 1/2,000 second, which is fast enough to prevent blurry feet in the images.
Back to Top		Have your pictures changed recently? I think they have. It's apparent when you compare my current book, Airborne, with the earlier Breaking Bounds. In the first book, I tried to show the athletic aspect of the dancers. The newer work deals with a wide range of textures and elements, such as scarves, feathers, masks, and even cocoa. Maybe the most striking element is the mixture of flour and sugar we poured onto Sham Mosher. He said that by the end of the session he felt like a giant cookie.