I’ve been working with Mark Stuart since I photographed a performance by Dancers Responding to AIDS. It was the first time I had seen his work. Mark then brought his dance theatre company to Jacob’s Pillow, and he was wowed by my dance photography of his work on Inside/Out stage. Ever since then we’ve been working together.

I photographed Mark Stuart’s Standard Time at their latest performance in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. I was able to photograph the dress rehearsal and then the live performance that same evening. During the dress I was able to move freely and photograph the dance from as close as I wanted to be to the stage. During the live performance I was positioned at the back of the house in the center and could not move.

It’s great to show the differences between the images I photographed in the dress rehearsal from the front row vs. the performance photos I made from back of house. The first two dance photos above are from the front row and are great for marketing purposes, giving a close-up look into the work to potential audiences. They have a more artsy feel to them.

The dance photo above was captured from back of house at the performance. This type of photo works better for press requests.

I love showing how much more versatile I can be when photographing a dress rehearsal. It’s much more intimate, capturing facial expressions and a variety of angles, while performance shooting from the back of the house provides a wider view of the whole stage and gives a sense of the full performance. When photographing in a large venue, like The David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, all the photos are horizontal, at eye level, frontal and far away.

Neither one is better, but it’s important to show the difference!