This is Maria, who dances with passion!  This may be my favorite dance image, ever. Her dance had great lines, her leaps were confident and strong, and her face was really always smiling.  For me as a photographer, there is no way I’m not going to create amazing images with that combination of grace, beauty, and attitude.  The foreground image of Maria stretching is classic, and would stand on its own just fine.

But this is a piece about movement, and I hope you can feel the motion and direction of every leap, bend, and pirouette.  Movement is fundamental in video, but often conspicuously absent in still imagery.  It can be conveyed by holding the shutter open longer while the subject sails past, or by physically moving the camera during capture (imagine photographing a race car as it drives past, and panning the camera from left to right as the car drives past).

Movement gives an image fluidity, and helps our eyes wander smoothly around the composition, but return again and again to the only still figure – Maria stretching in the foreground.  Thanks for looking, and I hope you’ll remember the power movement can give to an image.  Will