The Iowa Photo: Working in the dark

While taking photos of Elegance Academy's pole dance fitness class, I was primarily focused on making sure the images were exposed correctly to show everyone’s expressions as they joked around and celebrated completing a tough move.

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The studio was pretty dark to work in, and after a while, I decided to work with the darkness and frame the participants as silhouettes against the moody lights. Not only would the silhouettes give the story another perspective, but they would also help emphasize the poses the participants were working on, bringing a new perspective to the space.

To capture the silhouette, I chose to frame a participant performing a variety of moves high above the ground. She was in the front row, next to the wall where the soft yellow light was shining. While framing the photo, I noticed that the light was falling off, and parts of her silhouette were lost to the shadows along the wall. I decided to take a picture of her reflection in the mirror, using the purple light to help define her silhouette more clearly.