I wish that I had more time to participate. 
Every year during Nutcracker season, the St. Louis Ballet has luncheons (in the theater lobby) for children before the weekend matinee Nutcracker shows. The kids get to meet the dancers in costume, and get autographs and photos. Sometimes I get asked/tasked with the job of getting photos of everything going on. It’s always a crazy-fast shoot. The dancers only have 30 minutes to visit with all of the children. The dancers are paraded around by escorts who are timing their visit at each table so that every table of children gets equal time with each dancer. That means that I’m am constantly running and spinning in circles for the entire 30 minutes in order to take any, and every shot that I can get, while trying to avoid “body checking” (hockey term) the waiters and waitresses. If I’m lucky, I might be in the right place at the right time to get a posed photograph with some of the dancers and children. The hardest part is dealing with the changing lighting conditions due to the varying sunlight coming through the lobby’s exterior glass wall. Because I’m constantly changing the camera settings, I’m usually mentally exhausted at the end of the 30 minutes. Then as soon as the shoot is over, I have to run to the dressing room to get into my costume and make-up for the show. I guess that I must look like a madman during the shoot, because when I get back to the dressing room with the dancers, they are always asking if I’m getting paid enough to go through all of that.
I’ve only just begun going through the hundreds of photos from this year’s luncheons, but below are some of the shots that I took last year that were used on the SLB website to promote this year’s events.
Sig
A99, 24-70 ZA, F 2.8, 1/250, ISO 800 A99, 85 ZA, F 2.2, 1/1250, ISO 500 A99, 24-70 ZA, F 3.2, 1/200, ISO 800
