Romeo & Juliet

[smulnik]

Hi all! Here are a few shots from the St. Louis Ballet’s production of Romeo & Juliet. The production was in early November, but I’m just now getting to post some as I play “catch up” on everything. (Sometimes life gets busy. ) I was cast as Lord Montague, so I had to take photos through the wings from backstage (as usual) while waiting for my entrances. The main stage set consisted of a dual stairway with a series of arches on either side. Ooofff! Shooting at moving targets from the wings and into the lights is always rough. And having those arches in the way too didn’t help matters at all. However there were a couple of times when they made for some interesting framing.

Hope you enjoy the photos.
Sig

One of our two Juliets (we had two casts) giving herself and extra “warm up” on stage before the dress rehearsal.
RX100 M4, F 1.8, 1/30, ISO 6400

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View from the stairway.
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Most of the dancers are wearing masks in this scene. That's why their faces look a little odd.
RX100 M4, F 1.8, 1/160, ISO 1000

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[smulnik]

A99, 70-200 G, F 2.8, 1/400, ISO 1600

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A99, 70-200 G, F 3.2, 1/400, ISO 2500

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A99, 70-200 G, F 3.2, 1/320, ISO 2500

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[smulnik]

A99, 70-200 G, F 3.2, 1/400, ISO 2500

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A99, 70-200 G, F 3.5, 1/320, ISO 3200

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A99, 70-200 G, F 3.5, 1/320, ISO 3200

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[ValeryD]

Great shots!

[aster]

.

Hi, Sig;

Love the shots from Romeo & Juliet. The arches served as good isolators of the dancers by providing dark framing for the exposers.

I love ballet, therefore these shots are most dear to me. And, you always do justice to your dancer friends, Lord Montague.
Photos of the theater's internal structure give a good scale of everything. I appreciate that you are also uploading architectural elements that make up the surroundings. (I love architecture too.)

Merry Christmas and happy Holidays to you and to everyone on the PhotoClubAlpha forum. Enjoy and don't forget to shoot photos and share!

Yildiz

[jbtaylor]

The intimacy of the shots in posts 2 and 3 are more meaningful to me. Doesn't make the wider shots in post 1 inferior though.
All in all, well done.
JT

[smulnik]

Thanks Yildiz, Valery, & JT. Yes, I agree with all of your comments. I prefer the closer shots of the dancers too. I was indeed trying to provide some perspective by adding the shots of the entire stage.

Yildiz, I’m glad to hear that you love ballet. But you should not encourage me too much. I might start uploading hundreds (maybe thousands) of ballet photos in the topic threads.

Happy Holidays, Yildiz! Wesołych świąt, everybody!
Sig

[smulnik]

A few more favorites from R&J, including the second cast.

A99, 70-200 G, F 3.5, 1/320, ISO 2500

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A99, 70-200 G, F 3.5, 1/320, ISO 3200

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A99, 70-200 G, F 3.5, 1/320, ISO 2500

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[smulnik]

A99, 70-200 G, F 3.2, 1/400, ISO 2500

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A99, 70-200 G, F 3.2, 1/400, ISO 2500

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I was a little disappointed that his arm moved out of view, but in the wings I'll take what I can get.
A99, 70-200 G, F 3.2, 1/400, ISO 2500

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[ValeryD]

Great!
First one and last one not your lucky shot, but good too.

[aster]

Hi, Sig;

They are very nice actually. Photo shooting is about luck, hard work and a keen eye… You have a wonderful subject for luck, and you tried hard with a fine eye to get the good shots but there's bound to be lovely yet not so good results.
There's some good drama and acting in these shots as well as dancing and neat costumes.

Thanks for sharing,
Yildiz

[sury]

Fantastic effort Sig. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Sury

[david antony]

Spectacular photos Sig
Excellent sets, costume and superb Ballet.

I did visit Shakespeare Festival St. Louis Site.
and watched the samples.

https://www.stlouisballet.org/videos Wonderful

Many thanks for sharing.

[aster]

Spectacular photos Sig
Excellent sets, costume and superb Ballet.

I did visit Shakespeare Festival St. Louis Site.
and watched the samples.

https://www.stlouisballet.org/videos Wonderful

Many thanks for sharing.

What a lovely set of videos and website !
Thanks for sharing, David Antony. They do dance so beautifully...

Yildiz

[smulnik]

Thanks everyone!
And thanks, David, for checking out the St. Louis Ballet videos and sharing the link.
The few of us older dancers that are still around are very proud of the younger dancers. Over the years, the company has grown a lot, and continues to grow more than any of us could have ever imagined. I feel very fortunate whenever I get to be on stage with them.

Here are several shots of us older guys sitting around in the dressing room. This happens a lot between shows, so I often just play around with my camera. The 3 of us (and a couple of others) have been on stage together for more than two decades, so we often reminisce about the “old days”.

Prince of Verona
RX100 M4, F 2.8, 1/250, ISO 2000

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Friar Lawrence… flushing his eyes with contact solution.
RX100 M4, F 2.8, 1/250, ISO 4000 ( I have no idea how this ended up on ISO 4000, but it worked.)

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Lord Montague.
Rather than gluing on a fake beard for the show, I spent 3 months growing a real one. I colored it using white cake makeup foundation, and a large black eyebrow pencil. When I first started growing the beard, I was hoping that everyone would think that I looked like Thor, but no, they only thought that I looked really really really old, so I shaved it off as soon as the last show was over.
RX100 M4, F 2.5, 1/200, ISO 1250

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