GUYS!! We had snow in Raleigh recently and it was the best couple of days with my kids ever! We do not get snow very often in our area and it was so amazing to have because this time it wasn’t ice or half an inch but almost 10 inches. It was gorgeous and so deep. I had to take advantage and brought my beautiful ballet dancer out into the snow. We had so much fun! And of course, I had to sneak my other babies out with me too
She is such a fabulous girl and trains at Triangle Academy of Dance in Apex. I have loved watching her grow in her gift and talent and being able to capture her over the years has brought me so much joy.
I thought I’d leave you all with a few tips in case you decide to go out too!
#1 Find a flat place – we started in the backyard but with the snow up to her knees, we realized quickly that we’d only get half body shots so we stayed for a short time and then found a sidewalk where the snow was almost cleared away. It was actually in front of a tennis court – I know crazy! But with the right lens and a lot of distance between her and the tennis court, I was able to blur that out and it still looked magical. Next time, we might bring a small piece of plywood to put down under her feet in the areas where the snow was trying to cover her feet. Keeping her in a flat place was important because she was on pointe.
#2 Settings – With dancers I tend to play it safer in my settings. I shoot a high shutter speed and close up on my aperture. I was shooting with a 70-200 on a Canon 5d Mark iv and always shooting over 1/500 to 1/640. When she was still, I was around f2.8 to 4.5. I often shoot dancers from 5.0-9.0 but today I really wanted that creamy bokeh! My ISO was at 500. The beautiful thing about snow is all the pretty light it creates.
#3 Her legs – we used the leg warmers to try and keep her calves warm and covered her pointe shoes (which were older and dead) with garbage bags while she walked. She was VERY cold! So I didn’t ask her to do anything that she didn’t feel warm enough for. We didn’t stay out for long and when I asked her “Are your toes pointed?” And she said “I don’t know, I can’t feel them anymore!” I said “ALL DONE!” Ha!
We had so much fun! Enjoy!
Charis’ pointe shoes are Gaynor Minden. https://dancer.com
Tatyana’s adorable clothing is from Old Navy and Aden’s sweater is from Target.
