Dance Feature by Christopher Duggan: We Know Dance!
MY WIFE NEL SHELBY, A DANCE VIDEOGRAPHER, PRODUCER, AND DIRECTOR, HELPED ME GET MY START IN PHOTOGRAPHING DANCE.
All it took was one choreographer being open to me photographing studio showing (thank you, Ellen Shadle!) and I’ve been hooked ever since. Now, I’ve photographed dance artists from around the globe from Lincoln Center to the Kennedy Center and beyond, and I’ve been the Festival Photographer at the world-renowned Jacob’s Pillow in the Berkshires and Vail Dance Festival in Colorado.
From the beginning, I was making pictures and Nel would have me on her film team on the wide camera for live performance capture. Under Nel’s direction, I grew into other video roles as well: specializing in framing and capturing on-camera interviews in documentary-style videos.
On recent projects, I’ve been filming dance clients via drone or using the gimbal (moving camera), becoming even more confident in my collaboration with Nel and her incredible team.