Originally I was strongly inspired by Luca Maria Piccolo’s series of ‘M.U.D Centro Danza’s’ series and then half way through the photo shoot I unintentionally took it into a different direction. There were many poly boards set up as props. Ideally Sarah (dancer) and I were working with how her body movements would compliment the shapes we could make with the boards without being restrictive on her freedom to dance.
After the shoot I felt really let down by my lighting and retouching technique. The buggering thought sat with me for sometime until I sat down one afternoon and began collaging on Photoshop. After receiving positive feedback from fellow artists I felt content enough to expand further on the series.
After finishing a pair, I got stuck in a rut with the project. It really baffled me that I couldn’t be able to compose more photos just as intriguing. With many trial and errors after two months I sat down and began writing in my art journal what was frustrating me, what I liked about the work and then all the similarities of the complimenting images. Following on from that I printed out copies of a few selected images to do a trial photo collage. And guess what? It worked. I began coming up with some interesting compositions. Sometimes when I get stuck on my mac I’ll go back to the old school technique and scribble out ideas and do things by hand. Because I was stuck on the project for sometime without any clear ideas my style of the work had begun to shift for something better. Sometimes patience is key.
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Helen Tran is a Melbourne based dance photographer. From a young age, hands on artistic activities always intrigued her. It began with illustrating, painting, followed on by a strong passion for classical ballet and now photography. Tran is passionate about sharing her artwork with other creatives and what it means to her. The emotional response from expressing herself has driven her to new expectations and paths. Her love of all things creative inspires her to display that within her artwork. It is a true reflection of who she is. Tran loves interacting with other creatives who love what they do and why they love doing it. She believes there’s always something new to learn and someone new to meet. Tran doesn’t like to be the one pulling all the strings when it comes to planning photoshoots. She likes to strongly collaborate with others so it’s not just the photographer making the image but the main subject too. Visit her website here.
Featured Dancer: Sarah Mealor
