The NYC Dance Project
Special Interview with Deborah Ory & Ken Browar
Inspiring, Elegant, Powerful, Dramatic, Beautiful, Gentle…
The NYC Dance project, a combination of dance and photography, can be described in many ways, but none of it can describe fully it’s beauty.
Deborah Ory and Ken Browar created the NYC Dance Project to shoot contemporary and classical dancers in New York, and most important, to catch the moment!
The project is a big success in all over the world and we are most excited to have an interview with them.
Indiana Woodward, Soloist, New York City Ballet © NYC Dance Project. All Rights Reserved
Lens Magazine: Hello Ken and Deborah, it is such a pleasure and most appreciated having an interview with most talented photographers, Please kindly introduce yourself to our readers. Tell us about your background and your latest special project: NYC Dance Project
Ken Browar and Deborah Ory © The NYC Dance Project.
I’m Deborah Ory and I work with my husband, Ken Browar. We’ve been collaborating together as photographers and have been working for the past 5 years on NYC Dance Project. It’s a collection of dance images of many of today’s leading dancers from around the world.
My background was as a dancer, I have been dancing since I was 7. I did not begin to take photos until I was in college, when I was a dance major and developed a stress fracture that kept me away from dancing for a few months. My father had recently purchased a new camera and it was still in the box on our kitchen table. I impulsively took the camera, feeling that I would enjoy taking photos.
I enrolled in a photography class and focused on photographing the dance rehearsals that I could not participate in. Photographing dancers felt very natural to me, as dance was something I understood and felt passionate about. I later worked as a photography editor for various magazines, including Mirabella and Conde Nast. I would hire the photographers, come up with concepts, direct the shoots and even do some styling. Later, I worked as a freelance photographer, shooting everything from portraits to still life, fashion and food. All of this was great preparation for later developing NYC Dance Project.
Ken’s background was as a celebrity and fashion photographer. He had moved to Paris after high school and had a long career there, working for magazines and advertising. He had photographed a famous Etoile – Isabelle Guerin – from the Paris Opera Ballet, for a magazine assignment for Madame Figaro. Although he had not had much other exposure to dance, he loved the movement, artistry and passion in dance and agreed dance would be a great subject for us to photograph.
Miriam Miller, New York City Ballet © NYC Dance Project. All Rights Reserved
L.M: How did you get to this collaboration for this project? Where did the original idea come from?
The inspiration for the project came from decorating our 12-year-old daughter Sarah’s room. Sarah is an aspiring ballerina and wanted her room filled with dance photographs. We made extensive searches on the internet, bookstores and at galleries. We purchased books, calendars and other photos and to our disappointment were not able to find images of the current dancers that Sarah admired. There were beautiful images of famous dancers from past generations – such as Baryshnikov or Markova, taken more than 40 years ago – but very few of the current stars that Sarah admired.
Ken decided we needed to photograph these dancers ourselves.
We were great fans of Daniil Simkin, the American Ballet Theatre Principal dancer and sent him an email asking him to be our first subject. Danill loves photography and agreed to be photographed. After a successful photo shoot with Daniil, he arranged for other Principal dancers to work with us and before long, the NYC Dance Project was officially launched. Once the images were posted on social media, the word spread in the dance community dancers from all over the world approached us to collaborate.
L.M: What is the ‘position’ and creative part of each one in this magnificent project?
We both share in all the roles, one of us is always taking photos, while the other is directing, adjusting lighting, refining positions for the dancers, styling the clothing, etc. We consider all of the images to be both of ours, regardless of who is behind the camera when the photograph was taken. We’ve included interviews with each dancer, which we run on our blog, and I do these, while Ken has taken care of more of the post production work.
Christine Shevchenko, Principal, American Ballet Theatre © NYC Dance Project. All Rights Reserved
L.M: In this shooting, we can see there’s a lot of attention to the lighting, the human body and the movement, can you tell us about the technical decisions behind the shooting?
The movement comes first and then the lighting and other technical decisions are based on enhancing the movement and mood of the image. We are constantly adjusting the lighting during the shoot according to how the dancer is moving and it’s always different for each person.
L.M: Tell us about the ‘Catching the moment’ which is the main issue in this kind of shooting
The images focus on capturing emotion through movement, which at the core is what I feel dance is about: it’s a language that is spoken through movement. We never wanted to focus on the “tricks” in dance, but it was always about capturing a feeling. This could happen through the simple moments such as the breath the dancer takes preparing to do a movement or it could happen in the freedom one experiences in a beautiful jump. It’s important for both of us to feel the sense of movement in the photos, even in a still image. The images are also a celebration of bodies; dancers must simultaneously be artists and athletes and we feel both qualities are highlighted in our photographs.
Jovani Furlan and Renana Cerdeiro, Principals, Miami City Ballet © NYC Dance Project. All Rights Reserved
L.M: One of the main attractions in this series are the clothes, tell us about the selection of the clothing and the designers.
Each shoot is planned, almost like a choreographer would plan a performance, with thought going into our backgrounds, lighting and concepts for the images. Many of our photos feature costumes or couture clothing and that is coordinated beforehand with the dancers. We both have a background in fashion and enjoy working with clothing and/or costumes.
I’ve always loved the work of Martha Graham and she had collaborated with many fashion designers such as Halston and was an inspiration for other clothing designers. Clothing moves beautiful on the dancers and helps in a still image give the feeling of movement.
L.M: Was there a good communication with the dancers?
The photos are both a collaboration between Ken and myself, but also with the dancer. We work very closely with them on the set and are always reviewing the images together and refining them.
L.M: This series was published in many magazines, fashion, photography and art, and of course in the Book ‘The Art of Movement’, Now we can also enjoy the calender.
What can you tell us about this new 2019 calender?
The Art of Movement 2019 Wall Calendar features a variety of well-known and accomplished dancers, including Misty Copeland (American Ballet Theater), Tiler Peck (New York City Ballet), Indiana Woodward (New York City Ballet), Svetlana Lukina (National Ballet of Canada), Charlotte Landreau (Martha Graham Dance Company), Jovani Furlan and Renan Cerdeiro (Miami City Ballet), Holly Dorger (Royal Danish Ballet), Daniil Simkin (American Ballet Theater), Misa Kuranga (Boston Ballet), Miriam Miller (New York City Ballet), Misa Kuranga (Boston Ballet), Christine Shevchenko (American Ballet Theater), and Lauren Lovette (New York City Ballet).
Each spread features a beautiful photograph celebrating the grace and beauty of the dancer, along with an inspirational or thoughtful quote. This calendar is perfect for aspiring young dancers, as well as for older dance fans around the world.
We could not be more excited about it! You can pre-order it now through amazon – https://amzn.to/2vNaDwN
L.M: Tell us about the gear, What type of cameras did you shoot with?
We shoot with a Hasselblad and strobes – it is quite slow and we only get one shot at a jump, so we really have to be in synch with the dancers. It is important to work slowly and deliberately, as it is a very collaborative process for us. The Hasselblad gives us large and detailed files and we can make very large prints from them.
• Camera body – Hasselblad H5D-50
• Lens – 80mm
• Tripod – a monostand that rolls, so we can quickly move with the dancer
• Filters – none
• Flash – Profoto
• Camera bag – Burlington canvas camera bag
L.M: If you had to choose one lens which one would it be and why?
On our Hasselblad, we use an 80mm – a standard fixed lens. It gives you close to what your eye actually sees. We like the simplicity of this lens and mostly use a standard lens whenever we work.
L.M: What is your most used Photoshop tool, plug-in, action set etc.?
We use Camera Raw and do the majority of our work here. While we don’t manipulate our photos very much, we do adjust the contrast, adjust color temperature, etc. We are very traditional and work on getting the images just right in the camera, we don’t do too much in post production.
