Photos my hubby took of our performance

[Chani]

Hi, I hope this is in the right section. I thought some of you might like to see the photos that my husband has taken of my dance school's performances. We are the Northern Beaches Belly Dance School based in Sydney, Australia. These photos are taken this year and last year at local community festivals.

Baladi - a set on Flickr

Chani

 

[nightdancer]

What great photos! Very talented

 

[Phoebedances]

Those are beautiful! Very artistic and tasteful - does he do this professionally?

 

[Chani]

Thank you. He's working on it. Barter exchange so far and invitations to a few exhibitions. Chani

 

[jenc]

Lovely - very inspirig I am just taking classes to improve my photos

 

[Mosaic]

Gorgeous photos and it looks like it was a lot of fun. Love the costumes, and Chani you are beautiful! Your hubby takes really great photos.
~Mosaic

 

[Maria_Aya]

Lovely photos !!!!!!!!!! seems a lot of fun !!!!

 

[khanjar]

Gorgeous photos and it looks like it was a lot of fun. Love the costumes, and Chani you are beautiful! Your hubby takes really great photos.
~Mosaic

'' Chani, daughter of Liet '', is that where the name came from ?

 

[Chani]

Thank you for the lovely compliments.

The name Chani is actually Chanisihaya and it's the nickname my husband gave me 15 years ago. Yes, it's from the book Dune. My real name is Samantha.

 

[Mosaic]

Your husband chose the right name for you, to me your pics show a 'Chani/Chanisihaya and less of a Samantha, unless we go for Sammi. Yet I do really like Samantha for a girls name. Maybe in your mundane life you are a Sam/Sammi/Samantha, but your dance self sure looks like a Chani/Chanisihaya to me
~Mosaic

 

[khanjar]

Thank you for the lovely compliments.

The name Chani is actually Chanisihaya and it's the nickname my husband gave me 15 years ago. Yes, it's from the book Dune. My real name is Samantha.

Yes, I thought so, as I sit here and in the background I have my most favourite movie of all time on again, for the 'x' time, Dune, the special tv edition. That film grabbed my attention when I saw it in the cinema years ago, and still holds my attention even now.

 

[PracticalDancer]

Chani, those are those are amazing! They were so mesmerizing that I just realized I was holding my breath while I watched the slideshow. Please pass my compliments to your husband! Thank you for sharing!

Regards,

Anala

 

[Chani]

We worked out how to be semi professional! I can't believe we didn't do this sooner. We had been thinking we'd have to somehow afford a really good printer but before that we need to buy him a good camera so it all seemed unattainable but we have realised that through red bubble we can offer people prints.

There are a few new shots he took yesterday if anybody wants to have a squiz. It was a local festival and they closed off the roads and we danced in the middle of the street. It was a great festival and huge crowd. We had a bit of a problem with the kneeling parts of our dances and the road was hard and burning hot so we solved the problem by bringing our lounge room floor rug from home. The wind came right up in the middle of the sword dance which is why we have such looks of concentration on our faces but they didn't fall. The wind was a relief from the sweltering day - we were all sweating by the end of the performance. The little girl dancing next to me in the Goddess dance is my daughter. We are so proud of her. She is only 8 years old but so very dedicated to belly dancing she practices hard and works on her own chories every day sometimes for hours. She is teaching herself veil and cane. Unfortunately, her belly dance teacher moved away after only a few lessons so she has to do her best on her own until we can find another instructor to take her on. We've got hold of a couple of DVD's for her to get her through until some classes happen for her. My dance school are kind enough to allow her to perform as a guest dancer. xxChani

Baladi - a set on Flickr

 

[Dev]

Chani , They are beautiful photos.

I have been practicing to take nice shots but I think I need to learn a fair bit, I quite dont have the artistic flair yet.



.

 

[Mosaic]

Fabulous shots Chani, Looks like a great day, and the crowd were enjoying it all. Also congrats to your daughter she looked lovely.
~Mosaic

 

[Chani]

Dipali, I guess the key is to get out there and learn on the job. My hubby did look up a few websites where they talked about dance photography and shooting moving targets which was helpful. The background at festivals is both distracting and one of the best parts - you get some classic people and interaction in the background. My husband takes around 400 shots each festival (this was our third on the weekend) and from that he gets very few great shots and lots of bloopers but we never show those even though we sometimes have a private giggle - he wants the dancers to trust he will make them look their best. Most helpful is getting to know the girls from my troupe. He has worked out tricks to bring out their best shots e.g. one particular dancer does well being photographed from below so he crouches down. Also, interesting is negotiating the crowd. He's annoyed people by blocking their view but it's hard not to - so he finds he has to be aware of the crowd as much as the dancers. I'd love to see some of your belly dance shots if/when you are ready. Chani