Erisioni Rehearsal, Tbilisi, Georgia continued

Three more swordfighting shots and a row of women dancers round out our selection. Tomorrow - more from Kakheti province.

Erisioni Rehearsal, Tbilisi, Georgia continued

It's ALL about the sword-fighting dance today, as promised, topped with the single "sparks flying" shot I managed to get from many frames. It was worth it.

NB I haven't calibrated my monitor for optimum realism of display. So if these images look a little flat on your monitor, I'll blame that.

Erisioni Rehearsal, Tbilisi, Georgia continued

(Hope you're not getting tired of blur.)

The top 3 frames of today's set of 5 show a sword-fighting dance, which ends when the woman holding a white scarf (top) drops it between two of the feuding men. I avoided using flash at all for this dance as I was hoping for trails to be left by flying sparks as the swords clashed - the best part of the dance. And I wasn't disappointed: stay tuned for tomorrow's post, which will show this.

Erisioni Rehearsal, Tbilisi, Georgia continued

Still experimenting. All 5 of today's frames use panning - moving the camera in the direction of motion while using a slow shutter speed to blur the background. In these cases, the shutter was slow enough to also blur the subjects; and a bit of fill-in flash froze them briefly as well, just in case things weren't complicated enough!

I was certainly having fun. There's nothing like the instant gratification and education of seeing digital results before your eyes as soon as you've shot them.

Erisioni Rehearsal, Tbilisi, Georgia continued

More from the amazing rehearsal of yesterday. I never tire of seeing and hearing these performances - they always thrill with their combinations of impossible strength and stamina (men jumping high in the air to land on their shins, women gliding across the floor in long dresses, foot movements invisible). Static photographs, to my mind, convey far too little of the excitement and energy which abounds and overflows into the audience.

Interlude: Erisioni Georgian Dancers' Rehearsal, Tbilisi

So I was invited to join some Americans at a rehearsal (out of costume) of the Georgian State National Singing and Dancing Academic Ensemble (a.k.a. Erisioni) in Tbilisi this afternoon. They rehearse every Saturday at their HQ on Rustaveli Ave, right next to where the TMS Gallery, late and lamented, used to be.

I adore Georgian music, singing and dancing - it sets my blood afire. Even without costumes and fancy lighting, this 2-hour performance was a delight. All the more so as we were allowed to take photographs, and I had my camera ready just in case.

I was mostly trying several of my favourite techniques for showing motion in a single frame, all without using a tripod. These include a slow shutter speed to blur the action, coupled much of the time with a bit of fill-in flash to add an instant of frozen time. (The flash on my lovely new machine can be set to what's called "second-curtain synch", which means it fires at the end of an exposure rather than at the beginning. The advantage of this is that the motion trails from the slow shutter are going in the right direction, with the flash coming in at the end of the blur, not at its beginning.) Sometimes, either with or without the flash, I was also panning - moving the camera in the direction of motion while shooting.

Nearly 230 frames later, I was revelling in digital again - instant visible results to check whether what I'm doing works. Yup, I'm delighted with the results. Thanks again, NWB, for the camera - it's changing my artistic life. More of this sequence to follow...

In and above Ushguli, July 2007

Oops - should've uploaded the videos before the manuscript shot! Oh well, never mind.

Top - I shot this 360-degree video panorama in rather a hurry, as the first one I tried, from the top of Mt Lamaria, failed to film after about 5 seconds. So, apologies for the whirlwind tour, which is from near the pass above Ushguli from which the Lentekhi side of Svaneti is visible. It starts and ends with what you can see of Ushguli at the bottom of the frame.

Bottom - candle making. This, using beeswax and cotton, is the traditional Georgian way. The next day some of us took the candles and set off by foot for K'ala, 10 km lower, for the Kvirikoba festival there. More footage to follow.

"University" Dance Ensemble, Tbilisi, May 2007

More of those motion-blurred dancers. How else can one show the movement in a still image? (There is a technique which uses both slow shutter speed and flash together in one frame, for blur AND sharpness. I haven't tried much of that yet; it's a future challenge.)

"University" Dance Ensemble, Tbilisi, May 2007

I've posted some motion-blurred shots of Georgian dance on the blog earlier - near its beginning. This concert, however, was the first time I had unfettered access to the whole show, freedom to shoot as much as I wanted. Next time I hope to attend a rehearsal and be in the wings, among the dancers, above them, and in other odd places. Shutter speeds: 1/8-1/2 second. More to follow.

Sukhishvili Dancers, Tbilisi, June 2006

It may now be permitted to photograph concerts of Georgia's spectacular Sukhishvili national dancers, but several years ago it wasn't. I snuck my camera in several times anyway, in a plastic bag, and shot on slow shutter speeds without flash until one of the ushers found me and told me to stop. The conditions forced the way of shooting, with blur resulting - but what better to capture motion from dance than blur anyway?