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inside/out in the Berkshires... Photo ©Jeremy Clowe.
All rights reserve. |
The week ended on a high note in the Berkshires... the Google Art Talk was a big success (so far, over 600 worldwide viewers), and there's already talk about the Museum getting involved with another one. For those who missed it, you can watch the archived talk (and even see a few minutes of me and my hastily tidied office at the beginning... lol) on YouTube.
Yesterday I spent part of the afternoon running around the Stockbridge Cemetery, taking photos for an upcoming TV commercial showing Halloween-themed events happening in Western Massachusetts. Sort of a bold way to spend Friday the 13th(!), but I came out alright... and so did the photos. Actually, I think I managed several rather eerie shots, which is what they were looking for (the Springfield visitor bureau representative sure was enthusiastic about the results). I'll see about sharing them at a later date.
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Photo from "Dancers Among Us" by Jordan Matter.
©2012 Jordan Matter. All rights reserved. |
Turning from the dead to the living, I thought I would take a moment to talk about a great photography book that is out right now called Dancers Among Us. Photographer Jordan Matter has taken some delightful photographs of dancers taking flight in everyday situations, and this collection is really a fun and inspiring collection for any coffee table (dance lover or not). The subheading for the book reads: "A Celebration of Joy in the Everyday."
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Joie de vivre: Jordan Matter speaks in Blake's Barn,
Jacob's Pillow, August 23, 2013. Photo by Jeremy Clowe.
All rights reserved. |
A few weeks ago, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in the Berkshires invited Mr. Matter to speak about his work and sign copies of his book in their Blake's Barn space (donated, in fact, by dancer Marge Champion, whose late son Blake had performed at the festival). A fan of his work, I decided to go check out the talk, and had the pleasure of chatting with Matter afterwards (my dancing wife and I now own an autographed copy of the book). I really enjoyed hearing his stories about getting involved with the project, some of the adventures/challenges along the way, and how he approaches his craft. It turns out that the affable photographer does little in the way of pre-planning the shoots, preferring to let the dancer and location inspire him on the spot. To me this seems like a perfect solution to overcoming intimidation or getting too hung up on the details of a work. His next project will be a book looking at athletes in similar situations.
The Festival posts many of these "Pillow Talks," but I have not seen the lecture posted yet. I did find this fun clip of Matter working on a shoot up in the forests surrounding Jacob's Pillow itself (you get a sense for his outgoing personality here as well):
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Meeting Matter at Jacob's Pillow, August 2013.
Photo ©Jeremy Clowe. All rights reserved. |
After the talk we stayed around to watch a dance performance at the venue's Inside/Out stage, where dancers literally perform against the beautiful countryside of the Berkshires. I started taking a few non-flash photos, but was asked to refrain by the Pillow staff... understandable, as they have it all very well-documented (photographers, videographers, etc.). I have documenting dance in the past... I'll have to see if I can find some of my work as I start to organize my old files here in the Electric City.
Of course, I have also always loved dancing (indeed, Sarah used that quote that he dances "like no one is watching" to describe me at our wedding). The spirit of Matter's work reminds me that we should definitely look into taking some more classes soon. So on this Yom Kippur weekend I say "L'chaim!"
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