Dance Duo: Manaha and Mameharu
Of the four dances duos I’ve photographed, I have the most positive feelings about my session with Manaha and Mameharu, the second duo I photographed. You’ve already seen the third and fourth, and I’ll post about the first next month.
This has much more to do with me than it does with any of the four pairs of women I was photographing. I’ll explain why.
The Lighting
Although it might not look it, this lighting was by far the most difficult to pull off because of the very delicate balance between the different lights involved, both in front of and behind M&M.
The brightest light is coming from two strobes with large umbrellas outside on the veranda. The light shoots into the umbrellas, bounces back, passes through the shoji (which diffuses and softens the light even more), and illuminates Manaha and Mameharu from behind.
This light has to be bright enough to be white, but not so bright that everything looks overexposed. The only way to determine this is to do a lighting test. I started with the lights on low power and kept on increasing the power incrementally until it was clear that the lights were overexposed.
Each time I changed the setting on the light, I wrote the details in my notebook so I could replicate the exact brightness I wanted during the real session.
There is no right or wrong answer as to when the light is too bright or too dark; it’s all a matter of personal taste. I photographed every possible brightness level I could, and this is the one that looked best to me. Since everything was written down in my notebook, I knew exactly how bright this light was.
Then I added a light behind my camera that was bouncing into an even bigger parabolic white umbrella. The purpose of this light was to complement the light on the veranda and to make sure we could see their faces and kimono clearly.
Again, it was all a matter of balance. I wanted this light to be bright enough to illuminate M&M, yet still be weaker than the light on the veranda. If this light were too strong, the image would appear completely flat, with no sense of depth.
There are no rules for this. I just had to test the light at each setting and when it looked right to me, I knew it. You wouldn’t think it, but it is amazing how just one click of the power setting on the light up or down completely changes the mood of the lighting.
As long time readers of my blog will know, I used this style of putting lights on the veranda and using the shoji as the light source quite often in my early days, and I changed it slightly each time.
I didn’t realize it until just know, but this is the last time I ever used this style. I have not used it since. I felt I had taken it as far as I could go, so it was time to try something different.
Consequently, when I look at the photograph, I’m not just seeing Manaha and Mameharu performing the dance “Akebono.” I’m seeing several years of experimenting and tweaking my lighting coming together just as I wanted it to.
The Colors
When I wrote about photographing Toshikana and Toshimomo, I detailed how important color theory and the colors of their kimono were to me.
Equally important is how the colors of their kimono fit with the background and the lighting.
The colors of Toshikana’s and Toshimomo’s kimono were complementary (blue and yellow), meaning they are opposite each other on the color wheel. Both Kana’s blue and Momo’s yellow were quite bright and saturated colors.
The colors of M&M’s kimonos, blue and purple, are analogous, meaning they are next to each other on the color wheel. Haru’s purple and Manaha’s blue are paler and lighter colors, not so bold and saturated.
I think these paler colors work very well with the soft, diffused back light coming from the veranda.
I wish I could say I had planned this, but I didn’t. It just worked out this way on that day. I do have some control over the color of the kimono a maiko or geiko wears to a photo session with me, but I can’t control if it will be a bold blue or a pale blue, a dark blue or a light blue. I can only choose between a blue kimono or a pink one, for example.
The Emotion
I chose this particular photograph because I was arrested by the emotion Manaha is showing here. Dancers in Inoue Yachiyo’s Kyo Mai style of dance are trained to keep their faces blank and not show any emotion while they dance, so I was surprised to see Manaha’s expression here.
However, the more I look at this image, the more I wonder if Manaha is expressing the emotion or if I am projecting the emotion onto her based on her body language, which is of course part of the choreography of the dance.
Manaha has turned away from Mameharu here, her arms crossed over her chest, a universal sign of defensiveness and rejection.
Manaha’s eyes are literally looking down at Mameharu, who is touching the sleeve of Manaha’s kimono, trying to keep her from leaving.
Is the cold disdain I see on Manaha’s face really there, or is this just what the choreography wants me to see?
I don’t know, and that’s what makes it interesting!
I will finish this series on dance duos next month, just in time to celebrate the 10th anniversary of my blog in July!