The fifth of the Greek Goddess challenge. All Greek Goddess Posts: Pheme, Aphrodite, Iris, Peitho, Nike, Terpsichore, & Gaia.
Terpsichore: Goddess of Dance
I love Greek mythology, yet I never knew there was a Goddess of Dance before. She is also the Goddess of choral song. As a lover of dance, I could not resist the challenge of taking a picture capturing movement. What I learned, fairly quickly, was that it required more practice and an actual photographer (not self-timer). There were quite a few reasons why these pictures did not turn out as I had hoped.
- It has been years since I have trained as a dancer.
- The Summer heat made this photoshoot short.
- The outfits I owned are not similar to what is pictured below in the inspirations.
- I did not have a photographer.
Makeup Inspiration:
Some of these Goddesses required such a focus on makeup that I decided to leave Terpsichore as a natural look.
Hair Inspiration:
Some of these Goddesses also required a focus on hair and I wanted the focus to be about movement.
Pose Inspiration:
To take the pictures the way I wanted, I have to start training and practicing again. These women are hardcore dancers which is why their lines look incredible. Their long hours of effort and training shine through in these inspiring images that capture movement. Even the poses that look easier, like the first one, was incredibly hard to master. In my attempts, I looked foolish at best.
I understand that my images looked nothing like the inspiration. I will be trying this movement challenge again with new inspiration photos. Also, I know that I should not be comparing myself to professional photographers, but at the same time, I need to have big goals, right?
These were by far the hardest to try to take on self-timer. My advice would be to make sure you take Live Photos so you can capture yourself in the motion. Also, really think through the lighting and the scenery. In hindsight, all of my inspiration pictures had a blank canvas behind the dancers, so they really stood out. My attempt with the trees made it harder to edit.
To top it off, I was reminded that I was never a ballerina. I need to look into more dance poses that are different styles of dance for my next attempt. Can there be an artistically beautiful picture taken of a hip hop dancer? We will find out.
Outfit Inspiration:
My outfit choices were limited to our old dance costumes. This skirt that I am wearing is my older sister’s, she is really the ballerina of the family. There were some pictures taken with a lyrical outfit (long sleeve with a band tied to your finger), but those did not accentuate movement.
Challenge:
When at first you don’t succeed, try again. This post was hard to write because this photoshoot and images did not turn out anything like I wanted them to. I am sure in my next attempt, the post will center around the need to fail in order to create something beautiful (or so I hope). It may also be about failure in general, we will see 🙂
