Latest photos from Claude Schneider
Dance
Suzie is a second year Theology student, and performed in the last Cambridge Ballet Club show in February. I saw her again at a ballet class that Glory was teaching, and we arranged an autumnal shoot very promptly, while the weather was warm and all the leaves were golden. The clocks had just gone back, so these sunset photos were taken at around 4pm.
More photos from this Cambridge Ballerina Project shoot on Facebook
I first met Glory at a special ballet shoot for Varsity Fashion at the Fitzwilliam Museum – she was the only dancer in the shoot from the Cambridge University Ballet Club whom I hadn’t yet photographed for the Cambridge Ballerina Project. I bumped into her at an outdoor sunset yoga class (during the extraordinarily warm Indian Summer in October), and we arranged to shoot the following day, before the heatwave ended.
She received permission to shoot in her college, Clare, which is famous for its bridge and gardens.
First year undergraduates on their way to their first formal hall
More photos from this shoot at http://claude.gallereasy.com/gallery/409/
Become a fan of the Cambridge Ballerina Project on Facebook
Before my trip to Vancouver, I looked up some models for potential photoshoots while I was out there. Given I was already planning to do a shoot with my friend Cassandra, I thought why not take arrange another shoot or two and take advantage of some stunning scenery and new models.
Due to uncertain weather and my plans during the week, none of 4 potential shoots I’d lined up materialised. However, Amanda replied to my initial message while I was out there, and was communicative enough to arrange a shoot just after my shoot with Cassandra. Her portfolio mentioned that she had awards for her ballet, but there were no images taken by other photographers to show just how good she was.
When we finally met (at Second Beach in Stanley Park) for the shoot, the sun was about to set, so we just had enough time to quickly look through the clothes she’d brought along, and walk along the Sea Wall towards Third Beach, where I’d figured we’d have a clear view of the sunset over the water. The golden light was mostly obscured by clouds, but we had a few minutes just as we started shooting with great light, and Amanda had no problems climbing onto a boulder and striking some stunning poses straight away. The resulting stunning photos are testament to how quickly, beautifully, and perfectly Amanda was able to pose.
The light faded pretty quickly, and we carried on shooting beyond my eyes’ vision, until even the camera was struggling. However, we did get a couple of striking shots, including this one with great lighting from West Vancouver shining across the water.
More photos from this shoot at http://claude.gallereasy.com/gallery/404/
Lara is a fan of the Cambridge Ballerina Project on Facebook, and commissioned a shoot for herself. She used to dance ballet a while ago, and was still in good form to produce some lovely photos.
More photos from this shoot at http://claude.gallereasy.com/gallery/397/
I’d done a Cambridge Ballerina Project shoot with Helen in the winter, where she ended up standing on snow for ages without shoes, but she agreed the resulting photos were worth it! This time, it was the end of June, with warm evenings and no more exams, when Cambridge turns into an extravagant black tie party town, so we decided on a May Ball-inspired night-time ballet shoot.
See the full album, and become a fan of the Cambridge Ballerina Project on Facebook
Even though I’ve been friends with Sarah for years, since she studied and danced a lot of ballet at Cambridge, she’s not yet taken part in my Cambridge Ballerina Project, mostly because she’s busy acting and modelling in London. On a short visit to Cambridge, we had an impromptu location shoot just after a downpour. I can’t wait to finally do a proper ballet shoot with Sarah!
More photos from this shoot at http://claude.gallereasy.com/gallery/380/
Sometimes things don’t always go to plan, but I somehow seem to always get lucky when they don’t…
My nearest (and very well-equipped) studio, The Works, had a not-the-royal-wedding party, with the studio open to any photographers and models who wanted to come along. I’d been in touch with two local models that I’d planned to shoot at some point, and they were both agreed to come along that day. The first model didn’t show up, despite being in touch the previous day. Apparently the second model showed up, and left a few minutes later. Later I found a message from her saying that she couldn’t find me (despite my being in the studio, along with a dozen other people)!
There were a handful of models who had come along, and one was accompanied by her younger sister, who had never modelled before, but fancied giving it a go. After a few minutes of talking with her, I found out that she danced ballet, so I showed her some of my photos from the Cambridge Ballerina Project. When she got to the photos from my latest shoots with Zoe, she recognised her from ballet classes they used to take together. Small world. Izzy now dances at Tring Park school, and I also found out that last year’s winner of So You Think You Can Dance UK, Charlie Bruce, was also from that dance school.
It’s only when she started posing en pointe, and leaping over and over to get the shot, that I realised she was of the same calibre as Zoe, and we got plenty of beautiful dance photos. I then let some other photographers have a go, but came back to shoot some non-dance photos with her too, and she also shone there.
Hopefully we’ll do a shoot for the Cambridge Ballerina Project soon…
More photos from this shoot can be found at http://claude.gallereasy.com/gallery/364/
Lizzie had seen many of my ballet and dance photos, and as an ex-ballet dancer herself, was keen to have some dance photos taken around Cambridge before she left university for a job in London.
Become a fan of the Cambridge Ballerina Project on Facebook (http://facebook.com/camballet), where you can see more photos from this shoot.
The second of my ballet photoshoots with Zoe, where she managed to impress me even more than she did in our first riverside shoot. This time, we headed to the Sidgwick Site, where many of the Arts and Humanities faculties of the Univeresity of Cambridge are based. This time, we got the best of the evening sun, and the location had plenty of striking architecture to contrast with Zoe’s beautiful lines and graceful figure.
Feedback on the Facebook page for the Cambridge Ballerina Project confirms my thoughts that these photos are some of the best yet from the project.
I met Zoe during Inspired, the ADC contemporary dance show, in January. She danced a duet with her older sister, but I wasn’t able to get many photos of their piece, as my piece followed theirs. During Zoe’s backstage warm-up, I noticed that she was a very talented ballet dancer – with obvious potential for a great Cambridge Ballerina Project photoshoot. Needless to say, she far exceeded my expectations, and because of unpredictable weather, we ended up doing two photoshoots within a week.
