Photographer captures haunting beauty of ballet in the digital age
Remarkable ballet photography —
How do you capture the dramatic movement of ballet in a static image? It's a question which has challenged artists for centuries.
Danish photographer Ingrid Bugge uses a mixture of digital technology and Renaissance-inspired painting to bring to life the ethereal world of ballet in her book, "The Essence of Ballet." Now turned into an interactive ibook, readers are given a behind-the-scenes look at how she created the haunting images.
Interview by Sheena McKenzie
Courtesy Ingrid Bugge
Remarkable ballet photography —
As part of the project, Bugge was given special access to The Royal Danish Ballet, photographing the prestigious dance company for almost two years. The 46-year-old artist from Copenhagen then spent another year combining the images into dreamlike collages, using digital technology.
Courtesy Ingrid Bugge
Remarkable ballet photography —
"You could say that I paint with my camera," said Bugge. "I create my pictures out of maybe 50 bits and pieces I feel fit together. I work in several layers. From there, I digitally paint the parts together using Photoshop."
Courtesy Ingrid Bugge
Remarkable ballet photography —
In some cases, Bugge then prints the images on canvas. "It's like a traditional painting. But of course, the way the picture is created is digital."
Courtesy Ingrid Bugge
Remarkable ballet photography —
"Movement is one of the things I really like to work with, because when you move you lose control a little bit, there's a certain softness to your expression," said Bugge. "If you see a bird sitting on a rooftop it has a sculptural appearance. But when it flies, it releases another kind of poetry."
Courtesy Ingrid Bugge
Remarkable ballet photography —
"It's definitely artwork, rather than simply photography. There is a long process from the picture I take at the theater, to the final piece you see," said Bugge.
Courtesy Ingrid Bugge
Remarkable ballet photography —
"The intensity, the surrender to the movement of expression, and the beauty, helps me create an adventurous story while I am editing my images," she added.
Courtesy Ingrid Bugge
Remarkable ballet photography —
Bugge composed this "White Flower" image by selecting many different parts of dresses, and then digitally layering them together.
Courtesy Ingrid Bugge
Remarkable ballet photography —
"Ballet dancers have poetry in their blood -- when they dance, they wake up feelings of love, longing, tenderness, strength, and drama," said Bugge. "I wanted to create scenes that had the exact feeling, the exact spirit of that particular performance."
Courtesy Ingrid Bugge
Remarkable ballet photography —
Bugge was inspired by Renaissance painters Leonardo Da Vinci and Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, saying: "Da Vinci in particular inspired me to create stories in the background, which support the main subject of the foreground."
Courtesy Ingrid Bugge
Remarkable ballet photography —
"I am inspired by the great painters because of the way they work with light and darkness, the dense way they paint, the colors full of mystery and history," she said.
Courtesy Ingrid Bugge
Remarkable ballet photography —
"I admire how the classical painters express feelings and drama, and how they build their pictures up with background, middle ground, and main characters," added Bugge.
Courtesy Ingrid Bugge
Reamarkable ballet photography —
"To get the right expression, to show what the scene did to me, I have to intensify it a lot. In a way, what I can't get from my camera, I'm painting in the editing process."
Courtesy Ingrid Bugge
Remarkable ballet photography —
Bugge describes in her book, the sense of awe upon entering the stage doors for the first time:
"There they are, the dancers, so fine and gracious, with make-up and dressed in elf clothing and troll fur, beetle wings and rococo wigs. It's an enchanting sight. I carefully take the camera from my bag. I do not dare to press too hard on the release button or stand too close. I feel like a stranger here, trying to settle in."
Courtesy Ingrid Bugge
Reamarkable ballet photography —
"I am fascinated by the human body, the way it moves and expresses itself, and the interaction between bodies," says Bugge, who bought her first camera as a 14-year-old.
Courtesy Ingrid Bugge
Remarkable ballet photography —
She has since been nominated for the prestigious Nordic Portrait Prize, and had her work exhibited at Denmark's National Museum of Photography.
Courtesy Ingrid Bugge
Remarkable ballet photography —
"Looking through my viewfinder, I constantly discover new expressions in the movements, captivating me. Lights glide poetically over the magical scenery. The orchestra fills the theater with music. The dancers are transformed. The orchestra and the dancers become one," Bugge says in her book.
Courtesy Ingrid Bugge
Remarkable ballet photography —
As technology developments, so too do the ways artists capture ballet. What does the future hold? Already, Bugge is working on her next project: underwater dancers.
