Aerial Arts

My primary interest in aerial arts has been creating photographs of the performer(s) as one might create a photograph of a rock star. Finding the narrative within their performance and how I react to it is my main goal. I never fail to notice someone intently watching the performer and how they execute their moves on the apparatus as a musician would watch a fellow performer play their instrument on stage. These are live photographs in which I am experiencing the performance and have absolutely no input or control on site over anything except where I stand and how I use my camera. While there are many performers in the city, there is truly a group of separate individuals that have pushed and continue to go beyond the boundaries of the original entertainment intent of aerial arts. One example of many is by telling a narrative story in a theater play through movement and non-spoken sound. In this case, the performer(s) have moved the apparatus into the background as the primary spectacle and themselves forward as an actor merely using the equipment as their flying stage on which to tell their story. Aerial arts have been in a "Golden Age" for a little over a decade as it is no longer an exclusive of the circus and has now permeated the ether all around us. You will find it in a variety of spaces and venues (stage and theater performances, aerial burlesque, aerial yoga, live music concerts, television and film, gyms, training facilities, dance clubs, etc.) in which you can participate as a spectator or train to become a performer yourself. I have been covering live aerial arts performers for almost a decade as well as training as an aerialist since 2008. As with all of my live aerial artists photography, the body of the performer has not been edited. Only the lighting has been manipulated in Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop with basic tools (curves, levels, etc.). No filtration is used.