aka Jazz
Flag & Fan Dancing Photos
I dedicate this web site to the memory of
my mentor, Chris Smith.
And to the memory of Lori Rappaport,
the first Flagger to show me "how it's done."
If Chris was my Fan Daddy,
Lori was my Flag Mama.
She showed me how graceful and
articulate the flags could be.
Welcome to my Flagging and Fanning site
"Fan & Flag Dancing Photography."
On these pages you will see the results of my efforts to capture the beauty of Spinning Silk with digital photography.
For those of you who have no idea what "Flagging and Fanning" is, I offer the following definition:
• The majority of Flags and Fans that I have photographed for this web site are "UV Reactive." Using white-washed silk and specific dye colors, The Flaggers have created works of art that look beautiful just hanging on the wall. When those same fabulous fabrics are put into motion under a blacklight, magic happens!
You need to open your camera aperture up and slow the shutter speed to capture blacklight. Adding more blacklights will help as well. I also find that, unless you have infra-red focusing on your camera, setting your focus to "infinity" is necessary.
Not that soft focus can't be interesting, but the blacklight has the effect of blurring the focus anyway. Add to that the fact that your slow shutter speed is blurring the motion of the dancer. If soft focus is used as well, the cumulative effect is more than I usually like to see in the photography.
Another favored fabric is metallic lame. It sparkles and shimmers under the flashing lights of the club dance floor. It is also very light, so it "floats" nicely.
Photographing the lame flags and fans presents it's own problems. To the human eye, which is subject to "persistence of vision," the flashing dance-club lighting seems to be bright more than it is dark. Nothing could be further from the truth. Without a camera activated flash, you will get a black image more often than not. The ambient lighting is usually not enough for a good exposure.
That having been said; when you do capture a moment of light the results can be spectacular! The shimmer and sparkle of the lame is wonderful. If you happen to catch a flash while photographing under blacklight, you are in for a treat. The captured image can contain the best of both lighting conditions. The sharp focus of the spot light and the soft glow of the blacklight are both present in the image.
So a Flash is required if you want to guarantee your exposure. The problem with the usual Camera Mounted unit is a flattening of depth of field. The uniform, line of camera site flash eliminates most if not all shadows. And, as we learned in Illustration 101,
"Shadows are one of the Five Tools for creating the illusion of depth on a flat surface."
A remote flash unit would be optimal. (I can't afford one, or I would be using it for some of my photos!)
If your camera has Flash Compensation capabilities you have some options you can try. Reducing the amount of light the flash emits allows for more of the ambient lighting to appear in the shot. That will allow more shadows to appear, and that will add depth to the image.
Another feature that might be available on your camera is Rear Flash Sync. This setting gives you a "tracer" effect when used with a slow shutter speed. The image will show you the path the Flags or Fans took to get to their final position.
• When you get a group of flaggers together, a "Fairie Ring," all of that blacklight reactive silk and sparkling metallic lame twirling through the air, pulsing to the sound of a heavy drum beat... Well, can be memorizing. And I would like to take this moment to thank all of the Palm Springs Flaggots, and all of the transient Flaggers who have allowed me to photograph them for this web site.
"Thank You!"
• You might be wondering why I have so few photos taken in daylight. The reason for this is I live in Palm Springs.
It is usually too darn hot! Or too windy, depending on what time of year it is. But the lack of daylight flagging doesn't bother me. As an artist I'm much more interested in the effect of the dance club lighting on the "Rags." Slowing down the shutter speed and opening up the aperture to capture the glow of the dyed fabric creates clouds of color. Flashes of bright spot light can bring a burst of color and sharp, revealing focus.
Images that I have captured of the Flags and Fans range from Monet Water Lilies to Hubble Telescope Nebula and beyond.
My favorite way of describing the Flag and Fan audience experience is to compare it to watching Disney's Fantasia - "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor." Or the movement from "The Nutcracker Suite" with the gold fish. Fantasia 2000 - "Symphony No. 5" (Beethoven) is another. I like to think that Uncle Walt would have been appreciative of a Fairie Ring of flaggers.
More to come…
Background image created in Poser
"Flagging and Fanning is the act of swinging either Oriental Fans ("Fanning") or weighted panels of fabric ("Flagging") about ones body in aesthetically pleasing patterns, usually to music, with a rhythmical, dancing motion."
There is more to it, of course, but that is it in a nutshell. As the dancers swing the Flags and Fans about their bodies, patterns form and fall apart in a mesmerizing pulsation of light and color. If the dancer is good, they can play them like a visual violin or an optical oboe. Think of it as visual karaoke!