Now Showing At the Theater!

April 12, 2014 • Leave a Comment

[NOTE: Use of the wording PLAYBILL is trademarked and copyrighted. This template was inspired by the famous "PLAYBILL" theater program. Changing the text to PLAYBILL is at your own risk, please observe the legal status.]

Over the past 4 weeks I have had the wonderful pleasure of taking photos at a local theater for their summer children's conservatory. My three girls participated in a theater camp for 4 summers when they were much younger. It was a terrific way for them to all be together, which is a rare thing with their varying ages. It was an experience they can remember for a long time to come. It was also a way for them to learn how to speak in front of a large audience, gain some acting skills and perform.

I was excited to be part of this great group of people at The Retro Dome, a local community theater in San Jose. As I mentioned I was familiar with this type of experience as a parent. But in all honesty The Retro Dome took this experience to new heights. 40 children ranging in age from 7 to 14 participated in the musical, "Free to be You and Me." The minute I walked in I was blown away by the singing, dancing and acting skills of all the kids. The training the received from the team at The Retro Dome was outstanding. I found myself humming the tunes from each day when I came back home and worked on all my photos.

On this particular assignment I was lucky enough to have two photographers with me, Sean and Jeiji, who were able to capture a collection of other shots I wasn't able to get. Sean and Jeiji are very accomplished photographers and currently students at San Jose State. Their shots amazed me and I was lucky to work with them. We each had different lenses plus we were sitting in different spots when the kids did their rehearsal. That gave us a great opportunity to get a bunch of nice shots both close-up and ensemble.

In addition to that I created a fun program inspired by the famous PLAYBILL (<- click on that link to take you to the free download) template to insert each child's headshot. It made a nice keepsake of their fun experience. By the end of the 4 weeks we had a nice digital album for each child plus a variety of group shots and video (taken with my Canon 5D Mark II). The parents and grandparents loved them. It saved them from having to capture photos while watching the show. I look forward to working with this wonderful community theater on more upcoming projects. Watching the kids perform almost makes me want to take an acting class, - almost. I think I prefer being behind the camera even at the theater.

Here are some shots from the conservatory, most of them were selected for this post NOT to show the kids faces in full, but in profile.