Dancers Among Us: Urban NYC Portraits

by Patrick Hall January 21, 2011 5 Comments

Jordan Matter is a headshot photographer based out of NYC but does some rather quirky personal projects. One of his on going projects is titled Dancers Among Us where he places professional dancers in urban environments and tries to capture a spontaneous yet thought provoking image. I must admit some of his tactics might be a bit unlawful and I don't recommend necessarily following all of his advice but the concept is pretty interesting. Shooting in public places is always tough especially when you want a high production value but doing it in NYC can be extremely tough without getting proper licenses. View more images from this series here.

Topics:

Portraits

Natural Light

Location

Editorial Photography

Photojournalistic

Fine Art

5 Comments

About Patrick Hall

patrickhall.photography

Patrick Hall is a founder of Fstoppers.com and a photographer based out of Charleston, South Carolina.

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5 Comments

mark January 22, 2011

I'm sorry I have always hated the "it is better to ask forgiveness than permission" excuse

Piotr Bizior January 22, 2011

now that's some creative city photography! sooo NYC too :)

Tianxiao Zhang January 22, 2011

Definitely worth a shot.. hope the authorities in Toronto are easier..

Paul Monaghan January 22, 2011

"mark - I’m sorry I have always hated the “it is better to ask forgiveness than permission” excuse"

True.. but I don't know how many times I've had dumb security people tell me im not even allowed somewhere with my camera never mind to take a photograph.(A local car boot sale market was one.. wtf).

Also im not saying security in general are dumb.. I have lots of good friends who do that line of work, crap pay.. long hours and alot of abuse to be had.. so lots of respect there. But the world seems to be going anti camera mad at times and I've heard the terrorism excuse too many times.

Eric Seilo January 23, 2011

@mark Jordan Matter's shots are quirky and dynamic urban shots that rely upon the surprise of the spectators. The "excuse" of not asking permission is worth it here because no one is getting hurt. Its not like he is barging into an aboriginal village and snapping photos with a point and shoot.

Also, I feel if you live in/work in and have love for NY you should appreciate public art and be prepared to be part of it!