Today I want to talk about something a little different than I usually do on the blog and something that I've come to think about more directly now that I photograph dance events: How to get a good social dancing photo of yourself at an event. Have you ever looked through hundreds of photos of a dance event hoping to see a glimpse of yourself dancing? I know I’ve had several occasions where the only photo of me was of the back of my head or of me waaaaay in the background. I am writing this from the perspective of a lindy hop and blues dancer, teacher and organizer turned photographer so I do want to stress that all the tips in here are my opinions. I do think that others share them too but I'm taking responsibility for them here ;)

I think we all want good photos of ourselves and on social media especially we want to have photos as proof that we were at an event and part of the party. I find that a quick snapshot with your phone is fine to mark a point in your life, but usually doesn’t produce a memorable photo or do your experience justice. Getting a great photo of yourself can be difficult, with medium sized events having 100-200 dancers attending and very large events approaching 1000. My local lindy hop event right here in Oslo is quite big and will have more than 350 dancers from all over the world! If an event has an official photographer there is usually only one to cover all the classes, bands, performances, competitions, atmosphere, venues, any tours of the city, and social dancing so there's a lot to cover. Add to that most social dance photography gigs are done on a reduced price because we love photography and dancing so we come to the event to take classes and social dance ourselves as well.

Luckily I have a few tips to get through all the clutter and increase your chances of getting that one amazing shot to really prove to George at the office that you can dance!