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SHARE A SHOOT: JMPIX & Ballerina Erica Mulkern

Header photo: Image by photographer JMPIX with model Ballerina Erica Mulkern

JMPIX is a full-time photographer based in Leeds, United Kingdom, with more than 23 years of experience.

After sharing his shoot (featuring model Ballerina Erica Mulkern) with the PurplePort community, John from JMPIX generously gave us his time for a quick interview, where he shared how these fabulous images were created, the inspirations behind the shoot, how it was planned, the camera gear he used, and much more.

Image by photographer JMPIX with model Ballerina Erica Mulkern

SHARE A SHOOT with JMPIX

How did you come up with the concept? Did anything inspire you?

I saw casting from Erica Mulkern and realised she was local to me. Doing a ballet dance-themed shoot appealed to me.

I have shot urban ballet before (as seen in my portfolio), so I was familiar with the style. Erica's portfolio impressed me also, so I put the idea of a Black Swan (loosely) style shoot to her, and she agreed.

Being a ballet dancer by trade, this was a familiar concept to her.

Image by photographer JMPIX with model Ballerina Erica Mulkern. I didn't like this in colour; it seemed rather dull, but with a simple black-and-white treatment, I think it becomes quite striking.

Behind the mask by photographer JMPIX with model Ballerina Erica Mulkern. I brought along a mask prop, and we played around with various poses; thus, one I like as it's cropped tight, so it doesn't even seem to be a ballet outfit, and with the hair tied back and the earrings, it has upper-class feel like a high society masked ball or such. I tweaked the colour a little in post.

What did you do to plan and arrange the shoot?

In planning the shoot, I searched online for Black Swan-themed images (of which there were relatively few, surprisingly). I mainly used Pinterest, which is always a good source of inspiration.

This time, I wanted to shoot indoors, and Erica knew of a dance studio in Huddersfield. She sent me pictures and a description of the location, which seemed to fit the brief well.

I sent Erica some links to images of looks I wanted to create, and together, we agreed to forgo the make-up normally seen as it would be time-consuming for a two-hour shoot.

Erica took care of booking the studio.

Image by photographer JMPIX with model Ballerina Erica Mulkern

What was it like shooting at that location?

The location was great. It was a typical dance studio, very spacious, with a big mirror wall, wood floors and plenty of daylight. It was very minimalist, and I was a little worried about coming up with ideas.

The natural light was good for tone in reflecting off the wood floors. There were a couple of chairs, one of which we utilised for some poses.

Using a Nikon D5, which is very good in low light at around Iso 800 with a wide angle zoom 18-85mm f3.5-f4.5 and occasionally, I used a 70-200 f2.8

Image by photographer JMPIX with model Ballerina Erica Mulkern

Tell us about the gear you used.

The equipment I used was a Nikon D5 with two lenses: an 18-85mm f3.5- f4.5 and also a 70-200mm f2.8 for the portraits.

Image by photographer JMPIX with model Ballerina Erica Mulkern

What's your favourite image from the shoot?

My favourite image is probably the image below.

I love the surreal nature of only seeing the model's face in the reflection while her "real" side isn't seen.

When the dancer becomes the dance by photographer JMPIX with model Ballerina Erica Mulkern

Thank you, JMPIX, for sharing your creativity, experience and images with us. We loved learning all about your photoshoot with model Ballerina Erica Mulkern!

We hope you all loved it, too. Please check out the links below to see more of JMPIX's work!

Here's where you can find more of JMPIX's work

PurplePort: JMPIX

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