Milena Tuominen and Laura Quin

Can You imagine going to a theatre in fancy clothes, especially with high heels and maybe long dresses in case of the ladies, and finding out that to actually enter the theatre You would have to balance and find Your way across shaky rocks in the artificial creek accompanied by an enchanting sound of a water flow. I thought I was being funny when I asked whether the audience would have to enter through the creek, but turned out, this was exactly the plan for a dance performance “Kreutzwald meets dance”, produced by Theatre Vanemuine in Tartu.

I was honored and pleased when I heard that I was personally requested by the choreographer to be the photographer for this production.

While taking photos of a preliminary rehearsal few weeks earlier, Jaan pointed at blue stickers on the floor and explained that they marked the creek with real water. Of course I got curious how the ballerinas would manage while dipping their toes in the water, but I shortly figured that he might not really have the answer before actually trying it out, so I withheld my questions.

Although the couple centimeters of the water was shallower than I had anticipated, the enchanting sound of a creek flow really brought it alive. Surprisingly, the dancers did not just dip their toes in the water – by the end of the performance they were soaked with water, so was the whole scene and so was I. As for some of the photos I aimed very low angles, a lot of the time my chin or cheek was on the ground, so there was no escaping from the wet floor. And when after the rehearsal the girls went all wild for the splash à la ballerina photo, I just embraced the water flying in all directions.

Milena Tuominen with a splash

Final cuts by costume designer Maarja Meeru

Rita Dolgihh as a witch

Laura Quin

Kristina Markevičiute playing with water

Choreographer Jaan Ulst in a bit of a twist

Kristina Markevičiute

Ballerinas at a creek on the stage

Wet footprints on the stage

This production was Jaan’s debut as a choreographer in the Vanemuine. For Milena this was the last project in the theatre, which I am quite sad about.

Kristina Markeviciute, Milena Tuominen and Tatevik Mkrtoumian

Photos taken at the Sadamateater of theatre Vanemuine at the rehearsals on May 4th and 5th, 2012.

Director and choreographer: Jaan Ulst
Stage and costume designer: Maarja Meeru
Light: Siim Allas
Photos: Ranno Rätsep
Official website

Splash à la ballerina

Choreographer Jaan Ulst in the air

Photos from a preliminary rehearsal of a dance performance “Kreutzwald meets dance” at the Theatre Vanemuine on April 21st.

Milena and Laura

Kristina, Laura, Tatevik and Milena in the air

I already have the photos of the full show with the decorations, costumes and make-up I will publish them some time soon.

Choreographer Jaan Ulst

Chris 'acting' cold

I do consider myself to be a shy guy, but incidentally, especially with low blood level in my alcohol circulation, I may get rather harassive. So, on one of these rare moments, I approached a lonely-looking guy at a club and forced my introduction on him. Turned out he was currently working and did not seem to be much into conversation, but fortunately we managed to get in touch later on web.

Sometimes I think that I might sound like an old pervert when telling guys I want to take photos of them. I don’t know whether it is in my intonation or appearance or typos (due to which my offer may accidentally be read as “I want to have my way with You with my big Cannon”), but usually the first response is a frightened question “.. what kind of photos..?”. However, after a short explanation of my hobby, my suggestion usually succeeds to a photo shoot.

Chris on the silhouette of Tallinn

You might have noticed a sweater on the photos.. When I went to pick him up, he ran down the stairs in just the sweater. It must have been around +5°C and I first wanted to make him go back for some jacket, but seeing the big bag of clothes he had brought along for the photo shoot, I figured he could at least put all of those on if he got cold. Through the shoot the temperature kept dropping and I could not ask him to drop the sweater as he was already shivering from the very beginning. The costumes we left in the bag will just have to wait for the next time.

For the last photos I asked him to act cold – he did not have to act too hard for that :) Half an hour later it was already snowing pretty heavily.

Chris the ghetto boy

Chris with a yellow cat

Chris the dancer

Chris the nature boy

Crouching on a gate

Photos were taken on April 16th at the ‘ghetto’ of Linnahall, which is a neglected concert hall in Tallinn.

Chris

Ballerinas; Raminta and Kristina

So cool – my photography gigs and fascination with dance have introduced me to many interesting and exciting people and have taken me to unexpected places, like backstage, on stage, to production rehearsals, and now, into a tutu! :)

Kristina

I have a lot of photos of Kristina and Raminta on stage, but now, on their request, we had a private photo shoot. I was a bit concerned over how satisfied they would be with the photos. Sure, I have seen some ballet, but I am still clueless when trying to think of some real ballet poses. Luckily, girls were instructing and correcting each other, so all I had to do was to press the trigger.

Real ballerinas eat cookies too!

Kristina

With this photo shoot in mind I purchased a LumiQuest ProMax System flash light modification accessory kit. Although some shadows remained, in general I was rather satisfied with the new accessory.

Kristina

Grand jeté, Raminta

Arabesque, Raminta

Raminta

Arabesque, Kristina

Raminta Rudzionyte

Kristina with a tutu

Boa-Kristina

Raminta

Kristina Markeviciute

Kristina on a piano

Raminta with a tutu

Raminta with a tutu

Raminta and Kristina

A moment off the feet; Kristina

Raminta and Kristina with Tartu on the background

Few hours after we started the fun photoshoot, we could not come up with any more ideas and poses for the photos and girls were quite exhausted from jumping and posing on the pointe shoes. Before calling it the end, I shyly asked “Do You think.. , ee.. , do You think I would somehow fit into the tutu?”. In a blink they told me to take off my pants and they stretched the tutu skirt around my waist!

I am a real ballerina too! (Ranno & Raminta)

Photos taken on March 10th in Theatre Vanemuine, Tartu.

As I look at Joe‘s lips I swiftly get carried away trying to track the lines of the maze. There is something hypnotizing about these luscious lips.

The last week has been a nerve-wracking quest in a maze. At times the paths have appeared as dark alleys where I just sit down and stare into the endless darkness. The other times I found myself hitting my head at wall at a dead end, even though I had left a note for myself: ‘dead end, I have been here before’. The week of excessive frustration and drama really broke down my mind and health. Then again, there was some light and hope too on some of the paths. Last night I actually saw a shooting star and that always symbolizes hope for me. Also, following a week long dance audition I was sort of accepted to a show production company, which, if I find enough time aside my day-time job, might bring some fun times on stage. And then there is love; it does brighten everything up.

The photos of Joe are actually fragments from the previous post, with a Curly Smooth filter of Topaz Clean 3 plugin. While working on the previous photos, as I zoomed in I got lost in his face, so I decided the face pics deserved a whole separate post.

Joe cozy on bed

Seems like I can never get enough of Joe, as might be obvious by how this blog is turning into his photo portfolio – over 60 photos since 2008.

These photos were taken at Joe’s place in Helsinki 2 weeks ago. We could not figure out any new artsy theme for the photos, but even seeing him cozily relaxing on the bed, I could not keep my hands off of my camera.

I did have some more ideas for the photos, but considering that there are already dozens of nude pics of him here, him wearing pants seemed like a new and fresh scene :)

Joe cozy on bed

Milena Tuominen in Carrrmen

Carrrmen! in Theatre Vanemuine, choreographed and directed by Ruslan Stepanov. Some of the photos I took, can be found on the official website of the production [EST/ENG] and have been used for a newspaper advertisement.

Carrrmen in Theatre Vanemuine

Since I moved away from Tartu I have really been missing taking photos at the rehearsals and sipping wine with the dancers at the premier receptions.

So this time when I was invited to the rehearsal (even though I had told while ago that I had relocated) I first declined the invitation; but then, in a bit of contemplation and considering my addiction to the ‘Thanks!’ from dancers I packed my stuff the next morning, left work early, had a 2.5h bus ride to Tartu, took the photos, and ran back to the bus station to catch the last bus back to Tallinn. A heck of a quickie, but I think it worked out well – the theatre liked my photos enough to publish them on the official website and they also used some of the photos for a major newsaper advertisement.

Carrrmen in Theatre Vanemuine

Carrrmen in Theatre Vanemuine

Raminta Rudzionyte in Carrrmen

Carrrmen in Theatre Vanemuine

Behind a grid; Carrrmen in Theatre Vanemuine

Carrrmen in Theatre Vanemuine

Colin Thomas Maggs in Carrrmen

Colin Thomas Maggs in Carrrmen

Carrrmen in Theatre Vanemuine

Photos taken in Theatre Vanemuine, Tartu, Estonia, on February 15th, 2012.

Light and Set Designer: Patrik Bogårdh
Costume Designer: Mare Tommingas

Carrrmen in Theatre Vanemuine

John applying mascara

Who dares to say that only girls are supposed to play with makeup. I remember myself going through mom’s makeup drawer when I was just few years old – well, I ate all the lipsticks and the mascara was a great tool to paint with.

Busy with a liner

Photos taken while John was preparing for his last show on the M/S Baltic Princess on Jan 12th.

Happy to have met such an awesome entertainer and a great guy!

John Grant @ Winter Swing

Photos and a video of a ‘Winter Swing’ show produced by Dance factory on board of M/S Baltic Princess. John Grant, featured in the show, is a fantastic and radiant performer who seems to be an inspiration even for his co-performers. Gotta love him and his talent! He left many behind missing him on this side of the Atlantic.

John Grant @ Winter Swing

John Grant @ Winter Swing

John Grant and Raimondo Laikre @ Winter Swing

John Grant @ Winter Swing

John Grant and Raimondo Laikre @ Winter Swing

John Grant @ Winter Swing

John Grant @ Winter Swing

John Grant and Raimondo Laikre @ Winter Swing

Eneli Rüütli (middle) @ Winter Swing

Winter Swing on board of Baltic Princess

Tanja Mihhailova, Raimondo Laikre and John Grant

John Grant @ Winter Swing

Winter Swing on board of Baltic Princess

Photos taken at midnight show on January 5th, video recorded on January 13th, 2012, John’s last show, with canon EOS 60D. Below is a 6 minute composition of the half an hour show.

No no, it is not as if that was all I could say while shooting these photos of Joe – sometimes I said ‘Oh, God!’ instead. His defined, muscled body is amazing piece of art at whatever angle I look at him, he is just a living sculpture!

The red textured wall was a nice background for the photos, but since I could not bring along my studio lamps, I had to come up with some lighting solution.

First I dismantled a floor lamp and tried some complicated choreography to make it work as a sort of a softbox on my flash. Mh, did not quite work out.

Eventually I just bounced flash off of the back of the room at full power. Seemed to be great solution until after about 30 shots my flash overheated and refused to co-operate. Once it had cooled down, we were already hungry and done with the session.

Photos are taken Joe’s place last weekend. Always excited to be able to take photos of him and especially happy for his approval for publishing the photos.