She has created signature images for most of the major contemporary dance companies. Many of these images can be seen in virtually every major magazine, her 1992 monograph, Breaking Bounds (Chronicle Books) as well as in her latest volume, Airborne (Chronicle ,1998)
Her work is exhibited in galleries and museums around the world. She divides her time between fine art and advertising projects. Commercial clients have picked up on the metaphoric potential of Lois' images and have created campaigns around her unique work.
One can easily call Lois Greenfield the consummate still-life photographer. A veteran of over twenty years in the industry, the compositions she creates are classic examples of how to blend form and content into stunning visual statements. What sets Lois' work apart from other still-life photographers is that her subjects never actually sit still. More often than not, they are leaping, spinning, or flying across the studio, solo and otherwise. The craft of dance photography is no easy matter. Like good acting, good dance photography is deceptively easy looking. Capturing fleeting moments in time requires enormous levels of concentration, not to mention lightning fast reflexes. Teamwork on both sides of the camera plays an equal roll in the process.
Her dance images have been chronicled in two books, "Breaking Bounds" and "Airborne", as well as her annual calendar of stunning black and white dance imagery. On the commercial front, her talents have been tapped by IBM, Kodak, Pepsi, Remy Martin, Minolta, Toshiba, and Raymond Weil. Elle, Sports Illustrated, Life, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and Zoom can be counted among her editorial clientele.
One of the technical challenges of dance imaging is having the ability to light a large area in a manner that will illuminate individual subjects that are simultaneously crossing paths with subjects crossing the frame from the opposite direction. The term "pre-visualization" takes on a whole new meaning when shooting dancers. The timing and logistics for all involved is complex to say the least. At the end of the day all of the talent and planning in the world do not necessarily guaranty magical photographs. Many viewers automatically assume the complex images Lois produces are pieced together after the fact. They are in fact carefully planned and cautiously executed by players that both live and love their craft. When you gaze at Lois' photographs you are viewing unique moments in time, not Photoshop witchcraft. The logistics of capturing images of this caliber take both human talent as well as equipment that can keep up with the demands.
The problem is that no matter how fast you hit the shutter button, if your lighting system isn't up to spec you are more often than not missing the moment. After trying out lighting equipment from a variety of manufacturers, Lois ultimately chose the broncolor nameplate. A unique quality of broncolor light shaping tools is their ability to accurately render the precise look of the actual flash exposure. The integration of the modeling lamp within the flashtube combined with the physical design of each of the broncolor reflectors results in the most accurate modeling light in the industry. What you see is truly what you get. When lighting her set, Lois and her team can light both subject(s) and background knowing how each element of the image will look in the final exposure.
Broncolor offers Lois the widest selection of light tools in the industry. She is particularly fond of the broncolor Satellite Soft reflector for lighting her main subjects. The light it produces is both soft and crisp. Skin tones are rendered in a creamy, flattering manner. Umbrellas and a variety of broncolor reflectors light the balance of each shot. In the series of dance images she shot for broncolor's 2003 calendar she went as far as including Balloon lamps and Picolites as design elements in several of the shots.
Lois' current power packs of choice are broncolor Grafit A2s. When used with broncolor Bi-tube heads, Lois has a combination of high output and up to 1/2000th of a second flash duration. Lois' dancers are frozen in time and sharp as a tack. Having the ability to set output levels in increments of 1/10th of a stop repeatedly, and consistently is alone worth the price of admission. Digital readouts display the exact output levels of each head. Unlike packs from most other manufacturers, the ready light on broncolor packs will not flash on until the pack is totally up to speed. The color temperature of each exposure is equally consistent. Whether shooting film or digital, the first exposure and last will be parallel in both color and density.
All of this technical accuracy is worthless however if there's nobody on the other side of the phone when problems arise and this is another area where broncolor gets kudos. According to Lois, broncolor support and service is as reliable as the products themselves. When problems arise she knows the solution is a call away. When the clock is ticking and talent is on the set this is a priceless entity.
Her newest venture has taken her career full circle, collaborating and performing around the world with the Australian Dance Theater in "Held," a dance inspired by her photography in which she shoots the live action as part of the performance.
These photos are from the production of "Held", a collaboration between the Australian Dance Theatre and Lois which has just finished a world tour in 2006/2007. They were shot with 2 Broncolor Grafit 4 packs and 4 Pulso light heads on each side of the stage, comprising part of the stage set. The audience experiences the flash and then sees the instant Lois caught on two 3 meter square screens, which are also on stage. Lois shoots over 300 shots a performance, sometimes getting up very close to the dancers to just frame a small section of their body, and other times captures them in multiple exposures for a stroboscopic effect.
Mostly, the images she captures are her trademark ballistic, high speed action shots. These photographs both reveal, and transform, what the naked eye can't see.
www.loisgreenfield.com
