streetdancerproject

[streetdancerproject]

That time we actually did the Street Dancer Project literally. Looking forward to heading back to Philly and photographing the rebooted Lindy exchange in May.

Dancers: @julianne_ferrill and Kevin

📷: @j_s_almonte

#streetdancerproject

Dance Of, By and For the People

#dancephotography #dancephotographer #jazz #dance #lindyhop #swingdance #swing #philly #charleston #Philadelphia #dcphotographer #dmvphotographer #dcdancephotographer #portraitphotographer #dcportraitphotographer #portraitphotography #outdoorphotograph #streetportrait #streetportraits #streetportraiture #streetportraitphotography

[streetdancerproject]

Dancing it up before the storm at National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden last summer

Dancers: Marie N'Diaye and Anders Sihlberg

📷: @j_s_almonte

#streetdancerproject

Dance Of, By and For the People

#lindyhop #jazz #charleston #dancephotography #dancephotographer #dance #portraitphotographer #dcportraitphotographer #sonyA9 #sonyalpha #dance #dancedc #dcdance #dc #dctography #exposeddc #igdc #districtcreates #dmv_creatives #dcphotographer #dmvphotographer #dcdancephotographer #nga #Smithsonian #swing #nationalgalleryofart

[streetdancerproject]

Busy weekend in NYC. Attended a photography workshop on Saturday and went out dancing at night. It was nice to catch up with the NYC peeps, and I even got to see frequent collaborator, Elena perform. It reminded me of our photo adventures last Spring.

Dancer: @elenaval16

📷: @j_s_almonte

#streetdancerproject

Dance Of, By and For the People

#dancephotography #dancephotographer #dance #portraitphotographer #dcportraitphotographer #sonyA9 #sonyalpha #nyc #dance #contemporary #modern

[streetdancerproject]

Back in NYC for the weekend.

Dancer: @bughthere

📷: @j_s_almonte

#streetdancerproject

Dance Of, By and For the People

#dancephotography #dancephotographer #dance #portraitphotographer #dcportraitphotographer #sonyA9 #sonyalpha #nyc #dance #lindyhop #swing #swingdance #dmvphotographer #dcdancephotographer

#streetdancerproject

Dance Of, By and For the People

[streetdancerproject]

Stompin' the Yards

Dancers: Lea, Hussain, Lily, Phil, Andy

📷: @j_s_almonte

#streetdancerproject

Dance Of, By and For the People

#camdenyards #dmv_creatives #dcphotographer #dmvphotographer #dcdancephotographer #portraitphotographer #dcportraitphotographer #dance #lindyhop #charleston #jazz #swing #baltimore #swingdance #sonyA9 #sonyalpha

[streetdancerproject]

New Year's Day Portraits

I was not nearly as smart or motivated as my parents hoped I would be growing up. I was enrolled in all kinds of honors and AP classes in school, but did not do as well as I could have. In retrospect, I probably could have finished with a better GPA had I stayed in the more mainstream classes, but I enjoyed being around the honors students since they took the work a little more seriously and hoped that the standards would rub off on me. I was only partially right.

One of the things that keeps me in the Lindy Hop community is the energy and creativeness. I gave up working on my dancing a long time ago, but it does refresh the soul to interact with so many interesting people on a regular basis.

Lindy Focus is usually a great time to catch up with so many of them all at once. This year I decided to take advantage of such a concentration of talent by turning my room into a makeshift studio to work on my own lighting skills. I scheduled a bunch of shoots throughout the week to figure out my equipment and what I liked to do with it. However, I had nothing planned for New Year's Day because there was a chance I would have had to leave early to serve jury duty on January 2nd. I did not find out that was not the case until late New Year's Eve. I suppose I could have slept in the next day and finally relaxed after such a long week, but there was one more project I wanted to do.

Mark Seliger has been doing a pseudo photo booth after the Oscars for the past few years. It's actually more of a pop up portrait studio. The lighting and production values are really impressive for such a temporary thing, but what draws me is how very talented people react to being in such a situation after such a stressful and celebratory night. 

I really admire the kind of photographers that can manage a photo booth especially at a big event like Lindy Focus. I don't think I have the personality. I've done it in the past and it's not really my speed. Too much, too fast , and all at once. I like being a little more deliberative and taking a more personal approach.

Around 3 AM of the New Year, I decided to start asking people if they wanted to participate in my idea some time after they woke up in a few hours, and found a surprising number of people who were game. A lot of people turned me down because they were headed out of town, but even a few of those said yes. When I posted on Instagram the first photo I took, I noted

"Jessica and Bobby messaged me around 12:11 pm that they had just gotten up. They were at my door, in their New Year's Eve best, at 12:39 pm. We took several shots, but I knew we didn't have to go longer after taking this very first one. Which is just as well because their ride was leaving at 1:30 pm."

One of the nice things about working with professional and semi-professional performers is that you don't have to direct them very much. I just created a situation comfortable enough for them to do whatever they wanted. Although, sometimes I had to remind them to turn their face towards the light whenever I thought necessary.

I squeezed in 13 sessions with 17 people over the course of eight hours. These are some of the highlights. I'll be posting many more including photos from my other sessions over on my Instagram page @j_s_almonte

In order of appearance:

Brooks Prumo & Laura Glaess

Nicole Zuckerman

Julianne Ferrill & Kevin Mascitelli

Josh Collazo

Alexander Fernandez & Jessica King

LaTasha Barnes

Bobby White & Jessica White

Joshua Mclean

Jen Hodge

Rafal Pustelny

Cari Westbrook

Kevin Clark

Jonathan Stout

[streetdancerproject]

About to hit the road. Who else will I see at Lindy Focus?

Dancers: Julianne and Kevin

📷: @j_s_almonte

#streetdancerproject

Dance Of, By and For the People

#dancephotography #dancephotographer #jazz #dance #lindyhop #swingdance #swing #philly #charleston #Philadelphia #elfrethsalley #districtcreates #dmv_creatives #dcphotographer #dmvphotographer #dcdancephotographer #portraitphotographer #dcportraitphotographer #portraitphotography #outdoorphotograph #streetportrait #streetportraits #streetportraiture #streetportraitphotography

[streetdancerproject]

I'm not sure we need a rain dance today, but sometimes you just have to embrace your circumstances.

Dancer: @brucethemighty @maryludwigdances

📷: @j_s_almonte

#streetdancerproject

Dance Of, By and For the People

#philly #Philadelphia #sonyA9 #sonyalpha #dancephotography #dancephotographer #districtcreates #dmv_creatives #dcphotographer #dmvphotographer #dcdancephotographer #portraitphotographer #dcportraitphotographer #rain #model #water #dancephotography #dancephotographer #dance #jazz #lindyhop #charleston #swing

[streetdancerproject]

One of these days, I'm going to make it to a @streetmeetdc. There was one in Crystal City last weekend, but I think I got a little more lucky with the weather shooting around there this past August. It's been interesting watching the area develop especially since we've been having the International Lindy Hop Championships at various hotels there over the past 10 years. Recently they've been making a conscious effort to dress up the area with more and more street art, even covering up entire buildings. I'm kinda curious to see what other changes our Amazon overlords will bring to Crystal . . . er National Landing in the near future.

Dancers: @cajsaweinemo & @matejdujakovic (Sweden)

📷: @j_s_almonte

#streetdancerproject

Dance Of, By and For the People

http://streetdancerproject.tumblr.com/

#lindyhop #jazz #charleston #dancephotography #dancephotographer #dance #portraitphotographer #dcportraitphotographer #sonyA9 #sonyalpha #dance #dancedc #dcdance #dc #dctography #exposeddc #igdc #metro #arlington #nationallanding #crystalcity #virginia #districtcreates #dmv_creatives #dcphotographer #dmvphotographer #dcdancephotographer

[streetdancerproject]

Did you know that this gorgeous view of the river was just a parking lot until a few years ago? Now people get to do all kinds of frolicking here without fear of being hit by a cement truck.

Dancers: Anna Forss & Jakob Bergelin (Sweden)

📷: @j_s_almonte

#streetdancerproject

Dance Of, By and For the People

http://streetdancerproject.tumblr.com/

#lindyhop #jazz #charleston #dancephotography #dancephotographer #dance #portraitphotographer #dcportraitphotographer #sonyA9 #sonyalpha #dance #dancedc #dcdance #dc #dctography #exposeddc #igdc #districtcreates #dmv_creatives #dcphotographer #dmvphotographer #dcdancephotographer #georgetown #georgetownwaterfrontpark

[streetdancerproject]

We were racing the rain, but we decided to risk a quick shoot before the sky opened up. It's not often that I get to work with dancers of this caliber, so sometimes you just have to take the risk.

Dancers: Marie N'Diaye and Anders Sihlberg (Sweden)

📷: @j_s_almonte

#streetdancerproject

Dance Of, By and For the People

http://streetdancerproject.tumblr.com/

#lindyhop #jazz #charleston #dancephotography #dancephotographer #dance #portraitphotographer #dcportraitphotographer #sonyA9 #sonyalpha #dance #dancedc #dcdance #dc #dctography #exposeddc #igdc #districtcreates #dmv_creatives #dcphotographer #dmvphotographer #dcdancephotographer #HirshhornMuseum #Smithsonian

For photos and occasional dance commentary please Like, Follow or Subscribe at

https://instagram.com/j_s_almonte/

https://www.facebook.com/JSAlmonteWandering

http://jsalmonteproductions.com/

[streetdancerproject]

Egle bringing both some more international flavor to the #streetdancerproject and some dapper white jumpsuit classiness to the Hirshhorn Museum.

Dancers: Egle Regelskis (Lithuania)

📷: @j_s_almonte

#streetdancerproject

Dance Of, By and For the People

http://streetdancerproject.tumblr.com/

#lindyhop #jazz #charleston #dancephotography #dancephotographer #dance #portraitphotographer #dcportraitphotographer #sonyA9 #sonyalpha #dance #dancedc #dcdance #dc #dctography #exposeddc #igdc #metro #arlington #nationallanding #crystalcity #virginia #districtcreates #dmv_creatives #dcphotographer #dmvphotographer #dcdancephotographer #HirshhornMuseum #Smithsonian #dapperlady

For photos and occasional dance commentary please Like, Follow or Subscribe at

https://instagram.com/j_s_almonte/

https://www.facebook.com/JSAlmonteWandering

http://jsalmonteproductions.com/

[streetdancerproject]

What do you do when it starts raining on your photoshoot? A) cancel B) go inside C) Embrace it all and jump into a water fountain.

Dancer: @maryludwigdances

📷: @j_s_almonte

#streetdancerproject

Dance Of, By and For the People

#philly #Philadelphia #sonyA9 #sonyalpha #dancephotography #dancephotographer #districtcreates #dmv_creatives #dcphotographer #dmvphotographer #dcdancephotographer #portraitphotographer #dcportraitphotographer #rain #model #water #dancephotography #dancephotographer #dance #jazz #lindyhop #charleston #swing

[streetdancerproject]

I'm very thankful that these two talented dancers took time out of their busy schedule at ILHC to do this photoshoot with me before they went on to place first in the Open Showcase division. They literally went from this shoot to the prelims of that division. Maybe the shoot had something to do with it or maybe it's because they some how knew to color coordinate with the street art in Crystal City. Not long after this, Amazon decided to move to the neighborhood and change the name of the area. Coincidence? No one will ever be able to say for sure.

Dancers: Cajsa Weinemo & Matej Dujakovic (Sweden)

📷: @j_s_almonte

#streetdancerproject

Dance Of, By and For the People

http://streetdancerproject.tumblr.com/

#lindyhop #jazz #charleston #dancephotography #dancephotographer #dance #portraitphotographer #dcportraitphotographer #sonyA9 #sonyalpha #dance #dancedc #dcdance #dc #dctography #exposeddc #igdc #metro #arlington #nationallanding #crystalcity #virginia #districtcreates #dmv_creatives #dcphotographer #dmvphotographer #dcdancephotographer

For photos and occasional dance commentary please Like, Follow or Subscribe at

https://instagram.com/j_s_almonte/

http://streetdancerproject.tumblr.com/

https://www.facebook.com/JSAlmonteWandering

http://jsalmonteproductions.com/

[streetdancerproject]

I'm thankful that I saw Creed 2 this past weekend. It reminded me of this shoot I did with the University of Delaware Swing Club in Philly not too long ago. As you can see it was pouring rain, so you know they are a super dedicated and fun group of folks. They also happen to be hosting their first exhange this weekend which will hopefully be less rainy, but even more fun.

Dancers: @ud_swing_club

📷: @j_s_almonte

#streetdancerproject

Dance Of, By and For the People

http://streetdancerproject.tumblr.com/

#dancephotography #dancephotographer #dance #lindyhop #charleston #jazz #swing #dancedc #dcdance #swingdance #sonyA9 #sonyalpha #udswing #philly #Philadelphia #dcphotographer #dmvphotographer #dcdancephotographer #portraitphotographer #dcportraitphotographer

[streetdancerproject]

Glad to see the sun again today.

Dancers: Nora

📷: @j_s_almonte

#streetdancerproject

Dance Of, By and For the People

#bellydance #dance #sonyA9 #sonyalpha #dancephotography #dancephotographer #portraitphotographer #dcportraitphotographer #thewharf #wharfdc

[streetdancerproject]

More Classic Dance Noir with Gaby & Nathan

Dancers: @gaby_cook & @bughthere

📷: @j_s_almonte

#streetdancerproject

Dance Of, By and For the People

http://streetdancerproject.tumblr.com/

#dancephotography #dancephotographer #dance #portraitphotographer #dcportraitphotographer #sonyA9 #sonyalpha #nyc #dance #lindyhop #swing #swingdance #dmvphotographer #dcdancephotographer