Jacob’s Pillow is an endless source of beauty and inspiration.
I love making performance photos alongside creative portraits of the same dancers in the same week. I get to see the many sides of the artists and how they are on and off the stage. I’m lucky to be able to capture those different states of creativity.
Photos above of Madison Embrey, Amaria Stern, Henry McCall, Emily Leppala, Montana Dalton Patrick Blain, Lucas Donner and Dion Savelkoul, Students of The School at Jacob’s Pillow
Photos above of Ashley Simpson, Contemporary Student at The School at Jacob’s Pillow, and Beatrice Capote and Chloe Davis of Camille A. Brown & Dancers.
Having the opportunity to work with dancers at the Pillow one-on-one in natural light is so great. It’s fun to have the dancers improvise and make photos of them in movement that comes to them naturally. It’s inspiring to work with them.
Photos above of Kody Jauron and Franco Nieto of Northwest Dance Project, Ian Berg of Tireless Tap, Faye Driscoll Group, Takashi Seo of Tireless Tap and Emily Leppala and Taylor Massa, Students at The School at Jacob’s Pillow.
Finding beautiful scenery for photos isn’t difficult to do at the Pillow. It’s gorgeous here. A few hundred acres tucked into the hills – that’s a part of what makes the Pillow what it is, and I love being able to capture that spirit in my photos.
Photos above of Pilobolus
Behind the scenes look
Dig in to more creative portraits from this summer.
I write and share a blog post every week about my experience photographing artists at Jacob’s Pillow Dance. Click any of the subjects below to see more from that photo shoot, dance company or performance week.
Why I create portraits at Jacob’s Pillow
We work on collaborative film & photo projects with dance artists in Manhattan and beyond.
I love dance and believe deeply in preserving and promoting the art form.
My wife Nel Shelby and I are a husband and wife film and photo team for dance artists. I have been the Festival Photographer for Jacob’s Pillow Dance since 2006, and I’ve also collaborated with a wide range of artists, from Wendy Whelan to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from our home base in New York. My dance photos publicize world premieres, appear in season marketing brochures and on billboards, and in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Dance Magazine, Pointe Magazine, The Boston Globe, Dance Teacher and more. My images from Jacob’s Pillow were chosen by the National Museum of Dance for a year-long photographic exhibition and have shown in exhibits at the Pillow, too.
My wife Nel films performances and creates marketing videos and original films. Nel Shelby Productions (NSP), based in NYC, serves a diverse list of dance clients in New York and beyond. NSP’s videographers, editors, marketing and project management staff are all dancers, dedicated to the art form and committed to our clients. She is Video Producer for Jacob’s Pillow Dance and Vail Dance Festival, and Director and Producer of the New York Emmy-nominated documentary PS DANCE! Her films have screened at Jacob’s Pillow, Reston Center Stage, Links Hall, Dance Place, Dance on Camera Festival, San Francisco Dance Film Festival, Yo-Fi Fest and more.
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Phenomenal artists and performance eye-candy that won’t disappoint.