Miley entered her first DanceSport competition this weekend so I took the camera along to capture a few pictures of her. However, Love Mae informed me that an admin from DanceSport (CdO) asked her if I was going to bring my camera so it seemed they approved of my pictures of the 14th Anniversary event even though I received zero feedback about it!

The lighting in this huge venue (LimketKai Mall Atrium) is very good on the stage but very poor ambient lighting everywhere else. The dance area required for this event was several times larger than the stage so the centre of the Atrium was fenced off from the spectator seating area with the ugliest steel barrier that was more suited to a road closure than a ballroom dancing event! This obscured the view of the floor for spectators and added a really unpleasant feature to most of the images so apologies for the background!

I do not like to use flash photography at staged events but as the dancefloor was so dim I asked the organiser if I could use a flash. This was Ana Dulce Yango, and she very kindly said that would not be a problem. She also asked me if I was going to "cover" the event so I then decided to photograph other competitors.

The Modus Operandi of the competition is much like ballroom dancing competitions in the UK. The floor is filled with up to about 10 couples at a time, dancing short routines about a minute or so each and 2 or 3 dance styles. Adjudicators assess the performances and gradually reduce the numbers down to a final group of up to six couples that they then rank for the awards. I did not wish to get in anyones way so I chose one spot to shoot from. The background in one direction was a glass wall, landscaping and a waterfall, the background in another was a selection of the Philippines finest fast food restaurants so apologies for the logos and brands too!

I quickly realised that it was not possible to capture images of all competitors. It is only possible to capture those at the end of the floor where I was sitting. If I do this again it would be best to ask Love Mae to shoot the other end of the dance floor. Learning fast! So apologies to those competitors searching here for pictures of themselves and not finding many or none at all. I found that there are very few photo opportunities once dancing commences. There is no "front" to shoot from to ensure the dancers faces or moves are captured from the best angle. Not knowing individual routines is not helpful either as I had to predict what the men were going to do next with their partners! Maybe half the images I captured are ok but the other half are less than great. However, I uploaded all of the images as it is possible that some people will not be as critical as I am about the images!

I used a slow shutter speed (100th of a second) to try and capture some movement of limbs and clothing whilst hopefully shooting stationary (or less mobile) faces. This resulted in some faces, despite being in focus, being blurred due to movement. It would have been easy to shoot with a shutter speed twice as fast but then all the pictures would look "static" and almost posed. I enjoyed the challenge!

I have had to faintly watermark the images as past experience shows that people take screen captures of the pictures they want and then they reproduce these online and they are far from the quality that I approve of. I know people will still "grab" a screen capture but at least the watermark shows others it is not a copy that should be circulated and they can see where to see the original.

A huge slap on the back to all those involved in this DanceSport event. The timing was as tardy as ever but that’s normal in the Philippines. Everything else about the event was brilliantly done and thank you again Ana for allowing me to use a flash. I hope this image gallery will serve as a good record of the event for all to see. It will remain here indefinitely :)

ENJOY!

Oh! Miley and her partner Nathaniel were placed 5th out of ten couples in the Juvenile Latin dance. Yay! Onwards and upwards!