I am offering one or maybe two further dance photography workshops over the winter 2009/1. The first of these will be in Cheltenham on January 30, 2010.

In the main this will take a similar format to the earlier 2009 events which proved to be hugely successful and a great deal of fun. The theme of this one will be contemporary ballet.

Cheltenham Film Studios is just off the A40, not far from GCHQ and within very easy reach of the M5. There is a convenient Travelodge right next door for those wishing to stay overnight.


Each workshop will last one day. Participants will be expected to be familiar with digital SLRs and also with basic studio flash photography.

There will be a 3 professional dancers each day with a variety of costumes and props. It is anticpated that dancers will come from the New English Contemporary Ballet. Only one person will be able to shoot at any one time however each photographer can expect to shoot three times each day and those not shooting will be expected to support the workshop as required and to prepare for their next session. The aim is to give participants the maximum amount of shooting time.

Light refreshments will be provided during the day.

In the interests of time it is preferable that you use the equipment provided rather than your own....however please feel free to bring along any interesting props that you might find useful. Whilst the equipment provided will be Nikon/Bowen based the knowledge you will acquire is generic and not manufacturer specific.

You will receive a DVD of your captures as NEF files. The dancers will be entitled to copies of a reasonable (small) number of your properly processed images from each set and a small number of images will be required to promote further workshops.

8 participants are required each day for the course to run however there has been substantial amount of interest expressed in these workshops and I anticipate that each day will be fully subscribed. I also expect that there will be future workshops in the event that you are unable to attend this one for any reason.

The workshops will commence at 8.30am each day and will finish at 6pm.

The main aim is to show you how to capture the moment and how to freeze motion using high speed flash ...much higher speed than used in normal portrait photography ...and how to work with dancers. You will be your own "artistic director." Although you can expect to come back with images for your portfolios the main intent is to give you hands on experience ...and a platform to build on for the future. ..the take away will be an enjoyable day, new knowledge and hopefully lots of inspiration. There will be opportunities to explore other approaches to freezing motion and to discuss the photography of dance in wider contexts. You can expect to find that some of the learnings are applicable elsewhere eg sport or high fashion.

The indicative cost of the workshop is £160 per person per day. In order to secure a place a deposit of £80 per person per day is required. This will be returnable in full if for any reason the workshop does not run.

Please email your commitment to attending the workshop, stating clearly which days you wish to attend and prefernece for venue (please state either if applicable), to jim.rowbotham@gmail.com following which you will receive payment instructions.

I look forward to meeting you there.