This is the first time I have photographed flamenco. So I started at the top! Sara Baras is one of the finest flamenco dancers in the world and appeared at The Royal Albert Hall. The energy that she and her entire company displayed was extraordinary. It was all quiet passion punctuated with moments of sheer violence in the dancing. The speed of her footwork is astonishing. I was told she was carrying an injury. I’m not at all surprised but you would never have guessed from watching her. My Spanish friend and fellow photographer Marian Alonso was furiously jealous of me photographing her.
Photography at the Albert Hall has its own challenges. There are a lot of places where I can get into a great position for an image but almost invariably it is during an actual performance. As far as I am concerned if people have paid money to be there then I have no right to compromise their enjoyment by distracting them with my camera. With this in mind I am always as discreet as possible…as discreet as its possible to be while wearing three cameras with long lenses attached! I have never had any complaints yet. Actually a lot of people are quite interested in what I’m doing so I usually have to answer a few questions during intervals which I’m quite happy to do. Any noise from my cameras shutters was completely buried by the amplified sound of the shoes on the stage. It was like machine gun fire at times.
The image below was taken from the front at one end of the stage area about twenty feet away. Between me and her was an immovable object in the shape of a Buddha like security guard so I had to shoot either side of him chasing her round the stage with my 300mm lens.
Hopefully I captured some of her amazing passion.
Sara Baras © 2010 Patrick Baldwin. All rights reserved.
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