Moving Forward

Dancer with Blue Veil
Saritza Velilla-Jenkins

Trying to write this morning is a challenge. Still haven't packed anything for my pending trip to Tucson where new adventures await me. Have many mixed emotions leaving my wife behind is weighing heavily on me. In addition knowing that my father is in the hospital also tugs at my heart.

My responsibilities are clear. Take care of yourself first, if not, you can't take care of anyone else. Enjoy your life as best as you can and do try to take it one day at a time and one step at a time. This is something that I must learn to do. I've so much to be grateful for and I need to accept the good things in my life. Photography is one of those good things. It's my safety valve, sanity, and reality check.

For several weeks now, I've veered from my normal landscapes and have chosen to showcase three dancers. Like me they find joy in their creative outlet. It could very well be that I enjoy showing the kinetics of artists enjoying what they do. I wouldn't know what that experience is like because I've never really been photographed doing my passion, photography.

Don't have that much to say today but I suppose I will soon. Thank you all for being supportive of both my family, my art, and of me. In a world that is fraught with despair and bad news, its good to receive and hear the loving voices of those that care. It's all about loving and caring for each other. As I've mentioned before, we are on similar journeys. Plan on adding more smiles to miles we have left to travel. There truly is very little we control other than pieces of our own happiness. Hope and the promise for a better tomorrow is all we have. It sustains us all.

www.photographybyalhernandez.com

It Almost Didn't Happen: Photo Shoot Four

Lidia Dalida
From: St. Petersburg, Russia

What started out as an idea, photographing belly dancers, turned into much more. Unbeknownst to me the project would turn into a story. The three dancers whom I met happened to be from very different parts of the world. This added a completely different dimension to my photography. It added both meaning and purpose to my self-imposed artistic endeavor.

Lidia Dalida

Through fellow photographer Russian born Elena Cone (also from St. Petersburg, Russia), I was introduced to dance instructor and recent Dallas Baptist University business graduate, Lidia Dalida. Lidia invited me to attend a rehearsal/class session in Plano and I agreed. My thought was that by observing, my shooting intuition would be heightened if I learned both the music and watched the dancers.

Vickylin Malak
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

That evening proved to be quite interesting. Things seemed ok and I shot for about two hours or so. In the process, I also met with Saritza Velilla-Jenkins (San Juan, Puerto Rico) and was introduced to Vickylin Malak (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam). Then it dawned me. My story: three women from three continents dancing on parallel journeys through belly dance. Belly dance, in fact, brought together three people from distinct and cultures and distances. Dance was their common denominator and their chosen form of self-expression and recreation. 

It was an epiphany for me. Suddenly the elements started taking shape in my head. This art form was not about the erotic, but rather the exotic. These dancers do not celebrate their differences but rather they embrace what the passion they share.

My enthusiasm quickly tempered. Lidia came up to me and handed me some bottled water. Later on she confessed that she could tell that I was not feeling well. At that moment nothing seemed wrong to me other than the typical aches and pains that accompany getting in awkward positions to shoot. In a matter of minutes it hit me. Panic struck me as I realized that I was going to be sick to my stomach. It was time to cut my visit short. My body was not going to allow me to stay. It was the most horrible sensation to know that I had a stomach virus and still had a forty-five minute drive ahead of me to get home.

Saritza Velilla-Jenkins
San Juan, Puerto Rico

After gathering all of my gear, it was time to drive home. Half way home on a high way the overwhelming torque of my stomach took over. It wasn't pleasant and this scenario wouldn't leave me during the drive. It was completely humiliating to lose control.

Once I got home, I washed up and through myself in bed but the virus wouldn't leave my body. The thought of being sick alone was almost as much anguish as the discomfort of my stomach. Kim had left for a long weekend with the girls. At times, I felt that what I needed was an exorcist not a doctor. Wave after wave hit me for most the night and the early part of the next day. The whole time the belly dance music would not stop. It played for nearly two days in my head, the same strains over and over.

Passion is a funny thing. At first, I thought that I would never be able to pick up the camera again and shoot another belly dancer.  A week pass but still the association between the dance, music, and virus overwhelmed. The truth was that I didn't think I would be able to proceed with the vision of the shoot. However, something beyond fear drove me to proceed with my idea. My love for photography transcended my deepest fears and motivated me to try what I normally would have avoided.

It's difficult to explain, but I am compelled and driven by its force within me. This is part of who I am regardless of what I do. My desire to create and express myself is greater than the sum of all of my anxieties and fears.

www.photographybyalhernandez.com

Dance Instructor: Photo Shoot Three

Lidia Dalida

So many good photos from my last shoot. Hard to just pick one to further process. Lidia Dalida was nice enough to take time to work with me. She has a great stage presence. She was dancing while I took this shot thus the slight blur of the hands. It worked for me. Lidia has a trademark smile which she keeps through out her performances and bright warm eyes.

Over the past several months, I've had the opportunity to both meet with both her and her dad. They gave me renewed hope that the world has more good people than bad. It made me realize that when politicians, religious leaders, governments and some corporations make us enemies at times; we all lose out.

The universality of belly dance affords us an opportunity to put aside our differences and celebrate together what we enjoy: music and dance. These art forms are essential to our happiness. Melded together they orchestrate and choreography joy.

www.photographybyalhernandez.com

Dancer With Wings: Photo Shoot Part Two

Dancer With Wings
Saritza Velilla-Jenkins
McKinney, TX

For several months, I've been contemplating photographing belly dancers. Like any other commercial photographer, I realized that were several aspects of this shoot which included the clients wants and needs and my own artistic vision.

Saritza Velilla-Jenkins

Like the dancers, I also envisioned my own choreography and story board. The location would add to my canvas as would the dancers and their colorful costumes. My objective was to shoot two types of images: one for them and one for my own project, two very different voices and styles.

Fortunately for me, Lidia Dalida, Saritza Velilla-Jenkins, and Vickylin Malak were all willing to assist me with my project as was my friend and photographic assistant, Del Maclaren. All three dancers were equally interested in my artistic pursuit. Like me they were passionate at what they do. Like them, desire to express oneself outweighed fear of reproach. That voice was louder than the many voices of insecurity.

Originally, the objective was to demonstrate the difference between a point and shoot photographer and one that creates art. However, in the process of studying and doing my research, the art of belly dance, the costumes, music and movement awakened more of my creativity and curiosity. At times, the feelings of an artist made me comprehend my own dormant desires to find my artistic voice.

As the shoot progressed with each dancer, not only was I able to comprehend them but also their desire for self expression. Belly dance is about feeling pulsating rhythms that lift the spirit to dance, celebrate life, and transcend beyond. The dancer literally takes on wings as she entertains both the audience and herself. It's her stage to do as she pleases and the music dictates. Music, life itself, choreographs the dance and she dances in essence to the melody of life. Learning to dance life's melodies is learning to live and to enjoy life. It was certainly not what I expected to learn.

www.photographybyalhernandez.com

The Shoot: Part One

Lidia Dalida
Belly Dance Instructor
Plano, TX

Lidia Dalida (stage name) is a Russian native from St. Petersburg, who now resides with her husband in Plano, Tx. Her passion is dance and her vocation is belly dance instructor. Whatever stereotypes you might have about stern Russian women, Lidia is just the opposite.

Lidia Dalida

Lidia's wardrobe ranges from yoga pants to elaborate belly dance costumes and fashion. One thing however, you will always notice Lidia wearing is her trademark broad smile. She speaks softly and succinctly with great purpose and zest. Politics do not interest her. She is idealistic and simply wishes that all people get along. There's a lot to be said about Lidia's style and passion for living.

It's been exactly two months since we've been acquainted. Truthfully, I didn't know if I would earn her trust. I was a complete stranger with an idea to photograph her and other belly dancers. 

This hopefully is the beginning of a longer term project and not its conclusion. All the hard work and dedication that go into the dance preparation amaze me. My fascination with details as well as the choreography and music only adds to my photographic passion and peak my curiosity.

www.photographybyalhernandez.com

More To the Story

Celebrating Life
Lidia Dalida
Plano, TX

Been studying all of the different intricacies of belly dance. It seems that the best way to learn is by observing the details frame by frame. The more I look the more I notice. It's so important to capture all of the dance in the image.

My job is more than the just what a two dimensional print has to offer. My goal is to introduce a third dimension one that actually brings the image to life. Something that makes it personal and touches the viewer.

If I could I would even introduce music into the equation so that the experience would be more complete.  Now I find myself listening to the same music that these dancers are working to choreograph melodies by Mario Kirlis. As you listen to the melodies you note that not all of the pieces are full of drums but rather lyrical romantic tunes that are more about unrequited love and dreams. As you listen to the music the choreography becomes easier to picture.

To the discerning belly dance aficionado the Egyptian forms of dance are better accompanied by the longing tunes of Mario Kirlis', Little Baladi or Awal Suhur rather than what we visualize by Shakira's Ojos Asi. The Egyptian form of belly dance leans heavily on the side of deliberate and exotic. The story telling is more deliberate and enunciated by the body and hand movements. Hopefully, these images of my friend, instructor, Lidia Dalida help tell the story.

Visit me at www.photographybyalhernandez.com

Age Doesn't Matter

Dancer: Rivkah Sultana
at Lidia Dalida's Hafla
Plano, TX

Some people have been wondering why I've been photographing belly dancers. Simply, its because I enjoy witnessing and archiving the choreography which transcends all ages, sizes, and races. It's not a fetish. For me it's the same fascination that Toulouse-Lautrec had with the theatrical life of Paris. There's more to life than simply watching people live it on television. Why not experience it.

Belly dance and its participants not only enjoy its movement and costumes but they also enjoy the embodiment of a pass time which practices inclusion. You can feel good about yourself without stigma or harassment about your body type. If you can feel the music and can allow yourself to be in the moment, chances are the music will move you to dance and lift your spirit and the hips will follow.

While at the Hafla, I noticed the diversity not only in the audience but on the dance floor as well. The spectrum was broad. It made viewing the event even more fun as I looked to see how each participant regardless of age would interpret their dance.

Miranda Mejia

Each participant finds a way that they can channel the self expression. In the movements and in the melodies, they are afforded a different voice, another way that they can be heard. Their bodies become art by virtue of the choreography they select. It's mobile form of art defined by human flesh and bones. The dancer becomes art.

My fascination with the dance has to do with the sensory overload of capturing all the details, shapes and composition during the dance. The canvas initially starts cluttered with audience and perhaps reflections. Within a scope of time, I try to crop within my viewfinder the art of the belly dance. The surrounding are not studio perfect. There's clutter that under ideal situations would not exist. My focus becomes even more imperative to capture the details that comprise the art.

For those of you involved with the passion of belly dance and reside in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, I am available for professional portrait sessions and other events. Please visit my wesbsite at www.photographybyalhernandez.com .  Feel fee to contact me.

Belly Dance Builds Confidence

"Hafla" at Lidia Dalida's

Stepping Out
Melodi

In an era where size and age matters and where youth is preferred to maturity, belly dance offers women of all ages and sizes to be seen and heard. Beauty cannot be measured by just size, skin color, or circumference. Genuine female beauty should be measured by the degree of self-confidence within their own skin.

As a male, father (of both daughters and a son), husband, and brother (of two "mature" sisters), I can appreciate women who are beautiful in more ways than one. You see, bubble gum chewing youth is replaced by knowledge and warmth and insecurity is replaced by the wonderful confidence that they've matured, raised a family, and still can be attractive both outwardly and inwardly.

The belly dancer is not only aware of her own body but she is able to overcome the stereotypes that an obsessed society imposes. She is exposed to minute criticism of her appearance and body. However, these women learn to transcend that criticism. The beaming confidence that follows is absolutely amazing to me. There's no room for the faint. Your body is exposed as is your heart.

New Me
Melodi

As you know, I love a story and storytelling. One of my readers made a negative observation about belly dancers. You know the typical comment about waistlines, curves and rolls etc., but it really showed how little they knew about this dance discipline and muscles used. Truthfully, it's a different kind of muscle tone because of how they are used and trained. Regardless, women do themselves an injustice with those comments. Woman should not be so harsh with other women. This is hard work both physically and mentally. The beauty of belly dance it includes and not excludes women of all ages, cultures, and size.

Having Fun
Melodi

No sooner had I digested the negative comments, when one of my dancers informed me about how proud she was and how she wanted to see her new images of herself. She had a major accomplishment and she wished to share it with me. She lost 100 lbs over a period of two years. During that time, she danced and exposed herself to criticism. I witnessed her dance and all I could think about was her confidence and smiles both during and after her performance. So to the women in my life, family, and circle of friends. I encourage you to just be you and let whats inside of you simply be and surface. Take pride in simply being you.

Dance Trio

Russian Bellydancer: Telling Stories
"Dalida"

Have been still working on my bellydance series and trying to understand the nuances of the dance. In the process, part of my discovery has been that the dance is truly universal. It has an international following among passionate women who enjoy the art of bellydance and self expression.

Puerto Rican Dancer:
Saritza

As a photographer, my role is to convey the artistry of bellydance and to move my audience, not only by hip sways, but by capturing the hundreds of details found during the performance. Those unfamiliar with the dancing may think that it's simply about scant clothing but its truly more. It's about beautiful costumes and the celebration of the exotic over the erotic. This is not about taking off clothing or exhibitionism. Its about art and how it moves and can move you.

Vietnamese Dancer:
VickyLin

At any event, Hafla,  the audience witnesses the diversity which the dance both embodies and embraces. You do not have to be of Arabic descent to enjoy it. You will vicariously get caught up in the pleasure of the women who dance and train their bodies to absorb rhythms and drum beats that may have once been foreign to them. 

It's the arts, visual, musical, and dance that provide us with purpose and enjoyment. The presence of the arts unifies us under one common blood type. That blood type lends hope to idea that we have more in common than we have differences.

No I am not taking images of exposed skin but rather I am capturing exposed emotion. Feelings are part of my passion for the art of photography. Conveying emotion on a two dimensional surface is my challenge. To this extent this project has enabled me to comprehend the experience of the dance from both spectator and dancers' perspective. My conclusion is simply this if I had to choose between dancer or spectator in life, dancing would always win out.

Dancer in Purple

Lidia in Purple
Plano, TX

The past few weeks, I've been searching for a new project that would take me further out my comfort zone and force me to think creatively. As a result of a virtual introduction by a photographer friend, I had the good fortune of meeting belly dance instructor, Lidia Dalida. She in turn invited me to watch her rehearse at her dance studio in Plano.

For those of you who are photographers, you understand how much we abhor fluorescent and incandescent lighting. It's far from ideal. The drama heightens when you assume the task of shooting without flash or strobes. Truthfully, I wasn't there to create great images but rather to get into the rhythm of belly dance and to learn when to shoot.

Regardless of what subject matter I choose to shoot, my images continue to be about two things: passion (warmth) and details. Both are key elements of my photography. They are a must for me to release the shutter.

As I watched Lidia and her students dance, I paid attention not so much to the bare midriffs but rather to the positions of hands, heads, and feet. These also disclose the story of  belly dance and subtle seduction. I was entranced by studying the body as the revelation of a story where each position was a different verse in a chapter.