rachelneville, Author at Rachel Neville Photography

2018 Upcoming Auditions

January 8, 2018November 27, 2017

Auditioning can be overwhelming; it is a nightmare to sift through and juggle overlapping dates and locations. To help you out, we are curating a list of upcoming auditions which will be available and updated through our new education portal for dancers.

Dancers, PLEASE Stretch Your Knees!

January 8, 2018November 9, 2017

So it’s audition photoshoot season right now, and I wanted to just take a moment to talk about a common issue we seem to have with dancers in my studio: Knees!!! You would be surprised at how often we pause a photo shoot to talk basics. Lately, the biggest offender in over 50% of my … Read more

For Photographers: Dancer Headshot Do’s and Don’ts

March 27, 2018November 7, 2017

Dancer headshots - photographed by Rachel Neville

Headshots Updated 2018. Audition photos can put us all in a frenzy no matter if you are the subject of the photograph or the one taking the shot. Whether it is for summer intensives or college applications, headshots, arabesques and body shots could be required. Submission deadlines are approaching soon, so here we go! I … Read more

Do you know how to put your best face forward?

January 8, 2018October 16, 2017

In my last post about headshots we talked about whether you should choose a smile or not. While a toothy grin may not be appropriate for all audition photos, we do know that a genuine smile is always better than a fake smile. So I know this probably had many of you thinking: but I don’t like the … Read more

Do you know what it takes to be a really good dance photographer?

January 8, 2018October 13, 2017

If you answered this question by saying that knowing how or when to freeze the action or knowing how to light dancers you’d be on par with most photographers who shoot dancers. If you mentioned knowing how to interact with dancers, networking, and ‘creating your style’ or ‘brand’ you’d belong to the second biggest set … Read more

Are You Making These 3 Mistakes When Photographing Dancers?

January 8, 2018September 20, 2017

dusty rose dress edgy with pointe shoe dance photographer rachel neville

Did I catch your attention? Now, my fellow photographers, let me ask you this important question: How long have you been shooting dancers and how can I help? I’ve been shooting dancers since I was in college for photography almost 20 years ago (holy cow!). I’ve made all the same mistakes you are making now, … Read more

Your Headshot: Is serious or smiling better?

January 8, 2018September 13, 2017

A couple of weeks ago I bought an audio book Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People by Vanessa Van Edwards. Ms. Van Edwards is a social scientist and the book’s purpose is to help create a manual for social hacks and teach how to effectively network and understand human behavior (in case you’re wondering why I … Read more

Dancers: Don't Lose the Forest for the Trees

January 8, 2018July 11, 2017

We had a really lovely pair of girls in the studio a couple of weekends ago, friends who were very different dancers but who supported each other and were thick as thieves. I had done dance photo shoot with both dancers previously, so they understood the process you have to go through to create powerful … Read more

Audition Photo Tips: Research To Do Ahead of Time

August 1, 2012

Igor Tauber Ellison Ballet Dance Audition Photos by Rachel Neville

Audition Photos Series

This is the second post in our new series, Everything Dancers Need to Know About Audition Photos. Read the first installment.
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Audition Photo Tips: Research To Do Ahead of Time

As a freelance photographer, I seem to spend so much time thinking about marketing (and not enough time doing it, but that is another conversation…). As a sole proprietor this is one of my least favorite hats to wear: who really likes talking about themselves and getting people to ‘like’ their work on Facebook and other sites? So I really understand that this is not an area where dancers like to spend much of their time.

I’d rather be shooting something cool than talking about it. Wouldn’t you rather be in the studio rehearsing and training instead of doing research, getting organized, building a website and finding footage for your reel?? Yah, thought so.

Everything You Need to Know About Audition Photos: Starting Now

July 25, 2012

Didn’t it used to be August before back to school commercials reared their ugly heads on TV?? Is the economy in such a sad state that corporations are pushing the next season earlier and earlier? Well, I saw my first ‘turn the channel, quick!’ ad last week and of course it got me thinking about my clients too… as professional students are heading towards the end of their summer programs I start to get more and more calls about audition photos.