Photog Captures the Elegant Movements of Dancers in Stunning Long Exposure Series

Jan 21, 2014

DL Cade

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Former ballet dancer and professional photographer Jesús Chapa-Malacara has two great passions in life: yep, you guessed right, they’re dance and photography. These two passions collide in his recent Dance Prints series, a beautiful motion photography project that, with your help, he hopes to take to the next level.

Dance Prints began as a ‘rut buster’ of a photo series for Chapa-Malacara, but it has become much more than that. He wanted to create something groundbreaking, something that would establish him as a “commercial photographer to be reckoned with.” And now that he’s well on his way to achieving those goals, he wants the results to be on a level only achievable when you can truly focus 100% on the task at hand.

Speaking with us over e-mail, he explains:

Producing personal projects can be so piecemeal. If you can manage to something like a successful Kickstarter, and get people to see your vision and want to be a part of it, it can really propel what you’re trying to do. And it lets you work in a different way. If you do it successfully, it can be an artist’s dream situation, even if just for a few weeks. Though hopefully it sets a foundation for the next level.

He explain the project further in this short Kickstarter video:

Here’s a look at what Chapa-Malacara has managed to put together so far — an example of what he hopes to expand on:

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It might seem like creating a project that is being hailed as “soon to be a classic” would be simple enough. If you’re being praised, you’re also being funded, right? But that’s not usually the case.

I think all photographers out there understand what I mean: you work your butt off producing for other people and then you turn around and pour pretty much every penny back into your projects and vision: either for equipment or shoot expenses, or whatever else off the never-ending list. I’m trying to enact a different version for myself, one in which the art is also the profession. And hopefully one that gets me further along in making that an everyday reality.

So far, Chapa-Malacara’s project has been covered by everyone from Mashable to PBS, and he has managed to raise some $2,000 on the way to his $16,000 goal. Behind the scenes videos, inspirational bits and prints of varying size and quality are all being put up as rewards for those who would like to support the project.

If you want to learn more about Dance Prints or help Jesús to reach his goal, head over to the Kickstarter campaign page by clicking here. You can also find more of his work on his website, Facebook and Twitter.

Image credits: Photographs by Jesús Chapa-Malacara and used with permission.