Back to their twenties - for a few brief moments...
This is an image that I set out to get by way of an experiment. It was taken today during an afternoon village dance which was preceded by lunch. I watched this 'third-age' group dancing with such enthusiasm that the years fell away and you could imagine them transported back to their youth. I wanted to try to capture that brief time-shift and let myself be inspired by the way that the cinema used to deal with dream sequences. I particularly liked the two younger women walking out of shot on the left as if realising that they did not belong in this scene. The dancers are deliberately blurred - I took this at 1/20 sec - to convey movement and to suggest a certain ambiguity of both time and place. In processing, I applied a 40 pixel radius Gaussian blur with 'softlight' blend mode and opacity reduced to 40% which is what produces the misty glow and, I hope, the dreamlike quality. Finally, the image is triple toned with warm shades of grey.
Great documentary shot and beautiful processing. The real age is on our mind you can stay in the third,second, four age but keep the mind of youth people ;)
@akirk Oh, yes - I was there pretending that I was still twenty... and doing some of the classic dances as well: tango, quickstep, cha-cha, Viennese waltz, etc.
When I go to my class reunions I love how everyone is transported back to their youth when the music starts. This is a wonderful capture. And it is a different way of capturing something to add to your vast collection.
I can well imagine just what you've described about the years seemingly falling away as the dancing began. The motion blurs definitely lends the sense of motion, both of dance and a return to the days gone by.
