Moonbug Photography Turns Motion Into Artwork – North Indy – Towne Post Community

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For Sonja Clark, proprietor of Moonbug Photography, each {photograph} is extra than simply a picture. It’s a collaboration, a celebration of motion, and a second of artistry preserved. Known all through Indianapolis for her distinctive dance pictures, Clark just lately expanded her inventive residence into a brand new studio in Broad Ripple. The house displays each her imaginative and prescient and her dedication to capturing dancers at their highest.

Clark didn’t got down to focus on dance pictures. In truth, she says her entry into the sector was considerably unintentional.

Around 2010, whereas photographing households, children, and highschool seniors, she was approached by her son’s cello instructor, who additionally served because the director of promoting for the Indianapolis School of Ballet. They wanted a photographer, and although Clark lacked a background in dance, she took on the problem.

“I shot one of their performances just to prove myself, and it turned out I was pretty good at it,” she says.

What started as a one-time task rapidly blossomed right into a long-term collaboration. In 2018, the formation of the Indianapolis Ballet Company marked the second Clark was able to take her expertise to the subsequent degree. Photographing professionals deepened her ardour and honed her expertise, solidifying her as one of many space’s high dance photographers.

Dance pictures just isn’t for the faint of coronary heart. Clark says capturing a dancer mid-performance requires working in low gentle, dealing with quick actions, and timing pictures exactly to focus on the height of the pose. Modern LED stage lighting complicates issues additional, generally leaving seen stripes throughout photographs.

“There’s so much precision required,” Clark says. “In ballet especially, every part of the body has to be in the right place … feet turned out, shoulders aligned, hands perfect. And every photo has to be approved by the dancer before it’s shared. They have to love how they look because these photos also represent a professional portfolio. Students are met where they are at. Perfection is not the expectation. We want them to do their personal best and leave the studio feeling confident and proud.”

Clark’s success isn’t just a results of her technical expertise, but additionally her collaborative strategy. She shoots tethered, projecting photographs onto a monitor so dancers can evaluation their poses in real-time. This allows steady suggestions and adjustment, making the dancers an integral a part of the inventive course of.

“It’s always a collaboration,” she says. “The dancers know how they look best, and I always take that into account. Sometimes we start with one pose and end up with something completely different. It’s part of the creative process.”

Adding to the experience, Clark works carefully together with her assistant, Greg Goessner, a former Indianapolis Ballet dancer and present ballet instructor. His insights assist fine-tune poses and make sure the technical accuracy that dancers demand.

In August, Clark formally opened the doorways to her new studio in Broad Ripple. Her earlier house, a repurposed church close to sixty fourth and Hoover, had served its objective however by no means really felt like her personal. The Broad Ripple location, nonetheless, not solely fulfills her wants but additionally brings new alternatives for the area people. It’s an area the place native artists can collaborate, households can create lasting reminiscences, and professionals can get high-quality portraits.

“I’ve had my eye on this building for years,” she says. “It’s bigger, it’s mine, and I can finally set everything up the way I want. Plus, I needed at least 12-foot ceilings for dancers, which made finding the right spot a real challenge.”

The new studio additionally boasts a sprung flooring coated with Marley, a professional-grade floor that gives the assist and security dancers want.

“They should never be jumping on concrete,” Clark says. “This space allows them to move safely and freely, and that makes all the difference.”

While dance stays on the coronary heart of Moonbug Photography, the brand new house permits Clark to diversify her choices. Half of her enterprise is 317 Headshots, her company {and professional} portrait model, and the brand new studio offers her extra flexibility to serve each markets.

With options like an enormous glass storage door, she will now work with pure gentle for life-style periods, host household shoots, and even lease out the house for different creatives.

“Next week, I have a family of eight coming in for a Vanity Fair-style shoot,” she says. “That wouldn’t have been possible in my old space.”

Plans embody artwork reveals, group occasions, and finally constructing a group of photographers to increase Moonbug’s attain. Clark’s long-term imaginative and prescient is evident: sustainable progress. She intentionally named her enterprise Moonbug Photography as a substitute of utilizing her personal title, making certain the model may develop past herself.

“I always wanted the option to bring on staff, to create something bigger than just me,” she says.

Clark is trying ahead to integrating much more with the Broad Ripple group. This fall, she participated within the neighborhood’s Third Thursday occasions with a grand opening celebration, and she or he plans to proceed participating with native artists and companies.

Above all, Clark stays dedicated to the artistry of collaboration. Whether photographing a principal dancer in mid-leap or a company skilled in want of a cultured headshot, she approaches every session with the identical philosophy: to make her topics feel and appear their finest.

“I’m always open to collaborations with other artists and businesses,” she says. “At the end of the day, it’s about creating something together.”

For extra info, go to moonbugphotography.com.