Dance Photography At The Art Institute of Chicago
I had the pleasure of photographing Natali, a dancer with the Joffrey Ballet Company, at the Art Institute of Chicago. I found Natali through Instagram and reached out directly — this was actually my first time shooting at the Art Institute, and I can't express how fortunate I am to live in a city where a location like this even exists as an option for a dance photoshoot.
The session moved through several distinct spaces inside the museum, each with its own character. We started near a grand staircase, where Natali wore a black one-piece — a mix of black and white images and color, her body curved low along the stone bench in one frame, then rising into sharp, angular lines against the railing above in another. The stairs themselves became part of the composition, their diagonal lines echoing the shapes she created below them.
Simplicity Is Elegance
From there we moved into one of the museum's grander galleries, where Natali wore a flowing gray dress that added movement and softness against the marble columns and statuary. One shot stretched her fully across the polished floor, dark hair fanned out, catching a warm pool of light from the room's hanging fixtures. In a quieter corridor nearby, a single shaft of light framed her leaning against a marble column, one arm reaching upward into the shadows — one of my favorite images from the entire day for how simply the light did the work. I prefer my images to tell the stories of the dancers...not props or crazy editing.
Dancers Are Not Contortionists
Later, we found a bright, glass-walled hallway lined with windows, and here things turned more dynamic. Natali brought a flowing red fabric prop into several shots, and the color exploded against the neutral tones of the hallway — genuinely one of the most striking images from the whole session.
In the same space, without the prop, her black leotard let the architecture and light take center stage instead, with sharp, confident lines against the glass and wood flooring.
I prefer my images to tell the stories of the dancers themselves — not props or crazy editing. A dancer's strength and presence should be what carries an image, not a gimmick layered on top of it. That philosophy shaped how I approached this session: letting Natali's presence and the Art Institute's architecture do the work together, across marble stairways, quiet galleries, and glass-walled corridors, rather than overdirecting or over-editing the results.
We closed the day near a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city, Natali now in a flowing black dress. The natural light here was almost overexposed in the best way, giving the images an airy, almost dreamlike quality — a nice contrast to the sharper, more graphic compositions from earlier in the shoot.
Shooting in a space like the Art Institute comes with a different set of considerations than an empty park or a quiet street corner. I don't own the space, and it's a working museum with staff, visitors, and other artwork to be mindful of — so being courteous and considerate is non-negotiable throughout. The security team there was wonderful to work with, but shooting in a public space like this also means accepting that you sometimes have to wait for a moment when a gallery or hallway clears out before you get the shot you're after. That patience is part of the job.
New Dance Photoshoot Offering
The Art Institute session is still something I actively offer — you can find it listed on my Investment page alongside my other packages. Given the planning and coordination a location like this requires, I only take on a limited number of these sessions each season. If you're interested in a shoot here or want to see more of my work first, check out my portfolio or reach out through my contact page to talk through timing.
