I’ll admit that b&w images of bellydance can seem as counterintuitive as a b&w rainbow scene (hey, I’ve gone there too). But I’ve accumulated quite a collection of images from our local bellydance Haflas over the past couple of years. The Mardi Gras edition held at the State Theater last week opened with April Monique bringing her beginner class on stage. In the first thirty seconds or so the lights lit up, barely, in blue, green, red, and purple before giving me a tinge of white light where I could get this exposure (12,800 iso). It was an impressive way to open a really fine, well attended show.

A little slow getting to these because the color images, that I’ve now uploaded for the ladies to use and/or post as they want, took way too long to work up. I used my new X-t5 camera body and it seems that both one of my more critical pieces of software and the Mac system itself have failed (after 4 months) to update to be able to open its RAW format. So much for getting those out the next day for them, ha. This happens all the time – my bad for not waiting.

I try to grab at least one good b&w of each performer for the collection – knowing that sometimes the medium will just not cooperate, and at other times one set creates an abundance of good results. I do love b&w.

With this posting I’m creating section at the beginning of the Hafla folio HERE. It’s interesting to check out some of the performers and how the different venues effect the results. A couple of new ladies this time around, and some favorites. I’ll dive into the exposures now…