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| JORDAN MATTER |
Financial
Guru’s (Dad) quest to make me good at multiple things has often led me to taste
the waters of different lands. Fortunately, I chose to master two things
thoroughly viz, Dance and Finance. However, one of the art forms that was on
Financial Guru’s wish list was Photography.
And, while I have not explored this art more, it is very intriguing.
There is an
age old saying ‘Beauty lies in the eyes of the Beholder’. Yet there a few
blessed souls who have an eye to capture beauty. Truth be told only an
insightful entity could possibly tell a story through lenses (Camera). Dance
being my forte and not photography, I decided to blend the 2 and write about
dance photography (interesting).
In the age
of smart phones, we all are masters of the art of “self-clicking” Selfie (lol). But capturing an object
in motion requires the Midas touch. One of the very famous names, in the world
of Dance Photography, that I came across was Jordan Matter. Thanks to
technology we could connect on a Skype call and I had the opportunity to know
his journey.
Jordan (I
love the name) has been in the profession of Photography for over 15 years.
Born to a set of talented parents, his father- Alex Matter an established
director and his mother- Paula Feiten was a model, being a cameras baby came
naturally to him. Also to mention he probably got his craft right from his
grandfather, Herbert Matter, was a renowned photographer.
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| 3 IDIOTS (wink) |
He says,
professional photography happened to him by chance. He was a baseball player in
his formative years (somehow, I have always confused baseball as being the
American version of Cricket (wink)). He then went on to pursue acting. Just
imagine a person used to being in the Lime Light later chooses to be behind the
arc light- I call that Nirvana.
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| FLY AWAY!!! |
Excerpts
from the interview...
What
inspired you to take up Dance Photography?
My choices, an
athlete and an actor later, have always lured me towards the unpredictable.
Photography as an art is very unpredictable. You never know what is going to
happen. I started off as just helping my friend with her modelling photo shoot.
I was so hooked to the art that I made a career out of it (laughs). I went on
to work with Tyra Banks, the Today show, and many other broadcast networks. I later
transcended to Dance Photography. Again the mercurial movements of a dancer
attract me to capture their art.
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| BALLET |
A dance
style you love to capture…
It’s easier
to capture Ballet and Gymnastics as opposed to other dance forms like Tap or
Ballroom. (In my New York diaries I will make sure I have “A day in Jordan’s
life” story and make him capture my dance style Indian Classical-wink)
Your
favourite dancer…
It might
come as a surprise but I am not a dance enthusiasts. I just the telling the
stories of dancers through my pictures.
Tell us more
about your latest project “Tiny Dancers Among Us”.
A few years
ago, I did a book titled “Dancers Among Us”. This book is a follow up to the
series showcasing the creativity of kids in terms to their day to day chores
like doing their homework, or playing in the park or simply travelling through
dance in a humorous and fun way. Interestingly my daughter was the inspiration
behind this project. On a particularly snowy day my daughter was not in her
best moods, we had to go out and we had to shovel the snow outside my house.
She came out and started doing just the same, I went back inside got my camera
and clicked a few shots of her. That’s how “Tiny Dancers” happened.
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| TINY DANCERS AMONG US... |
The Dancers/
Dance Company’s you love to work with…
I do have
some favouites they being: Michaela DePrince (a Ballerina and the author of the
book – Taking Flight- From war orphan to Star Ballerina), Paul Taylor and Alvin
Ailey Dance Company (modern dance company based in New York).
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| A Dancestastic Party!!! |
Well we wish Jordan humongous success for his upcoming book “Tiny Dancers Among Us” and hopefully I get to see him in the near future.
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