Articles

AIRBORNE

With Airborne, her first book in over six years, Lois Greenfield takes us to spectacular new heights. Collaborating with some of the world’s finest dancers from such illustrious dance companies as the Martha Graham Dance Company, Pilobolus, San Francisco Ballet, the Parsons Dance Company, and Ballet Tech, she captures moments of startling grace and power. (679 KB)

Greenfield, Lois, Daniel Girardin and William A. Ewing. Airborne. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1998.

Breaking Bounds

Breaking Bounds is a collections of 87 of Greenfield’s extraordinary images, taken between 1982 and 1991 and represents the best of her mature personal work of that time. That period saw her achieve her aim: to liberate the dancer from the dance. “I tell my dancers,” she says, “to leave their choreography at the door,” and here indeed we see dance as it has never been shown onstage. These are movements which arise through a collaboration between Greenfield and a host of dancers, unrestrained by the bounds of choreography, willing to take risks and to push to
the absolute limits the boundaries of both photography and dance. (553 KB)

Ewing, William and Lois Greenfield. Breaking Bounds. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1992.

Dancing In The Air (Rangefinder Magazine, October 2008)

“The inspiration for my work is dance, or the exploration of movement’s potential, but I rarely photograph actual dances.” Article by Linda L. May (364 KB)

The Landscape of Dance

Lois Greenfield has never been concerned with documentation – the literal transcription of a choreographer’s work into two dimensions – which she leaves quite happily to other professionals. Instead, she stands for a vigorous, independent art; what the dancers bring to her studio is fashioned into dynamic imagery in her own inimitable style.

Excerpt from The Fugitive Gesture: Masterpieces of Dance Photography by William A. Ewing, 1987. (64 KB)

Dancing with Lois Greenfield (Brandeis Alumni Magazine, Winter 2006)

“There are no rules for capturing the peak moment, it’s a matter of instinct.” Article by David E. Nathan (2.61 MB)

State of Grace (Digital Photo Pro, July/August 2004)

Combining photography and dance, Lois Greenfield reveals the elusive beauty of movement. By Ibarionex R. Perello (1.2 MB)

Lois Greenfield Dance Photographs (Exhibit Catalog, 1987)

This catalog accompanies a 1987 exhibiton of Lois’ work, organized by The Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery at The University of the Arts, Philidelphia, Pennsylvania; Featuring articles by Stephen Perloff and Deborah Jowitt. (480 KB)

Exploring Movement (Studio Photography & Design, January 1999)

Lois Greenfield interprets dance photographically with her new book Airborne. Article by Theano Nikitas (147 KB)

The Art of Lois Greenfield (Digital Output Magazine, December 2002)

Images that Defy Laws of Physics by Samantha Clark

Equipped with a Hasselblad 500C/M camera and a 120mm or 150mm lens, Greenfield collaborates with highly trained dancers to create photographs that transcend the static quality of film. (44 KB)

A Moment In Time (Sublime Magazine, bi-monthly issue 3/2007)

To watch contemporary dance is to witness a particular kind of relationship – that of dancers with dancer In silent language they communicate s much with reach other as with the audience. Sublime spoke to another figure who is part of the conversation: Lois Greenfield, Dance photographer and film-maker. Giovanna Dunmall interviews Lois Greenfield, leading dance photographer. (956 KB)

Space, Time, Dance (Digital Photo, Hungary, 2005)

Dance photography doesn’t mean for Lois Greenfield the work of a paparazzi or sitting behind the stage on the rehearsal. Her photos show such moments of human motion which are completely invisible to the naked eye. Interviewed by Varga Miklós, English Translation (124 KB)

Suspended in Time: The Dance Imagery of Lois Greenfield (February 2006)

Lois Greenfield featured in double eXposure, a publication of photoworkshop.com. Interview by Lynne Eodice (572 KB)

Flights of Fancy (Times Photo Journal, June 2004)

The art of dance is ‘up-lifted’ a few notches as photographer Lois Greenfield captures the performers frozen in milli-fractions of a second. Interview by Amrita Ganguly (52 KB)

Weekend All Things Considered, National Public Radio (January 25, 2004)

Steve Inskeep discusses the transition from film to digital photography with J. Ross Baughman and Lois Greenfield. (64 KB)

Adobe Photoshop and the Art of Photography: A Comprehensive Introduction

Textbook chapter excerpt by Steve Weinrebe. (5.9 MB)

Weinrebe, Steve. Adobe Photoshop and the Art of Photography: A Comprehensive Introduction. New York: Thomson Delmar Learning. 2007.

Photography, 9th Edition

Textbook chapter excerpt by Jim Stone. (196 KB)

London, Stone and Upton. Photography, 9th Edition. New Jersey: Pearson Education. 2007.

Flying High (Studio Photography & Design)

Lois Greenfield’s “HELD” Takes Center Stage. (36 KB)

The Making of Not-Just-Another Calendar (Broncolor No. 19, 2003)

One can easily call Lois Greenfield the consummate still-life photographer. A veteran of over twenty years in the industry, the compositions she creates are classic examples of how to blend form and content into stunning visual statements. (174 KB)

Lighting Experiments - Framing Rhythm (The Times Journal of Photography, May 2006)

“Dance Photography is tricky because if you want the true essence of the form, you should shoot them in action and avoid having the performers pose for you.” Article by Amrita Ganguly Salian (510 KB)

Lois Greenfield Gets the Joint a-Jumpin' (Technically Speaking)

Capezio’s new campaign goes airborne using intense-looking people with chiseled faces and bodies. As told to Jack Neubart. (40 KB)

Photographing People with Digital Capture by Alan Weitz

Are we there yet? This question no longer emanates just from the back of your Buick. It’s a question on the minds of many live-action and portrait shooters. As we all know, for the past few years we’ve been hearing the praises of going digital in every trade publication as well as at the trade shows. (44 KB)

Parallel Structures: Liberating the Dancer from the Dance (Art & Design Magazine, 1993)

While Greenfield professes great respect for the dance, and is immensely knowledgeable in the modern and post-modern area (having been the Village Voice dance photographer for 20 years), her loyalty is first and foremost to the photographic image. Since the 19th century much wishful thinking has been voiced about dance photography’s ability to ‘capture’ the dance, but Greenfield recognised from the outset that this was fundamentally impossible.
Article by William A. Ewing (63 KB)

Still Moving: The Revelation or Representation of Dance in Still Photography

Greenfield’s photographs are in the tradition of Genthe’s image of Pavlova, preserving a moment of the dance through a revelatory, stop-action technique. Technology, however, has enabled her (and many other dance photographers working today) to realize the ambition of freezing a single moment, halting movement, and revealing details beyond the scope of the human eye.
Excerpt of article by Matthew Reason, which appears in Dance Research Journal 35:2 and 36:2, Summer 2004: pp. 43-67. (67 KB)

Interview in Article19 Contemporary Dance Online

Dance webmagazine Article19 (article19.co.uk) talks with Lois about her collaboration with the Australian Dance Theatre in their Spring 2007 tour of HELD throughout the UK. Interview by Leili Sreberny-Mohammadi (100 KB)

Review of HELD (New York Times, April 24, 2005)

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Review of HELD (dB Magazine, March 10, 2004)

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Fast moves, still lives by Erin Brannigan (Real Time Arts)

Interview with Garry Stewart, director of HELD and Artistic Director of Australian Dance Theatre

Moments electrified amid the dazzle (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Article by Jill Sykes

Frieze Frame (The Bulletin)

Article by Ashley Hay with Newsweek, an Australian Magazine.

Snap-frozen in a moment of flight (Kodak Australia)

Photographer Lois Greenfield works with dancers to create living sculpture, writes Jane Albert.

Capturing the Unfathomed Moment (PICS, 2007)

Chinese language profile of Lois Greenfield and her photography. Article by Rong Jiang (5.6 MB). To view Lois’ photo exhibition on PICS PHOTO GALLERY, click here.

The "Event" Happened in 1/2000 of a Second (Iz Fotografevi Magazine, 2007)

Turkish Language Magazine Article on Lois (548 KB)

ZUZA Magazine, 2007

Russian language article in Israel magazine featuring critique of Lois’ work (1.6 MB).

Personality: Lois Greenfield (PhotoArt, October 2007)

Czech photography magazine PhotoArt profiles Lois and looks at some of her newer work. (275 KB)

Profile: Lois Greenfield (Digital Photographer, Summer 2005)

Ukrainian language profile of Lois Greenfield and her photography. Article by Evgeniy Zubenko (2.45 MB)

Space, Time, Dance (Digitális Fotó, 2005)

(Hungarian Language Article: Tér, id?, tánc)
For an English language translation, click here.
A táncfotográfia Lois Greenfield számará nem a próbákon a színpad mellett kuporgó lesifotós munkáját jelenti. Fényképei a tánc, a mozgás olyan pillanatait mutatják meg, melyeket szabad szemmel ember soha nem láthat. by Varga Miklós (1.91 MB)

Profifoto Magazine, 2002

German Language Magazine featuring on Lois Greenfield photography. (3.8 MB)

Foto & Video Magazine (1998)

Russian language magazine featuring Lois Greenfield’s dance photography (1.7 MB)

Zoom Magazine, April 1989 (En Français)

French article featuring critique of Lois’ work. Article by Bill Holleran (140 KB).

Hasselblad Masters Calendar, April 2005

Hasselblad features Lois in the April 2005 Hasselblad Masters Calendar. (article from http://www.hasselbladusa.com)

Hasselblad (Reflections, Vol. 3 Num. 1)

DESTINED TO EXPLORE THE EMOTIONAL NUANCES OF MOVEMENT, GREENFIELD’S IMAGES ARE A PARADOX. Neatly and with unerring precision: serenity and tension, freedom and confinement, purity and complexity are all captured and held within the borders of a 2 1/4-inch frame. Provocative yet conclusive, the images are a dual visual play between the three-dimensional movement of dancers hurtling and gliding through space and the two-dimensional picture plane.

Kodak profile of Lois Greenfield (Kodak.com, March 2000)

Lois Greenfield has been photographing dance for 25 years. But she doesn’t consider herself a ‘dance photographer.’ Why not? (100 KB)