A dancer performs wearing a mask in a practice for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by the Ballet Theatre of Maryland. This and the next few pics were part of my best photo series of the year. This is a professional company but only barely. Dedicated artists making even less then I do. I felt bligated to make them look as good as possible, and at no fault of theirs I had my work cut out for me. To have the story out in time I had to shoot a rehearsal a week before the performance, so we couldn't do it on stage. I had to shoot in their practice space, which happned to be in the basement of an office building with horrible drop ceilings and worse backgrounds. The light was dismal and dim and murky. My solution was unusual for me, I set up two strobe lights pointing straight at the side walls, and the reflected blast threw dramatic shadows around their flailing arms. I think it worked out pretty well, which was a little bit of a surprise.