Last Saturday, I spent the day at Hampshire College, at the “Circus Folk Unite” festival — an event that seemed to hold no end of photographic opportunities. There was juggling, acrobatics, fire spinning, hula-hooping, and a host of fascinating circus magic I couldn’t even begin to understand.
One of my favorite things about photography is its ability to abstract situations in a way the human eye can’t. What I saw, for example, when I looked at this juggler against the backdrop of rooftop windows was bright — the windows white and the clubs full of color. But, using my camera, I was able to highlight the shape and pattern of my subject by silhouetting everything against the colorful blue sky. That focuses the viewer’s attention on the movement of the moment, rather than on the neon-colored clubs.
— Dan Little