HI, I'M TREVOR NIELSON

I AM A BALLET AND DANCE PHOTOGRAPHER IN SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH

I started attending ballet performances to watch my daughters hard work. But over time, I realized that ballet performances reminded me of my theater days back in college. More than that, the artistry and music of the ballet let my mind imagine and dream of simpler days. I fell in love with ballet. I soon realized that ballet and dance photography is so much more technically difficult than portrait or other types of photography and I love it! It's so rewarding to work with a highly skilled dancer to collaborate on an image that is both difficult to achieve, but turns out beautiful in the final result.

So, I've dedicated the past several years to learning everything I could about dance and ballet technique. I had to, so I could know how to get the best shots. I've studied with many world famous dance photographers and I even taken my fair share of adult beginner ballet classes. All this so I would know what it feels like for the dancer in my own little way.

But that's not really where it started. I got my first camera for Christmas in 1984. It was a blue Fisher Price / Kodak 110 camera. It had film so small, it was barely taller than a pencil. But I loved it. Growing up, my mom was a photographer for our local newspaper, so naturally we had a darkroom in our house. There is something magical about processing your own film. I have pursued many hobbies throughout the years, but photography has always stuck.

Later, in high school and at college, I studied technical theater. I wanted to be a set and lighting designer when I grew up. So I took as many theater classes as I could. I think by the time I was done, I had worked 26 productions in all sorts of capacity. Some of those shows were touring broadway shows and I had the opportunity talk with the crew and realized that maybe theater was a little too volatile career for me. But I would always have photography.

Movement

College is where I realized I enjoyed challenging fast-paced movement photography. I joined the university newspaper staff and began shooting sporting events. I shot all kinds of events, football, baseball, soccer, track & field to name a few. But I've never loved sports, so pursuing photography in an area that I wasn't passionate about didn't make a lot of sense.

Dance

I have four daughters and a son. Three of my daughters took ballet (the other was into tumbling), which meant driving them back and forth to class and eventually performances. We enjoy attending their shows, so eventually wanted to attend more, so we started going to Ballet West and the Utah Metropolitan Ballet as season ticket holders.

When I started considering a career change I chose dance and movement photography because not only is it beautiful and artistic, but it's also very challenging technically - both from a photography standpoint as well as from the dance perspective. So it feeds both my artistic side as well as my technical side. That's the fun part for me, creating beauty despite having to overcome huge technical challenges.

I also quickly learned how much of a difference I can make in the lives of dancers. Dancers are repeatedly critiqued, corrected and have become hyper aware of how they look. I've found they can easily forget the beauty they convey with their art. Dance photography opens up an amazing door for them to fall in love with their own work again.

So if you'd like to come join me in creating dance art, I would love to have you! Send me a message with what you're interested in and let's get talking about it!

I'm looking forward to working with you!