Anna-Marie Galea interviews photographer Charles Paul Azzopardi about his current photographic exhibition, focusing on dancers in action.

Having fallen into his hobby and turned professional quite by chance, medical doctor and photo-grapher Charles Paul Azzopardi had his first taste of things to come around three-and-half years ago, when he purchased a camera while he was at a bit of a loose end.

“I had no idea where my purchasing of my camera would take me and, in fact, I spent the first few months not quite knowing what to do with it. It was quite the case of being at the right place at the right time when I got my first break.”

With just two hours to go till the start of their show The Death of Snow White – a Tragedy in Seven Days, Gozo’s Naupaca Dance Factory were in dire need of a photographer, when Charles’s name came up.

“The opportunity to take photos of this production was a stroke of luck. More importantly, it was the moment where I fell in love with taking photographs of dancers, which is the subject of my current exhibition.”

While many people might choose to focus on the dancers’ technique, Charles has a very specific viewpoint and unique way of immortalising his subjects.

I have learnt and researched choreography and dance technique as it gives me an edge shooting dance

“When we were going through the thousands of photos I have taken through the years to see which would make the final cut, my curator Joseph P. Smith commented about the fact that my images seemed to focus very much on the anatomy of the person. I think that the fact I am a doctor has greatly contributed to this particular way of seeing dancers. While the dancers themselves look at my images, and sometimes comment on how their toes are not perfectly en pointe and poised, my focus has always been on the human form in motion.”

In fact, this is how Charles’s idea for his retrospective exhibition was born – the common thread running through all his images is the motion that split second when the body is suspended in mid-air, a fleeting instant invisible to the human eye.

Indeed, despite the fact that a number of Charles’s images are taken in black and white, one can clearly see the details of each muscle, sinew and movement.

“I love the black and white medium because it has always evoked a very particular kind of emotion, which is infinitely beyond anything which colour can give me. Black and white photography is more soulful. The shadows it brings out more evocative and the overall meaning far deeper than anything colour can evoke. Then again, I am a very black and white person myself, so maybe that is why it is reflected in my style.”

Unlike many contemporary photographers, Charles did not get any technical training and, in fact, much of his early work was very much based on instinct.

“After photographing dancers for more than three years, I have learnt and researched choreography and dance technique as it gives me an edge shooting dance. But when I started, my knowledge was very rudimentary.

“The reality is that I was never interested in portraying dance technique. What I have always focused on is the body of the dancer and the details that come out when it is in motion. For me, the intricate workings of the dance itself are secondary.”

My primary interest has always been dancers’ form and the capabilities of the human machine

So how do the dancers feel about this? “Dancers are very particular creatures. While the shots I favour are always characteristic of a certain ebb and flow of movement and how the muscles work together, dancers always look at my shots and point out what they could or should have done better. They are very much interested in perfection of technique, while my primary interest has always been their form and the capabilities of the human machine.”

Further focusing on this latter point, Charles will be conducting a two-day seminar during his exhibition, where he will be collaborating with ZfinMalta, Malta’s national dance company, and the University of Malta’s Department of Dance Studies to explore the relationship between the dancer and photographer.

The seminar will discuss subjects such as the relationship between dancer and photographer, whether or not the choreographer should change the dance itself for photographic purposes, as well as providing an inside view into the psyche of both dancer and photographer.

To further this end, Charles has planned an exercise where he will first shoot the dancers blindly, without him having seen or experienced the choreography of the dance itself and then follow up with an inversion of roles, where he himself is taught the dance. What Charles hopes to achieve is to determine how each role and the level of knowledge one has about it affects the final product.

Although Charles has even been commissioned work for renowned international companies such as Cirque du Soleil and Momix, he has far from tired of his subject.

“If you look at all 43 works in the exhibition you can see a common cohesive thread. Although I have now taken thousands of photos, my focus remains the same: I still try to capture the beauty of the dancer’s anatomy and the magnificence of the body in flight, almost defying the laws of gravity. It’s that split second which you will miss if you blink. I seek to capture the uncapturable.”

Soar – Anatomy in Motion is part of the Spazju Kreattiv programme and runs until April 10 at St James Cavalier, Valletta.