Please enter your email and website or LinkedIn to receive more information about our free and paid accounts.
Please enter your email address below and we’ll send you instructions on how to change your password.
Sean Scheidt is a Baltimore photographer with a fashion-driven portfolio and a knack for telling stories. He combines those skills when shooting his ongoing personal project, “Burlesque,” which captures performers in the burlesque community, in and out of costume. These engaging before-and-after portraits take a fun look at the real people before they transform into their on-stage persona. I recently caught up with Sean to chat more about the unique, delightful series of images. Read more below!
How does this project fit into your photographic style? How did you get involved with this?
I’m going to answer this question in reverse. The impetus for this project happened (I think) four years ago. I had been doing some work for a friend’s aerial theatre company and was asked to photograph their fundraiser 1920s aerial burlesque show. I had never been to a burlesque show but the 1920s era was always inspiring for me, so I figured, “why not?” But I really wasn’t interested in just documenting the show itself—I wanted the prep, the behind the scenes, the back stage. I got permission to focus on that, thankfully. What I saw during this shoot really stuck with me. I saw relatively average looking people make a transformation into something wholly larger than life. This transformation was really interesting to me. The seriousness with which they undertook it, the completeness of it. Nearly a year later, I would see a YouTube video of Judy Garland performing (I was going through a bit of a Garland phase musically). This video was interesting in that it spliced together rehearsal video of the same performance. In the performance video Judy is ON and amazing. Hitting every mark and every note. But in the rehearsal video, she is drunk and slurring, a real hot mess. I did some research and found out it was shot the same day, just a few hours a part. Here again was that transformation brought on by the stage. So this series began as an exploration of that. It’s since become about a lot of other things, but at its heart it’s about that.
When it comes down to it, I like telling stories and photographing people. I think aesthetically this series is approached in a similar way to how I light and shoot anything else. The main difference is lack of crew, its just me and them. For this series I sit down and interview each performer, in-depth. Often times they aren’t even aware I’ve completed the first set of images. During the second session, they take over, completely into their persona. I like capturing in between moments, no posing.
Were there any challenges involved with this project? If so, how did you overcome them?
Trust is the most important thing to have when entering a community that you are not a part of. I had to build trust with the Burlesque community. The relationship between performers and photographers are a tricky one. Most photographers (in my experience) seem to want to exploit the sex, nudity aspect of it all. Or they pose the performers as they see them rather than how they might actually be or want to be perceived. The backstage is a sacred space and I try to treat it as such. The key is to give as much agency back to the performer as possible, the shoots are not about me or my perceptions. When they are on stage they are in complete control. For this shoot I am asking that they come into my space, be surrounded by my lights, just one-on-one. This gives me most, if not all of, the power. I have to hand back as much as possible to make sure its is all about them and not about my notions of burlesque, my stereotypes etc. So I don’t pose them, I ask a lot of questions, I allow them to select what to wear with out any input from myself. Often times these shoots last for hours. I’ve been really grateful to have been trusted so much and welcomed with open arms into this community.
What was involved in planning/preproduction?
Mostly its just a small amount of research and connections. I try to make sure that these performers are experienced ones. That they are doing so because its a genuine part of who they are rather than newbies exploring something they don’t quite understand. So I am constantly taking recommendations from performers who I have photographed. And to be honest, at this point a lot are asking to be included (which is really touching). The main thing for me is to weed out people who just want to play dress up. Production otherwise is really simple. I instruct the performers to come to the studio as they are every day. No makeup (unless they wear it) and no thought to “having their picture taken.” I then ask them to prepare a costume that best epitomizes their on stage persona. Most spend a lot of time really thinking about this one. I want no say in it, other than to suggest not wearing all black since the background is black.
What has the reaction to the images been so far?
Its been a mixed bag, mostly positive. Lots of press attention, which was a bit of a surprise. But I guess everyone can connect to having another side to themselves that needs expressing. As mentioned before the burlesque community itself have been really embracing of this project, recommending other performers, guessing who is next, etc. Some reactions have really served to steer the project into territory other than just transformation. I was a member of a church that didn’t really support the idea of the project, they saw it as borderline pornographic. This and other reasons caused me to leave that church. Those who critique the project from that camp seem to have to really confront their prejudices. It’s interesting to me that one might see a person or an image of the person on the left hand side, at a gas station or grocery store, whatever, and not think anything of it. But as soon as they simply change their clothing, an entire set of judgments are then hoisted upon them. It’s amazing to me. What’s also interesting for those who critique it as glorifying stripping or whatever, is that most of the performers have chosen to be more clothed then not. That should really tell you what it’s about. That it’s not about the nudity. Nudity is simply a tool used in performance but not the end goal. I have also had some interesting comments regarding body image. After Buzzfeed posted the project the first time there were comments talking about how fat some people were, or how they’d “never want to see that person naked,” you get the idea. Really terrible stuff. So I am directly confronting (it seems and I hope) a certain idea we have of who “should be” getting naked or performing in such a way. These concepts are still mulling around my head as I continue this project. But I do hope it continues confronts viewers in ways that make them uneasy. A sort of “fuck you, this is my body and I will show it however I want to.”
Any future plans for this project?
I would love to take the project national if I can get funding: traveling to a few cities, exploring their scenes and doing the same thing. I don’t want it to just be a Baltimore/DC project.
Did you learn anything through the creation of this series?
I am still learning a lot in addition to everything mentioned above. I learned a heck of a lot about my own preconceived notions over the past three and a half years of this project. I hope to continue to break down those walls within myself and others.
Check out more of Sean’s work on his website, seanscheidt.com.