Before the Curtain an interview with Michael Nelson, July/August 2010

“Michael Nelson embarked on an extensive pro bono project with the Atlanta Ballet Company that took him into two worlds – the theater from the vantage point of the audience and the other world backstage that the audience never sees…his resulting portfolio holds images captured from both vantage points, though he suggests that the most meaningful for him are the backstage portraits.”

Commercial and portrait photographer Michael Nelson talks in an interview about the two years he spent photographing the Atlanta Ballet. He discusses the challenges of photographing a staged production in terms of lighting and timing, as well as what he learned from the experience of working with a dance troupe in motion.

Michael Nelson has been a professional photographer for over 20 years, following diverse experiences that include working in business, as a firefighter and paramedic, SCUBA diving and sailing, flying and teaching photography. His only fear is mediocrity, and his approach to life and work is the same — full of humor, spontaneity, and a lot of passion. Among his numerous corporate clients, Baker Books has chosen one of Nelson’s images for the cover of the soon to be released book, The Fine Life.