Today we’d like to introduce you to James Horvath.
Hi James, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I have always felt I had a knack for taking photos, whether it be at the Zoo, walking around at the beach, or various trips that I had gone on as a child. I bought my first non-phone camera in 2022, a small digital point-and-shoot camera that I wanted to take to Padres games to snap photos of my favorite players. As time went by, this interest faded and I did not pursue it very seriously beyond these Padres games.
In the summer of 2024, I found myself with a massive amount of free time and that’s when my passion for photography truly began. It started again with that same point-and-shoot camera, and I went out on multiple photo excursions to places like La Jolla, Coronado, Imperial Beach, and Balboa Park, all beautiful in their own right. This went on for some time, and eventually I wandered into the world of film photography and kept doing more of the same. Fast forward to September of the same year, and I had my first opportunity to photograph dance.
Dance is something that has become a major part of my life, in addition to photography of course. Dance is my major, and I am transferring to UCSD from Southwestern College this fall to pursue a degree in dance. Besides dancing in college, I found myself in a role as a Work-Study with San Diego Dance Theater, a local dance company located in Liberty Station. Every September, San Diego Dance Theater puts on a site-specific performance known as Trolley Dances, which puts the audience on their feet and taking the San Diego MTS around the city to watch dance performances. I auditioned and was not selected, but that was okay because I was able to volunteer and be a tour guide as well as take pictures of the event!
This being my first time ever taking photos of dance (as well as being extremely new to photography), I had very little expectations as far as how my photos would fare. Thankfully, with it being an outdoor event, lighting did not pose an issue at all, which is more than half the battle for a photographer. I had taken around 2,000 photos of the event, and they didn’t look too bad! Following the event, funny enough, I immediately went to meet someone off of a marketplace app to purchase a camera more capable of shooting high quality images.
I ended up posting images from every piece by the next day, and they were well received by the dance community, and San Diego Dance Theater even reposted them on their Instagram story! I was just happy to get my images out there. I continued to take pictures of everyday life, and my next time taking photos of a dance performance came in November when Southwestern College was putting on their annual faculty concert that I was performing in.
This was the time where I really fell in love with dance photography and had the realization that I could do it and do it well. During the dress rehearsal of the concert, I approached the director of the show and asked if it would be okay for me to take some shots of the pieces that I was not performing in. She obliged, and I had another thing to focus on that night in addition to dancing. This was probably the first time I ever impressed myself with photography; I had a lot of images that I absolutely adored.
This is when I really started to hear positive feedback from my dance photography. I was able to send my images to the choreographers in this faculty concert, many of them being my own teachers, and it was wonderful hearing how much they enjoyed the images of their pieces. One of my teachers even recommended me to a studio that was looking for a dance photographer for a recital. I’ve done a handful of shows since then, and I keep receiving new requests from people looking for a photographer for their dance show.
Being a dancer and being a dance photographer are two things that feel very intertwined. I would not be in the position I am today with dance photography if I was not a dancer. I think it’s very difficult to photograph something that you have very little knowledge of, especially when it involves movement. I am in no way an expert of dance, but I do approach it in a very meticulous way with my attention to detail while observing. Being able to freeze moments in time of the intense emotions that dance provides, such as a fierce facial expression during a jump, or a tender moment between two dancers on stage is my favorite part of dance photography.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I think the biggest struggle of being a dance photographer or an event photographer in general is finding paid work. Camera gear is not cheap in the slightest. I end up doing a lot of free gigs for fun just because I am still pretty new to photography and getting exposure is important in the long run.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m currently a college student majoring in dance and about to transfer to UCSD. In my time outside of dance, I will almost always have my camera close by. I enjoy taking pictures of everything, but dance photography is my specialty and what I am most known for. I am fairly new to both mediums, but I’ve put an exemplary amount of time in and I still have a long way to go. I think in dance photography what sets me apart from the other photographers is the fact that I’ve been around dance my whole life. My mom was a longtime dance professor, and seeing dance my whole life allows me to have an eye for things that other photographers don’t. I don’t believe that I would have gotten so heavily into photography if I was not a dancer in the first place. Both dance and photography are deeply intertwined and I love them both.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
As a young teenager, I would play a lot of the Pokemon Trading Card Game, and even travel to different places across Southern California and beyond to play it competitively. I did fairly well at it, and even competed in a few World Championships’ from 2015-2018. My favorite memories are with the people I met through Pokemon, and to this day I am still friends with most of them.
Contact Info:
- Email: jameshorvathphoto@gmail.com for any inquiries
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/snapped.by.james
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@snapped.by.james
Image Credits
for the personal photo: Jaida Martin.
all other photos taken by me, James Horvath
