Photographer Spotlight
Midnight Circus is incredibly lucky to have talented photographers follow us year after year to capture the magic under our Little Big Top. We want to show our appreciation for their hard work by sharing a photographer spotlight each month. Our first spotlight goes to our talented friend, Grace Gershenfeld!
Grace is originally from Cambridge, MA, and has been Midnight Circus’s touring photographer for the last two years. She is no stranger to the circus ring— she grew up spending her summers at Circus Smirkus, a youth summer camp in Greensboro, Vermont, and performed in festivals and other events in MA while training year round. She began her photography career after being gifted a Canon Rebel in 2009, and honed her skills by photographing anything and everything as much as possible. Grace says her favorite moments to capture in the ring are acts with extreme lines —like an artist doing the splits on the Lyra, but also loves shooting candid reactions from the kids in the audience.
Grace loves touring with Midnight Circus because of the limitless possibilities of moments she can capture. She says, “Circus is one of the most interesting things to photograph in terms of the shapes people make, and the tent lighting at night is one of my favorite conditions to shoot.” Grace also has a knack for catching creative and humors backstage interactions.
One of her favorite moments happened during a sudden rainstorm at intermission. “Most people, understandably, ran for the tent because they had on their costumes, makeup, etc.,” she says, “but I stayed in the rain for a few seconds longer to photograph the chaos of everyone running at top speed through the wall of rain. It’s still one of my favorite pictures!”
Rain wall chaos by Grace Gershenfeld
Outside of the Midnight Circus ring, Grace enjoys taking headshots, pictures of animals, the sky, and anything that requires exact timing and a quick hand—like the perfect second of a firework popping. If you want to see more of Grace’s work, check out the pages of the Midnight Circus website. Grace directed and shot all of the headshots on our performer page and will do so again for the 2020 season! She also highlights her favorite photographs on her instagram @graaaaaaaaaace (that’s grace with 10 a’s). If you’re interested in booking Grace for a headshot session, an event, or your circus act, check out her website or shoot her an email at gracegphoto@gmail.com.
