[Hooping.org columnist Lara Eastburn looks into the love and light of one amazing hoop photographer.]
Meet Eraj Asadi, New York City investment banker, quick-witted progeny of a Persian king and Bollywood siren, and after-hours photographer with a mean, keen eye for capturing the fleeting moment. No stranger to the New York burner community, Eraj and his work caught my eye the moment hoopers caught his. Which was relatively recently. In late 2010, the attention of his lens had shifted from urban landscapes and candid street images to performance-based photography. That’s how he bumped into performer Renata and got himself invited to the Gratitude party (Beyond Burners NYC). There, on a cold December night a year ago, and not knowing a soul, Eraj stumbled into a bright, shiny new world made for a man with a camera and the gift for it. This is the moment our hero meets the hoop. And thank god he didn’t put his camera down to try it, because over the next 12 months, Eraj Asadi produced some of the most compelling photographs of hooping I’ve ever seen.
It’s fair to say that we hoopers have developed a working vocabulary for what it feels like to be moving inside a hoop. In our more successful attempts to describe the ineffable, we use words like vortex, bubble, force field, channel, current, and flow. But peering into Eraj’s work, you’ll be pouring yourself into the eyes of someone watching – and truly seeing – that magic from the outside. His photographs seem to communicate what our words will only grasp at – serenity found at the center of chaos, a split second of bliss that will never quite be lived again in the same way. That’s because Eraj is no voyeur. He’ll leave recording, documenting for posterity, and passive observation to the point-and-shooters. Asadi is an artist intent on engaging his art with yours. “Shooting someone who’s in a moment of creating, combining my artistic perspectives and visual aesthetic with theirs, it’s co-collaboration … there’s real synergy there,” he muses. “The incredible things people do with hoops, combined with the music, and the camera … it builds on itself, it’s mesmerizing.”
Our hero may have first been struck with how the hoop can bring out the beauty of a woman in a way few other things can, but he’s warming up to the same in his male subjects. Like the photo of Michael Coyote he snapped at Pandemonium, the November 2011 marriage of friends Preston and Annie on a beach in Puerto Moreles, Mexico. Eraj explains, “Coyote was hooping, he was smoking, and it was all man.” The passion Eraj brings to photographing hoopers lay in his attention to both external and internal motion. In one of his favorite hooping photogrpahs (Victoria Lynn Wagner, with a purple and white LED hoop), he points out the details that inspire his gaze, “her expression, her fingers, the arc of the hoop, the skill involved. I’m not just watching a girl dance. I’m watching someone create art with music, lights and motion.”
So, Eraj is still not a hooper. Yet. And this will be the first and last time I’ll say such a slanderous thing, but I’m glad. Because he and his work have a lot to teach us about what our art looks like from the outside. We know someone’s always watching, but what do they see? Eraj sees someone in their element, surrendering to a moment, and reaching out past themselves in their movement. “That field emanates beyond the hoop,” Eraj told me, “The observer is drawn into the circle.” In the words of my Southern grandfather preacher, ‘Them’s pow’rful words.’
Can’t get enough of Eraj Asadi? No worries. He’s compiled a gallery of his hooper-specific photography here. It’s okay. Click “like” as much as you want to, and feel free to let him know if his art touches you the way yours has touched his.
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Lara Eastburn has been dancing in meadows and singing with the moon while spinning in circles for eons at Superhooper.org. Beyond commenting here, you can also discuss this and other topics related to the Hooposophy for living in Hooping.org’s Hooposophy Group and Forum. Lara is also the planting and gardening force behind discovering our hooping community roots at The Hooping Family Tree Project.
Wow!!!!
Thank you!
Absolutely astounding images!
Thank you, Richie!
<3
Right back atcha!
Awesome write up on a super talented photographer!
Nicholas – you are too kind, sir!
YES! Eraj is a local gem. We can’t sing his praises enough. On top of being a keen and talented photographer he is a kind soul with a big heart!
Renee Renata Bergan’s correct page is http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=637428156
That is unbelievably sweet of you, Renee…thank you so much…
Wow! Loving all of the hooping photos. Great work!
Thank you very much, Sarah..very sweet of you!
Being a photographer myself your eye is magnificent! Half the time I want to be out of my hoop photographing others hooping, but trying both at the same time is tricky to say the least. Keep snappin photos, the whole hooping world appreciates people like you!
Thank you so much, Jackie…really lovely of you…
Such a Gorgeous Write Up Lara !!!! He is truly Amazing !!! xxx
Uh oh! The link doesn’t work to Eraj’s hoop-specific photography.
It keeps coming up as an error page – “Content Not Available.”
Ahhh..Briana…that may be because my settings on that particular album is “Friends of Friends”…I’ll open it up to “Everyone”, pls let me know if that works…also, happy to connect on FB..
Thank you so much Eraj! Your photography is quite lovely. You capture the spirit and movement of hoopers splendidly!
Meredith..I love you!
Lara, great article and terrific subject! Eraj, your work is breathtaking. I am a professional art director and photography like this makes my heart beat faster. I’m excited to check out more of your work.
So kind of you to say, Abby – thank you…I tend to use Facebook as my forum for uploading and discussing photographs…I would be very happy to be connected to you there if you would like.
So proud of you, Sweet-E. This is just the beginning.. <3
Is this the same Jacqui that made me fall in love with hoopers and hooping in the first place? <3
absolutely beautiful photos!
These are beautiful.
Awesome!! Eraj is great. He’s snapped some great pictures of me and my good friend (and former sweetie) Stevie at many parties over the past couple years.
Many of the subjects are friends of mine.
For anyone who’s curious, they are (top to bottom): Victoria Wagner, Dimitri Disorient & Telah Quemere, I Monster (I believe it’s Julia something), Jaqcui Becker, can’t tell but it’s definitely Dance Parade 2011, Michael Coyote Beerley, Telah again, and I don’t recognise the last girl.
Thank you Eraj!
- Eraj sees someone in their element, surrendering to a moment, and reaching out past themselves in their movement. “That field emanates beyond the hoop,” Eraj told me, “The observer is drawn into the circle.” -
powerful words alright. He says it best. and photographs it best, they are very beautiful photos.
GREAT EYE FOR DETAIL~