Dance photographer finds light in work after career as Westchester prosecutor

Steven Vandervelden paid little attention to light and grace and artistry when he pursued mobsters and killers as a prosecutor in the Westchester District Attorney's Office.

But they are everything he thinks about these days in his second career as a dance photographer.

The longtime Pound Ridge resident now has his first exhibit, 'The Art and Beauty of Dance', close to home at the Pound Ridge Library's Schaffner Gallery, running through Dec. 30.

"I spent a good portion of my life peering into the darkness looking for the bad guy," he said. "Now it’s a joy to peer into the darkness and look for the light and find beauty as opposed to the grime."

Vandervelden joined the DA's Office in 1987 and his 34-year career included stints as deputy chief of the homicide bureau and more than two decades heading the organized crime bureau.

Photography was always a hobby but a decade ago, when his oldest daughter went off to college, he decided to take a course in studio lighting at the International Center of Photography.

The instructor asked him to be a teaching assistant, so he began leading classes in lighting and fashion. That led to a session photographing a group of Martha Graham dancers. What followed were referrals to their friends, who referred him to theirs. Almost accidentally Vandervelden had become a dance photographer, working with some of the top dancers and companies from New York and around the world.

Vandervelden, 61, has become a judge for the annual dance-photo competition of Pas de Deus Photo, an organization for dance photographers. He gave a presentation on studio lighting at its last conference.

Ron McKinney, co-founder of the group, said most of those who turn to dance photography as a second career have some connection to dance or the arts, a background that helps when a photographer must capture peak moments.

"You have to understand the nature of dance and how it works; if you don’t understand it you're going to waste the dancer’s time," McKinney said. "So that’s what’s so impressive about what Steven has done is that he’s really been able to study dance and the body form within dance and just bring it out in his studio."

Candy Tong, a dancer with Complexions Contemporary Ballet, is among the more than 20 professionals featured in Vandervelden's exhibit. She first met Vandervelden at a photo shoot when she moved to New York in 2018 and has returned three or four times since then.

His change of career doesn't surprise her so much, because she has found many photographers in New York do it as a second job. What stands out for her about Vandervelden are his lighting techniques, his ability to connect with dancers and the passion he shares for each unique project.

"He’s always been very welcoming and he has a billion ideas, which I genuinely love," she said. "As someone who models part time sometimes I even run out of ideas. I love that he has fresh new concepts that he’s so excited about."

He does shoots for individual dancers, dance companies, dancewear companies, and features some series like for holidays and other themes that utilize the many props he has gathered.

"My wife is ready to kill me because I have a garage full and she thinks a garage is to put a car," he said.

Despite what he considers the right brain-to-left brain shift in his professional life, Vandervelden sees some overlap in the two careers.

"We had to come up with ideas and ways to catch people and when I’m in the studio I’m coming up with different ways to do things all the time," he said. "I used to think outside the box to catch somebody, now I think outside the box to illuminate somebody and enhance an image."

He said they really merged one day when he responded to the scene of a fatal shooting in Somers. The elderly victim lay on the floor of the garage and a state police investigator was taking crime scene photos. Vandervelden asked for the camera, sure he was seeing something others might not pick up.

"Right behind the victim is a replica of The Last Supper and I thought if I ever have to try the case I wouldn't need to say anything to the jury," he said. "I was thinking as a photographer and not just as a lawyer."

Vandervelden recounts cases of old, the ones that came together, the ones that slipped away or remain unsolved. But there was plenty of stress, something he doesn't have in his new career.

"I tell people I could live forever in the studio because its all about creating art and not worrying about mayhem and crime," he said. "So from that vantage point its been a nice change of pace and I’m happy to be doing something that I have a passion in. Now I had a passion of being a prosecutor and I tell people all the time life is about finding your passion and I’ve been lucky to find it twice."

If you go

'The Art and Beauty of Dance' in the Schaffner Gallery is open to the public Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., through Dec. 30. It is closed on Sundays and Mondays. The gallery is at the Pound Ridge Library at 271 Westchester Avenue.

Steven Vandervelden will speak about the exhibit and his career in dance photography at an Artist's Talk at the gallery at 4 p.m. Saturday, December 9. More of his work can be found on Instagram @VandyPhotography.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Renowned dance photographer was a prosecutor for Westchester DA