30 hours in 30 photos: The Best of Dance Marathon 2014

Welcome to The Daily’s photo blog: Captured. This will be a space to share photos by The Daily’s staff as well as photos from members of our community. Students can submit entries to be considered from their classes, vacation or just from around NU by emailing [email protected].

Dance Marathon came to an end Sunday morning, raising more than $1.3 million for Team Joseph and the Evanston Community Foundation.

Throughout the weekend, The Daily covered the 30-hour event in its entirety through reports, photos, videos, a Spotify playlist and even GIFs.

DM was a great opportunity for photographers of The Daily, who brought varying backgrounds and photography experience to the coverage. We asked some of the photographers to share their experience shooting DM 2014.

Lan Nguyen: Photographing DM was the most meaningful experience I’ve had while photographing at Northwestern. As a photographer at DM, I felt like I had an immense responsibility: to capture the passion and dedication of more than 1,000 students who came together for a charitable cause. The lighting was not photo-friendly and I had to attempt to capture enough light to reveal the faces of the participants, while also staying true to the DM atmosphere. I wanted to show students dancing and having fun, but I also knew I needed to portray all the elements and photograph some tired faces as well. Condensed sweat was dripping from the ceiling and the music was louder than I would’ve liked, but photographing DM was a wonderful experience; probably the best alternative to actually doing it myself.

Jordan Harrison: I am not a photographer—but now I’d like to be. DM was the only thing I’ve ever shot for the Daily Northwestern, and I didn’t really know what I was doing. I had the low light working against me, but an abundance of emotions and energy—at least early on—working for me. Dancers, thank you for sharing those moments with me. Northwestern is proud of you.

Harriet Colie: Photographing DM was a great way to experience the event without being a dancer. I was there for Block 9 and people were clearly feeling tired by that point, but nonetheless I was struck by the energy and sense of camaraderie in the tent. I met Joseph when he ran into my legs. He looked like he was having the time of his life. Some of the best moments happened when they played an especially well-loved song, such as Single Ladies, and everyone danced with renewed vigor. All in all, photographing DM was exhilarating and rewarding, though I could have done without the sweat rain.

Nathan Richards: Shooting DM was something like what I would imagine shooting a zombie apocalypse would be like. Moving through the slowly moving crowds, it seemed like most of them knew I was there, but few truly processed what I was doing. It was kind of frightening, really.

Photos compiled by Editor in Chief Paulina Firozi and Managing Editor Joseph Diebold.