She documented over 800 productions in her lifetime.[1] To her, rehearsals were "where you see the creativity and the interchange, how it grows to what it comes to be onstage".[5]
She stopped taking photos when she retired in 1994, saying that "now I think it's somebody else's era".[5][6]
Swope's photographs were displayed in multiple books: Baryshnikov on Broadway: Photographs, Tanaquil Le Clercq's Mourka: The Autobiography of a Cat, Kenneth Laws's Physics and the Art of Dance, and Denny Martin Flinn's What They Did for Love: The Untold Story Behind the Making of A Chorus Line.[3]
Personal life
She lived in a brownstone on 72nd Street in New York City. She used her bathroom as a darkroom and her closet was her film developing room.
Besides ballet and photography, Swope had an immense passion for animals and travel. She rescued and took care of stray dogs. One of her dogs was named "Topo". When she later moved to the Manhattan Plaza apartment complex on West 43rd Street, she adopted a greyhound mix named "Bert".[4]
She also visited a sundry mix of places, such as Africa, Switzerland, and Italy. Although Swope had a lively and caring spirit, she was also very private about her personal life and actually avoided going to the theatre "because of crowds".[5]