I have always been fascinated by the elegant power of a ballerina. Weather it's the cute little girls in their tutu's or the lead in Black Swan, there is poise and elegance at all levels. One day I felt compelled to make an attempt to capture the essence that makes a dancer.
I approached several well known schools without much luck. Eventually I decided to put out a casting call for a model that knew ballet well. Alexandra responded and we set had several conversations about how the shoot should be. Originally I wanted to create both fine art and athletic images. I realized that this varied approach would require two distinct lighting set ups as well as different locations. We agreed on doing a test shoot leaning more towards fine art. Something that a ballet school would want to hang on their wall.
I strongly believe that an image needs to have substance beyond the subject. To that end, I felt we should shoot in a working studio. They were very gracious and without their help I would have had to scramble for a location.Once that was settled I contacted Creative, a local ballet school who generously agreed to let us use their studio to shoot the images.
The images that follow are my first in a series that I plan to pursue to fruition. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed working with Alexandra.
I look forward to creating more images that capture the essence of the dancer. If you are a dancer or if you know a wonderful ballerina and would like to contribute to this project please contact Juan Prieto Photography.
