In The Moment

Sometimes, when I make a photograph of a Dancer, I just have to catch my breath
Reagan Arenz – YAGP / ADC Previews 15 Dec 2021 Cary Arts Center
Coda
11 Octobers ago, I went to photograph “Children’s Celebration of The Arts” for Cary Citizen.
I was trying to figure out how to connect with the place I’d lived for a dozen years but didn’t know because of work.
I’d told Hal and Lindsey I wanted to photograph small events, with heart
I found that and what has become, the soul of my art and my extended family

Andrea Huynh – Children’s Celebration of The Arts
Cary Ballet Conservatory 16 Oct 2010
Rehearsal for The Gala
It’s called Youth America Grand Prix but it’s truly an International Dance Competition.
They know who knows dance
Which explains Cary Ballet’s invitation to perform in the YAGP México Gala in Orizaba, Veracruz.
And good reason to make some promo photographs in Studio A at Cary Ballet Conservatory.
Cary Ballet dancers will perform two world premiere pieces by Krista King-Doherty
Guided by Cary Ballet Artistic & Professional Training Program Director Mariaelena Ruiz
And it was good to get some time in Studio with this bunch!

Cary Ballet Conservatory – 7 October 2021



“Light As Air and Quick As Lightning”
Letter from Abigail Adams to her sister, Mary Smith Cranch. Paris, 20 February, 1785

“The first dance which I saw upon the Stage shoked me, the Dress’es and Beauty of the performers was enchanting, but no sooner did the Dance commence, than I felt my delicacy wounded, and I was ashamed to bee seen to look at them. Girls cloathd in the thinest Silk: and Gauze, with their peticoats short Springing two foot from the floor poising themselves in the air, with their feet flying, and as perfectly shewing their Garters and draws, as tho no peticoat had been worn, was a sight altogether new to me.”
“Their motions are as light as air and as quick as lightning. They balance themselves to astonishment. No description can equal the reality.”

“Shall I speak a Truth and say that repeatedly seeing these Dances has worn of that disgust which I first felt, and that I see them now with pleasure. … The art of dancing is carried to the highest degree of perfection that it is capable of; at the opera.”
Just One More
When a Dancer asks, my answer is always, yes!
Dancer Isabelle Burke
Cary Ballet Conservatory – 5 June 2021
The Indulgence of a Muse – Redux
In 1979, MoMA in NYC presented “Ansel Adams and the West” [MoMA Exh. #1273, September 5–October 28, 1979]
It was a retrospective that included versions of prints he made from the same negative, over 20 years.
Like Eric Clapton sang, trying to “get the music right”
This only took me 3 years
Her patience and trust allowed the slower pace and uncertain outcome of film
I’ve been very lucky – when I needed a Muse, the Muse was there
Studio Session with Mikayla McKean – Cary Ballet Conservatory, 20 May 2018
Last Frame
Today, they put up with me fussing about with lights for two hours in head shot sessions. This was the very last image.
Before The Ghost Light #8
Dancer Miranda Thomas
Cary Ballet ADC/IBC Theater Preview
Cary Arts Center 11 March 2020 – Galleries Here