Toe Shoe Tuesday - Aria

Sadly, all good things must eventually come to an end, which includes this ballerina project I did for the semester. I figured we needed to go out with a BANG, which is exactly what Aria brought to the table during the session! I have never seen a girl who can leap so high, or stretch her leg out as far as she could! While winding up our Roseville shoot, we ended up on Main Street, and found this little brick doorway. Becca and Lexi both came up with their individual images in this doorway, but then Aria pushed the envelope and stretched herself from end to end in the doorway. LOVE IT!
Thank you SO much to all the girls who have helped make this project come through to the finished project for this semester. I couldn't have done it without all of you amazing volunteers! If I ever come up with another ballerina related project, I will let you all know :)

Toe Shoe Tuesday - Becca

You remember Becca, right? The gorgeous red head ballerina who climbed all over the underneath side of the Forresthill bridge with me to get to the graffiti? Of course you remember her! I just HAD to do some more solo shots of her when we were out with Lexi and Aria, and I'm super glad we did! She's always fun to work with, and super easy to photograph :) She makes everything look so simple! Girls like her make me LOVE my job!

Toe Shoe Tuesday - Lexi

Let me just start off by saying that Lexi started this shoot out telling me she wasn't very good on pointe... This was one of her FIRST images that I took. Needless to say, she was amazing on pointe. She brought some different and innovative poses that I hadn't seen any other girl throughout the workings of my project try out. She was willing to take risks, and test out her limitations. What photographer DOESN'T like a subject like that :)

Toe Shoe Tuesday - Becca, Lexi & Aria

I had another opportunity to work with multiple ballerinas, and so I jumped at the chance to incorporate them together as much as possible! Becca found me two of her friends and we spent an evening in Roseville shooting around some different locations and trying a whole bunch of different options. I had a blast creating images such as this one, and finding new ways to combine the dancers in with their surroundings.

Toe Shoe Tuesday - Dallis

I had posted on Facebook awhile back, trying to figure out what exactly the Old Sugar Mill was, and whether it was worth taking a ballerina out to for my project. After great response from a few local photographers, and then figuring out a ballerina that would be able to go out there, we made it happen! This place was EXCELLENT and full of so many options to use. Dallis did an awesome job, and created some photos that I had a SUPER hard time choosing from. This location has become one of my favorites to shoot at (so much, that i had MY "senior" portraits taken there by Ariana) and I would love to go back there again soon!

Toe Shoe Tuesday - Abby

Abby was "lucky" enough to be another rainy day ballerina. We met in Rocklin at this Temperance Hall, and used the overhang to our advantage as much as possible! We tried a few other places just down the road, but I just loved how different this building looked compared to all the rest. And of course, Abby did an excellent job in the cold, the wind, and the rain :)

Toe Shoe Tuesday - Rachael

it was so extremely difficult just to pick one image to post from rachael's shoot this past weekend. rachael and i collaborated through the CSUS dance department's intermediate/advanced ballet class, and boy am i glad she said yes! we walked the four sides of the capitol building and incorporated her movements in to the area. lucky for us, there was pretty much NOBODY at the building, so we had free range of the entire area.
you can see rachael perform along with the sacramento ballet at their upcoming show, icons & innovators this month. i'll be attending one of the performances, so if you'd like to join me, leave me a comment and we can figure something out!

Toe Shoe Tuesday - Becca

oh my heck... this shoot was AMAZING. i found this location from a friend of mine and declared to her that i LOVED her pictures, and i NEEDED to know where it was so i could put a ballerina in it. her "secret" place took us on a journey to the foresthill bridge (you know, the one seen in xXx?) in auburn. We started shooting on this catwalk before we moved on to the larger grafitti area (which getting to took us back to our jungle gym days) that was under the base of the bridge where it connected to the ground.
becca was SUCH a trooper... she literally had her pointe shoes on for about an hour during all this climbing that was making ME winded. she was a BLAST to photograph, and i'm SO glad we decided on this location for her! can you tell finally posting this excites me?

Toe Shoe Tuesday - Katelyn

if i was to guess -and i'm generally good at guessing- katelyn is probably about my height, if not SUPER close. therefore, adding another member to the super cool, super legit tall ballerina club. i met her for the first time at the start of our shoot, and she was SO much fun to work with. i've shot down on vernon street before, but having a ballerina is a totally different experience than shooting there with a bride. was it any less fun? no way! i just love the funky colors of this area, and how well the vintage-esque architecture contrasted with katelyn's simple dance ensemble. and i totally love how the date on the marquee has not been changed in months.
fun fact: we totally jerry-rigged her skirt. THAT was half the battle in itself to get it to look right on a taller ballerina. good thing us ballerinas can be crafty with bobby pins!

Toe Shoe Tuesdays

thats right! with the excitement of my senior portfolio building this semester, i figured it would be best to feature one of the edits from the week here on the blog. excitement is interchangable with the word "stress," right? the images shown week to week may or may not be used as the "final" in the project, but they were selected as a favorite of mine (and given the honor of being posted under this cheesy blog title). so without further aideu, here is the first one!megan and i shot in old sacramento this past sunday and had a great time wandering around and finding cool locations to shoot. From just the one block that we wandered around, there were SO many different location opportunities to shoot at. we found this awesome spot in a back alley sort of area facing this massive grassy area. we even got lucky enough to shoot inside the candy store :)
fun fact: this same spot is where megan's sister took her senior portraits. she climbed on top of her car, and on to that little ledge up top as her sister drove her car away to get the shot. oh the things we daring people do ;)