Jordan Hawkins // San Antonio, TX

I had had this image in my mind for the longest time. This particular street corner in downtown San Antonio has been my favorite street corner, for whatever reason. Houston St @ Navarro St: I like the whimsical, old-style font of the Walgreen Drugs sign, and the old bricks used to make the intricate patterns on the street - you don’t see many streets built this way anymore.

As I had mentioned, I had had this image in mind for a few years, actually, though never actually with a ballerina in mind. I had borrowed my friend’s 4x5 camera, and took the first image here at this space. Besides falling in love with the amazing detail from the large negative, I loved how the light splattered across the frame, from east to west. I knew that this photo would have to be made in the early morning, when the shadows were longest, with the sun lower in the sky.

Normally I reach out to ballerinas in professional companies, but this for this shoot I had just met a ballerina through a senior portrait I had done. Her mother had commented on the how she had chosen me because of my extensive ballet photography, and I thought it would be neat to include her in this shoot. After all, Jordan was great to work with; with her mother’s blessing, and a Starbucks Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso in hand, we ventured out to produce this image.

March 23, 2021