Kayla Fessler // San Antonio, TX

My shoot with Kayla was the first after San Antonio’s Covid-19 lockdown. This was a very weird time, relatively early on in the pandemic, and we still had no real idea of what Covid-19 was, how it was transferred, etc. I was initially scared to ask Kayla if she might shoot, wondering if she would even want to leave her house. Thankfully, smarter heads prevailed and she was not only willing, but excited to get out and do something. 

During the lockdown, I made it a point (pointe?) to voraciously consume an inordinate amount of photo books; I purchased 39 photo books from March through May of 2020. I would make a list of books I wanted to purchase, and search them out on Amazon, eBay, or some other used online bookstore. I was mostly looking for physical design inspiration my own upcoming Hasselblad Ballet book project, but I serendipitously came across the work of a Mr. Rodney Smith, and I was forever changed. The Hat Book, alongside The Bible, is a constant on my bedside. Like the aforementioned Book, I am constantly looking to The Hat Book for inspiration. To say it has changed my style of photography is an understatement. 

Kayla is a third generation ballerina, following in the pointe steps of her mother and grandmother. I wasn’t quite sure how she would react to my then newfound appreciation for Smith’s work. Ballet photography typically is quite proper and appropriate, nothing odd or unnatural outside of a ballerina’s superhuman athleticism. However, in the continuing trend of ballerinas surprising me with their willingness to try something different, Kayla was on board. This image was the only quirky, Rodney Smith-esque image I made in this shoot, but upon seeing the how the weird worked so well with ballet, Hasselblad Ballet was forevermore changed. 

June 5, 2020