Mei-Ling Murry // New Orleans, LA

Mei-Ling was actually the first ballerina that I made an out-of-town trip for, to travel specifically and only for this ballet project. Every other ballerina/trip prior to this, I had a reason to visit said city.

Mei-Ling took a chance on me, before I even had an Instagram account with any sort of ballerina following, before I even knew what a winged foot should look like, Mei-Ling agreed to a shoot. With no "clout” of any sort, I was brazen enough to imagine that ballerinas around the world might give some random photographer out of Texas an opportunity to shoot.

I had no idea what I was doing then, and if I’m being completely honest, I still don’t really know what I’m doing. I know shoulders down, and I have a pretty good idea of what a winged-foot should look like, but I couldn’t tell you what proper turnout looks like, nor name many of the ballet positions - except perhaps first position. Fake it till you make it: I keep fooling people into believing that I know how to use this Hasselblad camera.

As this little project of mine has grown, my vision, approach, and how each shoot is executed has evolved. With Mei-Ling, I would show the ballerina (and Mei-Ling) a ballerina pose, and ask her to mimic it. Now, I will often draw inspiration from other places, often never having any ballet images in the “mood board” that I send to the ballerina pre-shoot. I ask the ballerina to bring the ballet, and ‘fit the ballet’ to the scene/location.

What has not changed, however, is my immense gratitude to each ballerina for taking a chance with me, giving me an opportunity to create a beautiful image with them - and on film, a medium that doesn’t allow them to see the final product until much later.

July 17, 2018