Push down to go up, Lauren

My photography journey presents me with the opportunity to meet truly amazing and inspiring people. I recently had the fortune to photograph Lauren and we created something beautiful. We originally spoke about a ballet shoot but had a somewhat impromptu photo session due to the warm weather and we flowed organically from there.

I've taken the liberty to quote her from one of her ever so inspiring posts.

In dance, there's a principle, used usually to teach levity in grande battement, but it's true of all balance and extension.

Push down to go up. Use the floor to rise away from it. Connect. Extend. I think true self-actualization and the power to make a difference in the world comes from deep consideration of the other while striving for the ultimate dismissal of the others' evaluative judgment. Moving forward only with being and speaking what's true, and never forcing others to see what you wish they would."

Lauren W.

Fuentes Stephanie Dance Project

In 2016 for Thanksgiving I spent the week in Miami with family. Though my initial reason for being there was to photograph a friend's elopement I made a secondary goal to photograph a dancer as part of my travel/dance series. You can see my first one from Boston here.

Through a friend of a friend, I had the absolute pleasure to meet and photograph Stephanie Fuentes. Stephanie is a Miami native, dancer and choreographer very eager to bring awareness to women power through the art of dance. She is also a lady boss, very funny and have an amazing presence to her.  Make sure to check out her website, link above, and show her some love on Instagram: @fsdanceproject

Our shoot in Wynwood Art District was very casual and easy going but I feel the images we created were powerful, beautiful and expressive. Enjoy some of my favorites below.

Maya | Dance in the City Project

In July I took a trip to Boston for some commissioned photography work and reached out to Maya (model and professional ballerina) to see if she'd be interested in collaborating on a dance session. She said yes and the rest was history. Maya is pure elegance and magic and SO absolutely easy to work with. My only regret is that we didnt have more time but I have a strong feeling that we'll be working together again in the future.

Below is my curated set from our shoot. If you've followed me on Instagram you've probably seen most of these since I couldnt stop posting, but if not then enjoy.