Saturday, December 6, 2014

Ballerinas - Water, Santa Maria del Mar, La Habana, Cuba, Summer of 2013


Last year I felt the urge to join the dancers in the water, but was held back photographically. The minute I returned to the States I purchased a vintage medium format point-and-shoot camera, quite different than the more static equipment used for these sessions. I went back and forth, wondering if I had made the right decision.

Then came the time this past summer to join them in the water, to feel the warmth of the ocean and to be within a meter of them while holding a camera by hand. This was also the first time I wore shorts and a t-shirt on the island, and I felt the freedom of it all immediately.

Reading reviews and making decisions mentally is one thing, holding the camera in my hand while hearing the girls laughing in front of me is an entirely different matter altogether. These images would have been impossible before, yet felt so natural this past summer. Now I can't imagine being so far away from them, and look forward to printing these in the darkroom much sooner than later. 

These young girls, one a veteran and the other a rookie, worked together like they had known each other for years… when the fact is that they had just met. The older one, familiar to many of you, wanted to work with two younger dancers and be their mentor photographically. She was that and much more, increasing the range of this work and bringing even more fun to it all.

I cannot wait to show them these images, and to do it all over again next summer!

Note: These are rough scans through the negative sleeves, exposed by a Fuji GA645Wi.

www.halimina.org

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