Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Young Ballerina + Tracks, Guanabacoa, Cuba, 2017


Over the past four years it has been my sincere honor to have photographed this young ballerina. Her parents are as kind as any in my work, and have always shared an immense pride in our collaboration. Whenever the sun was up in the afternoon they would call us and find out where we were, and if a session with their daughter was possible.

This is exactly what happened with this frame, as we had a rare, sunny afternoon. Her parents called us and we drove over to their home in central Havana. They were ready when we arrived and left their store in the hands of neighbors while we headed out to the countryside. We arrived in Guanabacoa and went about asking the families for permission to use their homes. We were embraced as we had always been and began with a home near these tracks.

In time we walked over to the railroad tracks which were a favorite to the family. We had perhaps 30 minutes of sunlight left and moved quickly to set up the cameras. She was ready of course and the fact that the sunlight was soft just made her day. It felt like forever in the sweetest of ways and we exposed perhaps four rolls of film in the meantime.

She was flawless and, to the delight of her parents, composed herself perfectly for each frame. One almost forgets the age of these ballerinas and for good reason. She has my sincerest respect and hope that we can do better for her this summer!


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Note: This frame was exposed with a Hasselblad 555 ELD/100 mm combination.

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