This was the beginning.
Not long before that, my wife had shown me images of ballerinas photographed in the streets of New York City. Remembering those, we began to wonder what it would look like to photograph young dancers here—out in nature, in the places we knew.
The next day, I happened to run into one of the dance teachers and mentioned the idea. What began as a simple thought quickly turned into something we could actually create.
We reached out to the ballet teacher and shared the idea of creating a calendar for them to use as a fundraiser, with each dancer featured in a different location.
As we talked with the girls, we could feel their excitement—each one imagining what it would be like to be part of something like this.
We began scheduling sessions, often with the help of their teacher and sometimes their mothers, who would come along to help with outfits and small details.
With travel into the mountains and time spent at each location, we often spent four to five hours or more with each dancer.
It became more than just taking photographs—it was the time we shared, unhurried, allowing something creative to unfold naturally.
Over time, I began to see something more than just images taking shape. The girls told us that these photographs were the first time they had ever seen themselves this way.
There was a quiet confidence that grew as they saw their grace, strength and beauty in the images.
Before this, we had never really thought about how dancers experience their art. The audience sees them. Their families see them. But they rarely get to see themselves.
These images gave them that opportunity. And in doing so, something shifted—not just in how they looked, but in how they carried themselves.
Another unexpected part of this experience came from the mothers.
Over the years many of them shared how much it meant to be included—to spend that time alongside their teen-aged daughters. In a season of life where time together often becomes more distant, these moments gave them something rare—time shared, present, and meaningful.
At some point, it stopped being only about ballet.
What began as an idea
became something much more.