Pointe Taken: Dancer in SF Part 2

Welcome to part 2 of the ballerina series! Thanks so much for all the support and love from Part 1, it really meant a lot. This is the second half of the photo shoot and it was so much fun going around SF. We started pretty early in the day, so it was nice while shooting on the streets in Chinatown. However, after lunch it was getting too crowded and as people do, they like to stop and look, which can change the mood of the shoot.

Despite all that, I thought Lani, the lovely ballet dancer and Bar Method instructor of Seattle, did beautifully and it was fun capturing the beauty of ballet against my most favorite city, San Francisco. Please leave any thoughts or comments you may have. They're always so appreciated.

Thank you to everyone involved with this project. It feels so good to see something we've been planning coming to fruition. I am so grateful to be able to do photography and follow my love. Thanks for your time.

Pointe Taken: Dancer in SF Part 1

Last week I shared a post of the ballet shoot I had done a couple weeks prior with my wonderful and talented friend, Lani. She is an amazing dancer and it was such a pleasure to photograph her doing something she's extremely passionate about. Lani's other passion is Bar Method and is a fantastic instructor up in Seattle. So if you're ever in the area, be sure to take a class there.

There will be two parts to this photo series. This first set took place in a beautiful studio called Maiden Lane, which is a great yoga studio right in Union Square of SF. The owner was so gracious and kind to let me use the space. If you're ever in SF, please do get in a yoga class there.

I learned a few things about ballet that day, but it was just amazing to such a beautiful form of dance in person.

 

Any input about these photos will be greatly appreciated.

Please stay tune for Part 2 of these series, which will feature ballet on the streets of San Francisco.

Special thanks to my wonderful friends who graciously assisted that day. Could not have done this shoot without you. Please check out their sites: Andrea Isasi , Jarhod Geronimo  and Ian Lundie.

Ballet Shoot: Behind the Scene

Wee!Last week I spent time preparing for a photo shoot that my friend Lilani (the dancer) and I have discussed for a while. We  chose a date two months ago and it finally happened this past Saturday! Lilani is a trained ballet dancer and we wanted to capture ballet poses done by her around San Francisco, a city in which she frequently visits for her close friends.

To prepare for the shoot, I spent a good part of Thursday scouting out locations in San Francisco around the same time we'd shoot on Saturday. This allowed me to see the lighting and how it would work for our shoot. And San Francisco is always congested on weekends, so I wanted to make sure we weren't around places that were TOO crowded, even though some places I wanted were iconic parts of SF.

Here are some shots I took while scouting:

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I had other places in mind, but I have shot at them before and was familiar with the locations beforehand.  I also reached out to a yoga studio in the heart of Union Square called Maiden Lane Studios, a beautiful yoga studio I had taken classes at before to see if I could shoot there and they were so gracious and nice about it. I also made notes in my sketchbook about what the temperatures were and how the sun was casting down. This allowed me to pack appropriately and for Lilani to figure out what to wear.

As I'm working on processing photos from the shoot, I wanted to show some behind the scenes photos and outtakes. The candid photos are always so sweet and fun to see.

Special thanks to: Andrea for being the best BFF to Lilani with hair, holding of all the stuff and her wardrobe, Jarhod for helping me with metering, shots, carrying of camera, second set of eyes and making sure we didn't get hit by cars and for Ian for the transportation and keeping us safe.