I love working with dancers, and Kristie in particular. There is so much power and calculation and precision in her movement (or even just her finger shape). We’ve shot together a dozen times by now, so there is almost no need for communication. She does her thing and I do my best to keep up. The hardest part for me is figuring out new ways to shoot her.

I kicked off the shoot with some long exposures, which I have been quite a bit lately. After that I decided to shoot a simple look, with hard light coming from the side to accentuate her muscles and lines. I decided to process them with a solarized look, which I think makes the images look almost like charcoal drawings.

After shooting both blurry and crisp scenarios, I couldn’t think of a better follow up than a smoky setup. I really wanted to hide her in the smoke, with only sections of her emerging into the light. The results vary from abstract to cinematic.

For the remainder of the shoot I kept it really simple, just relying on available light and interesting locations. I’m super fortunate that my studio resides in The Fort, which is a recently renovated warehouse on the south side of Columbus. There are endless textures and plenty of light.