Hannah Wood - Soloist w/Texas Ballet Theater

This summer I was in Texas visiting family and wanted to reach out to a few dancers while I was there. I figured I would reach out to a few and hope for the best. The goal was to hopefully meet a new ballet dancer and add someone new to the portfolio.

I reached out to a few dancers at Texas Ballet Theater and was lucky enough to connect with Hannah. She ended up being the first of two Texas Ballet Theater dancers I would get to photograph while I was in Texas.

After getting the photoshoot scheduled, I drove over to the Dallas Fort Worth area and met Hannah at the Kimbell Museum. On the drive there it was pretty overcast and I was starting to get a little nervous about the weather. I was hoping the sun would come out, but I also knew there was a chance we could end up with really flat lighting. Then I started worrying about the possibility of rain. Sure enough, I ended up driving through a rainstorm on the way there. Thankfully, as soon as I pulled into the museum parking lot, the rain stopped and the skies started to clear up. The downside was that all the rain left us with incredibly wet grass and what felt like 100 percent humidity. It was hot.We powered through the heat and got to work. I shot two rolls of Ilford HP5+ on the Pentax 67.

It was really great getting to meet Hannah and hear a little about her story and her experience as a ballet dancer. One of my favorite parts of doing this project is getting the chance to meet these dancers and hear about their lives outside of what we see on stage.

I am always incredibly appreciative of the dancers who take the time to meet up with me and collaborate on a project that I am working on. I know they all have busy schedules, so being able to spend an afternoon making photographs together is something I never take for granted.

It is also pretty crazy to think about how this project has grown. So far I have worked on it in Idaho, Utah, Texas, and Alabama. I can only hope to keep adding more places and more dancers to that list.

Enjoy a few of my favorites from my shoot with Hannah.