P#25: An Enchanting Photograph of a Young Ballerina

Shoot What You Love

Joe McNally: Now we're in the realm of romance with this photograph of a young ballerina. When this young lady walked into the studio, I literally thought an angel had walked into the studio. She's 15 years old, she's been plucked from the chorus by Peter Martin of the nearest City Ballet to play the role of Juliet in that year's production of the City Ballet's version of Romeo and Juliet. (click the image for a larger version)

She was sweet, innocent, and lovely and at the same time completely self-possessed. This young ballerina was sure of herself -- absolutely confident of her position in front of the camera. She was this combination of elements that was just extraordinary.

We worked in one of the dance studios at Lincoln Center, put her in front of the camera, lit her in a very wonderful and lovely way, put a fan on her so that her romantic outfit is blowing a bit in the breeze and her hair is in the breeze, and then she just looks at the camera and projects Juliet.

There's that old phrase that when some people get in front of the camera, they own it. This young lady was one of those.

Audri Lanford: Absolutely. You have that under the title, "Shoot what you love," which certainly makes sense.

Joe McNally: Yes, absolutely. It's a question for me, amateur or hobbyist photograph making a living with a camera is not an issue so much. For a professional it is obviously. Oftentimes as a professional, you have to flog your way through a lot of negativity and jobs that you would prefer not to do, but you know that you have to do because it represents economic viability.

I recommend that people absolutely and completely, no matter what their stage of things, whether they are an amateur or whether they are a professional, to always make room in their schedule to shoot something that they can't help but shoot. That for me is dance.

I can flog my way through IBM or AT&T annual reports and deal with a bunch of heavy duty business folks and shoot meetings, guys in ties, and lots of people who don't give me any time and no leeway, and think they're much more important than they actually are and at the end of a day like that, you just feel like, "Oh man."

Those are the kinds of jobs you literally just do for money. As I always indicate to photographers, there's food for the table and there's food for the soul and you have to feed both.

In Summary

When it comes to professional photography, there are two types of jobs -- those that you do for love and those that you do for money. According to Joe McNally, a successful photographer works on both. This beautiful photo of a young ballerina is one of those jobs that he did to feed the soul.