While driving home from the MT PPA convention in Helena several weeks ago I began to think about next year’s competition and what I could create to raise the bar.  In one of the seminars I watched a slide show by Master Photographer Larry Lourcey and saw an exquisite picture of a ballerina which started me thinking of this project.  Impact is the number one attibute that judges look for in images.  Without impact images never get a second look.  My original concept was to create an image of a ballerina surrounded by the grandeur of nature…mountains, lakes, forests, rocks etc., however the concept has grown since then.

I’ve done several dress rehearsals for recitals for a friend of mine, Marisa Roth…owner of Northwest School of Ballet and Company and asked if she would solicit some of her dancers for this project.  I have four gung-ho ballerinas who are now working with me and we’ve done two sessions already.  The first session was in Glacier National Park near Kintla Lake (see pictures in previous post).

Celia was my first ‘model’ and did the ‘Crown of the Continent’ session.   She is incredible!  We drove the rutted and dusty roads of the Northfork on a Sunday evening and weren’t home until 10:30 and then she had another 45 minute drive home to Bigfork on a school night!  Not only that, but she posed in clouds of  hungry mosquitoes while I took her picture and shrugged it off as part of the deal.  A young woman with class and an exquisite beauty to watch as well.  Thanks, Celia!  I hope we can do even better next time.

Please check back for more on this project.

D.