P h o t o s b y P a u l a O ‘ H a r a
Another treat from one of Paula O’Hara’s styled shoots. This one’s a little different, uniqueness at it’s best with a bit of a Black Swan twist. These photos, inspired by the artwork and grace of a ballerina, capture the dancer first in her delicacy and grace, and then follow her transformation to her darker, more mystical side. It’s all just beautiful and I love when I’m able to bring something different to the wedding blog world.
From the photographer…I’ve been hoping to photograph a ballet dancer for a while now. I’ve always enjoyed the black and white portraits that Annie Leibovitz took of Mikhail Baryshnikov, Darci Kistler and others. It’s great when you can finally put all the elements in place and just experiment with light and movement. Alise found the perfect feathery ballet style gowns from Trash Couture. When she produced the black dress, we knew we had to play on the Black Swan theme a little and have our dancer make a transformation. It was a joy to play in shadows of Gosford and to explore cinematic elements of movement and drama in a much darker way than I normally would. To step out of the comfort zone! In the words of Cate Blanchett, to not be afraid to “fail gloriously.” Thanks to the very talented team and our wonderful dancer Hannah, for bringing this to life.
