The Ballerinas

 Jesse Gerstein Photography

Photographing the Ballet & Ballerinas has easily become one of my favorite things to shoot. Hahaha... You flatter me with your messages! While I didn't shoot this image, I have been working on a performance series and so far the ballet has been really fun. You can see a thousand different photo's of ballerina's but not one will be the same. You can imitate something but you can never truly duplicate the moment or impulse of the person behind it. Here's another from SMOKE from the perspective of one of the lovers... Have you figured out all the characters? It comes out on Amazon this week!

Enjoy!

Kisses, m. 

The Ballerinas

Three ballet dancers stand before me.

One step two step

Three

I reset the shutter and look through the lens.

I need less than a handful of moments.

Between heads and tails there’ll be no more

I’ve lost the fight.

Fighting with an editor

Teaches you nothing about photography.

He tells me I’m a beautiful dame and not bother with photos at all.

I nod when he talks and shake my head when I leave.

All I’ll need is three.

Three minutes pass as they pose.

Carefully with care and grace.

My camera is the loudest sound.

Until a. strike of the match

fills the space behind me with smoke.

Enters my lungs.
Shutter releases.

I spin around as the ballerinas continue their dance.

Dancing in my mind when I’m in the darkroom.

Finn tells me to keep after it.

I smile when he looks at my negatives upside down.

I know he prefers that I’m happy.

I’m happiest with the photos and him.

The ballerinas rise and fall with the movements of swan-like perfection.

I bum a smoke from the stranger and let the moment exist.

One breathe, two breathes,

Three.

He is an older dancer with a click in his hip.

Watching the three ballerinas,

He says that life is like a dance.

Rises and falls,

Graceful while clumsy.

Takes strength to follow through.

Following through with the negatives,

Finn tells me “it’s a shame they only wanted three.”

It’s his way of encouraging me

All I want to do is encourage him.

Enjoy a moment with him smoking in his chair.

Watching the smoke escape his mouth,

Run around his head.

Leading me to his kiss.

Three kisses.
Airy and light.

Three ballerinas lips find their places on each other’s cheeks. 

Celebrating the moment.

One, Two… Three.