Winnie Asawa | Dancer Portrait Session in London
Some shoots stay with you a little longer than others. This was one of them.
Winnie Asawa is a dancer with the Royal Ballet and the Wayne McGregor Company - and photographing her was a genuinely different experience to most portrait sessions. There's a physical intelligence to the way she moves and holds herself that you don't often encounter in front of the camera. Even in the quieter, stiller moments of the shoot, the way she moved and posed was a spectacle.
This was a personal project - partly a chance to try out some new lighting setups, and partly an opportunity to explore photographing movement in a studio context, which is something I'd been wanting to do for a while. Winnie was the perfect subject for both.
Dancers are fascinating to photograph. They're used to being watched, but not necessarily in the way a camera watches - and finding that middle ground between performance and presence was what I was most interested in. The photos were also for Winnie to use for press and her own website, which always creates a good energy on set.
That movement shot in particular was one of those moments where you just hope the camera is keeping up.
See the photos below, and you can find more of Winnie's work at winnieasawa.com.
