This was Kayla Incontro and my first time shooting together. We utilized a variety of indoor and outdoor locations in the Bay Area, and created a huge amount of epic shots.
You can follow Kayla on IG here @KayinContro and keep an eye on the Zine for more shoots with her in the future.
-Oliver Endahl
This was the first shoot Isabella Hoy and I did together. We hit it off and created some epic stills in a photo studio located in downtown Los Angeles.
Here’s my favorite shots from the shoot + a few questions for Isabella herself!
Give us a short introduction!
Hello! My name is Isabella Hoy. I was born in St.Louis, MO, but CA is my home and has been for the past seventeen years. Although I have been teaching ballet for three years now, I only recently began dancing again. Having stopped dance at the age of fourteen, I feel so grateful to be able to dance again at twenty-three. So, for the past few months my life has been class, class, and more class. When I’m not dancing or teaching, you’ll probably find me reading or spending time with my incredible family and friends for whom I am so fortunate to have in my life.
What places do you want to travel to the most?
I’m ready to go back to Italy, like… right away! However, at the top of my list right now, I would also include Japan, Amsterdam, Ireland, and Spain.
Who’s your current favorite dance choreographer at the moment?
I’ve been watching a lot of Fredrick Ashton’s work, so I would have to say Mr. Ashton at the moment!
Pizza or burgers?
Pizza (but by that I mean my bisnonna/great grandmother’s handmade Sicilian pizza!).
Do you need white noise to sleep? Or silence?
Ah yes, the sound of rain and crickets is very soothing to me.
Do you like comedy? (If so, what’re some of your favorite comedy shows or movies?)
Oh, this is such a difficult question, there are too many to name, so I’ll just say the first movie that comes to mind is “The Frisco Kid” and the first show that comes to mind is “Fleabag”.
What’s a piece of art (movie, painting, play, ballet, broadway, television show, book, song, poem, etc..) That moved you the most this year so far?
I find poetry incredibly inspiring and it truly adds such depth and beauty to my life. I have a notebook where I write down every poem that speaks to me in someway. Out of the hundreds of poems and quotes in there, the one I’m thinking of now is “Ithaka” by C.P. Cavafy
What do you enjoy about dancing?
I’ve been enchanted by ballet since I was two years old. So I shall say to dance is to live.
What’s something people might not know about you?
Literature, music, and acting has always and continues to be a large part of my life.
Would you rather cook 20 pies or rollerblade 20 miles?
I love to cook so I’d absolutely bake those twenty pies.
Brooke-Madison Thames
At the Walt Disney Concert Hall
Brooke and I have created together many times over the years. For this shoot, we decided to spend the afternoon making stills at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
The Walt Disney Concert Hall was designed by architect Frank Gehry and is a very unique location. This area of the hall is the “outdoor garden” which is free and open to the public. (And they allow photoshoots to occur there at no charge, which is pretty rare.) So you can just walk in and start creating.
Shooting with Brooke is always a blast. She has excellent technique and a natural eye for lines and fashion.
We shot in the late afternoon so we had great golden sunlight that danced against the silvers of the concert hall and created lovely shadows.
This image is my favorite of the day. It features Brooke standing in a similar pose as Edgar Degas “Little Dancer of Fourteen Years” statue (with the added addition of a cell phone)
You can follow Brooke on Instagram at: @Brooke_Madison_Thames and keep an eye on the Zine to see more of our shoots here in the future.
-Oliver Endahl
