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I’m not sure at this point if there’s anyone out there who hasn’t heard of Misty Copeland. Besides making history as the only African American soloist dancing with the American Ballet Theatre, her best-selling autobiography, ‘Life In Motion’, dancing onstage with Prince, appearing in ads for Under Armour, Dr. Pepper, Coach, The Corcoran Group and T-Mobile, and her numerous features in magazines like The New Yorker, Vogue, Elle and New York Magazine, the 32 year-old ballerina is possibly the most visible face in the dance World since Baryshnikov. And my buddy Rob Smith asked me to put her on the cover of Arrive. Here’s the behind-the-scenes from our day at Bathhouse Studios…
Since we knew we would have relatively limited time with Misty, Rob and I had worked up our ideas for the shoot early on. The story was about mentors, and we would be photographing Misty with Raven Wilkinson, the first black woman to dance full-time in a major ballet company, including Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo, the Dutch National Ballet, and the New York City Opera Ballet. We had to get enough for our cover, a few opening shots, a portrait of Misty and Raven together and anything else we could fit in! But shooting at the Bathhouse meant we would have lotsa space to set up everything beforehand cuz the studio is so beautifully huge!
Our setup on the cyc…and that marvelously high ceiling…
Kaz and I setting up the two-shot of Misty and Raven…
Robert and Julien sitting in for our cover…
Julien taking flight…
My stylist Karen Sherwood laying out the wardrobe…
Misty arrived just as we were about finished with our setup and went into hair & makeup right away…
…but shortly afterwards, our little dancers from the ABT School showed up…
and they quickly put on a little show for Misty…
Julien grabbed Misty to test the lighting on our first setup…
…and so started our shooting day…
Here is the final portrait of Raven and Misty…
Next, we moved onto the cyc for our opening photo of Misty with the Dance School students…
Misty approves…
…and the resulting photograph…
Now I wanted to do a series of solo shots of Misty in different positions. The idea was that I would assemble these solo images into one unified ‘group’ photograph…
And the final ‘group’ shot…
Before I took Misty off the cyc, I pulled out my vintage stools for one more idea…
Best shot of those two stools I’ve ever taken…
Oh yeah…I nearly forgot…CBS sent over Anthony Mason and a film crew to document our little shoot for CBS Sunday Morning…
Now where was I…oh right…the final shot would be of Misty and Raven together for our cover. We re-purposed that ballet barre from the shot with the kids, and set up a very simple situation with a big, soft Octalite…Misty in her costume as her mentor looked on…
Our cover image…
Here’s how everything looked in ‘Arrive’…
Damn Ugly Photography 
Great work as usual Brad….you get to shoot in so many awesome locations… so jealous .
She blew me away. You weren’t bad either.
Love it Brad.
Very cool Brad…
Such a great post. I really appreciate the detail and behind the scenes to show your thought/creative process. The final images are stellar!
Excellent!
Great article Brad, excellent. I see you’re shooting with a Hasselblad and tethered using Capture One Pro, how is that done? Didn’t think C1 Pro recognised Hassy files?
Simple…Hasselblad H4x body + Leaf Credo 60 back + CaptureOne Pro = Groovy BT
Some lovely leg flatteringly basic low camera angled shots ..
An inspiring post , both for the story and the amazing camera work, thanks for showing your behind the scenes process.
omfg, another MASTERFUL job, you’re clicking (pun sort of intended) on all fronts.
Excellent(as expected)…she really is a bird without wings….
These captures are so unbelievably great. Huge fan of your work. Makes me want to just throw my cameras in the drink.
i just learned a few days ago that The Bathhouse studio is the former home of the late & great Eddie Adams.
Love it all but the one with the stools is so much fun!
“I’m not sure at this point if there’s anyone out there who hasn’t heard of Misty Copeland.”
Not until today. I tend not to be concerned with television and such and I truly don’t follow the fine performing arts, so I’ve never had the opportunity to see the young lady. So, be sure that, until I read this, there was at least one person who had not heard of Misty Copeland.
Your shoot was awesome, and the final results complimentary to her. I’m sure she is happy with that, as she should be. Thank you for sharing your work with us.
Beautiful. The BTS is always great to see for those learning. The photo of Misty and Raven is very special.
Thank you Brad for sharing. You are always amazing.
You’ve seriously done an amazing work! Amazing.
What a beautiful and colorful blog. Love the detail in Misty’s work. Thanks for sharing this awesome story!
Wanna learn photography
great photo : }
Beauty is relative. 🙂
Misty has long been an idol of mine. love this post
Such an amazing woman, and such an important story. Thanks for sharing your art behind the scenes! Beautiful vision.
Reblogged this on Sita Rasa.
Oli hyvä blogi käytin tätä sourcena
Amazing work!
i like this
Brilliant!
👍
Reblogged this on Mp3dosedaily.com and commented:
Damn ugly photography
Reblogged this on xoxo. and commented:
Misty Copeland was such an inspiration to me when I grew up dancing. This story is so powerful and beautiful.
Reblogged this on makabba.
Love it. My daughter, Makayla has been fine tuning her craft since 3. I thought sharing pictures and stories of Misty would encourage and teach her, but I’m the one that got schooled. Makayla smiled and nodded but made it clear she is self driven and doesn’t require extra fluff from mommy. Bravo Makayla!
Reblogged this on Trip Traveler.
What a wonderful , charming young lady. I believe she’ll soar over the stars.
Reblogged this on The Art Of Programming and commented:
It’s really amazing. Must read
Reblogged this on angelpetrie and commented:
It is truly amazing what African Americans are doing and im proud to be African American.
Really beautiful.
Every young dancer would love to meet and aspires to succeed like Misty Copeland. Thank you for being such a great inspiration!
Reblogged this on The Mummy Files and commented:
Every young dancer would love to meet and aspires to succeed like Misty Copeland. Thank you for being such a great inspiration!
Reblogged this on Ability2Create.com.
Reblogged this on V is for Verve and commented:
Amazing photography in this article. Amazing strength and beauty in the subjects.
Great Post!!!!!!
Reblogged this on restlessandwriting.
this blog is really interesting
Reblogged this on oddgoodlife.
What a beautiful pictures man! These is a great theme to shoot for
Reblogged this on The Life & Times of Ice.
Beautiful!
Great work, I appreciate it!
She is so awesome! I enjoyed every moment of this! Thank you!
Reblogged this on chuksville.
What can one say except “simply sublime in every way – photographer, artists, crew, the star herself, and the final edition of Arrive”. Just so you know I’m shouting Bravo although you can’t hear me 🙂
Wow…unexpected high praise from such an esteemed Patron of the Arts! Thank you, Doctor…greatly appreciated. BT
This is absolutely gorgeous!
Bravo!
hi
Reblogged this on A Portrait of The Young Artist: Obsidian Suede and commented:
I love this. It makes me want to take a ballet class.
the final group shot is stunning. beautiful work
Beautiful and elegant
nice !!
She is beautiful. What stunning shots!!
Very cool
Reblogged this on EXPLORE.
Reblogged this on ejtj97.
Reblogged this on Just a Curly Gurl and commented:
Having a role model that you can identify with is so important when you are young. I found mine in magazines before the Internet was so widely available and smart phones didn’t exist. As a former dancer I know I would have loved having Misty’s name on my locker (I had Isadora Duncan’s). Thank you for sharing the behind the scenes of your shoot with Misty Copeland.
Wow, these shots were amazing. She is elegant and graceful, captured perfectly. Beautiful.
Best BTS blog I have read. However, I can’t believe you had her standing on those stools!
Why not??? They’re just stools!!! BT
Hi, I happened to stumble on your blog. I’m not a photographer or anything but I just wanted to say I really loved the photo of Misty with the young white ballerinas. I thought it it was such a striking image! I wished she looked more natural in it, like her hair and skin color so you could really see the difference. I’ve never heard of Misty Copeland but after this post I don’t think I’ll ever forget her now. Thank you for the lasting impression.
Reblogged this on wordlifegirl and commented:
🙂
Fantastic photos!
Be still my dancer’s heart! This is breathtaking!!!
Gorgeous photos!
incredible determination !!
She is absolutely amazing !
THUMBS UP!