Jun 10, 2021

Jaylah | Dance Photoshoot | Baltimore Museum of Art | Contemporary Dance Photographer

As many of you already know, Des specializes in two genres of photography: seniors and dancers. Des was a dancer herself, dancing on the Towson University and University of Delaware dance teams! Her daughter Scarlett is now following in her mom's footsteps, dancing for Rage Box Dance Center's competition team... and I have to say, she is pretty incredible!

Dance photography is something Des is truly passionate about (it helps that she is good at it, too). Over the past 3 years Des has had the pleasure of working with a lot of dancers, most who dance at the Rage Box Dance Center in Bel Air, MD. Des had becomes the in-house photographer for the studio, so, when Jaylah's mom contacted her about a potential photo sesh, she was all in! Jaylah recently joined the Rage Box fam and was interested in updating her dance photos and headshots.

When selecting a location, Des has to consider numerous things. First, originality. She never wants her photos to be "something you've seen before" so, she's always scoping out new locations. She also looks for functionality. Des looks for locations with flat, firm surfaces so, dancers don't risk injuring themselves while grand jete'ing through a field (lol!). For Jaylah's shoot, she selected the Baltimore Museum of Art. Des knew the grand architecture of the museum would make for a killer shoot location. The other great thing about working in the city is that there is a lot of variety. So after shooting in front of the museum, Des and Jaylah stumbled upon another cool spot right near Johns Hopkins. The sculpture court provided for some cool apparatuses to integrate dance movements into.

Jaylah's dance photos are truly breathtaking. She was recently accepted into the incredible Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet summer program which (fun fact!), is where my sister trained a couple of years ago. Jaylah also took classes at the Berks Ballet Theatre Conservatory of Dance this past year, in addition to competing with the Rage Box Contemporary company. Clearly, Jaylah is a very experienced dancer whose maturity far surpasses her years. Be ready to be amazed... this is Jaylah...