Creative Dance Water Photoshoot in Lake Michigan | KT Williams

Everybody needs a portrait session like this. Hands down, no questions asked, it needs to happen.

KT and I had a super fun, creative, inspiring movement session at Lake Michigan this summer. Truly, the weather could not have been more gorgeous and the lake was not freezing cold, for once!

Our goal and vision for this shoot was to embody femininity and fluid movement. We let the soft waves of the lake inspire us with draping movements, delicate hands, and rippling twists and twirls. We may have lost our balance a few times too.

I love utilizing clean, simple backgrounds such as the sky for dance photoshoots when I can to emphasize the dancer’s form and highlight their shapes and expressions.

In the second portion of our session, we had lots of fun getting creative with textured fabric (a dancer’s favorite, tulle). The colorful tulle that KT brought along added a vibrant, bold, and playful mood with her hot pink dress. We played with creating shapes with the body to mimic the fabric, we explored how different forms the fabric took on played into emotion, and captured some eerily contrasting photos pairing the bright colors with dark, almost creepy shapes. What I loved most about this creative portion of our shoot was that the fabric seemed to take on a feeling of being KT’s lengthened limbs. It almost felt sea urchin-like.

Working together with another creative for an intentionally ultra-creative photoshoot is something I wish more artists were willing and open to doing. There is something so sacred and special about finding mutual trust and curiosity to create really interesting work. I like to think that these creative types of sessions can be used to jumpstart the artistic mind to continuing on an idea into a larger work or shifting gears into a realm of creative ideas.

Let this be your reminder to follow that curiosity within you. You never know where it may lead.