It’s Virgo Szn 2024
Items are getting crossed off to-do lists.
Current projects are undergoing assessment and analysis.
Perfectionism is at an all-time high and crisp autumnal mornings greet us with that “anything is possible if you just make a plan” feeling each new day.
“Virgo combines a natural affinity for the practical and physical with a keen intellectual streak.”
I get an adrenaline rush flipping through the pages of my planner (it’s the little things) FILLED with scribbles of notes, plans, hopes, goals and dreams.
I’m on track (fingers crossed) to accomplish most of those things before the end of the year, but in the process of looking, reaching and planning forward, this 2024 Virgo season also prompts me to reflect on each of the items I’ve checked off all my to-do lists thus far.
One of my BIGGEST accomplishments this year was getting updated full-body dance shots taken. And when I set out to achieve this goal, I knew just the guy I wanted to shoot with:
Charleston, SC-based photographer, DJ Connor.
Reaching back in time, forward in space.
Photos by DJ Connor
I graduated from College of Charleston in December, 2017. In the Summer of 2018, I moved to Chicago. Few years later I moved to New York. After all those moves and so much change, I hadn’t returned to Charleston, SC until mid-August, 2024.
Six years and many cities later,
I went back to the lowcountry to reconnect with one of my favorite people, DJ Connor, who I first met while I was studying Dance at the College all those years ago (six years starts to feel really long after you hit age 25. Can’t explain it. But it felt more like I hadn’t been back to CHS in decades…lifetimes…EONS. You get the point.).
Throughout our 2 hour rental at Pixel Studios in West Ashley, we chatted in between shutter clicks about Martha Graham, our shared love of synth music and the adventures our individual lives had taken us on since the last time we had seen each other.
His kids are growing up! My career underwent a massive change. He teaches Physics at the College now. I moved back in with my parents. Etc.
Despite all that had changed during the years since the last time we had seen each other, I was comforted by the familiarity of his warm, open-minded approach, and I humor myself in thinking he enjoyed my attempts at measuring up to the “real deal” dancers (Ailey dancer, Constance Stamatiou and South Carolina Ballet’s Peyton Lilly Bond to name a couple) he shoots nowadays as a seasoned Dance Photographer.
Standing leg toes absolutely fighting for their lives.
It was a lovely 2 hours and the photos are even lovelier! I’m excited to compile them all into one place in this blog post. We both brought ideas to the table, and although he was wearing an N95 mask to protect me from a small potential upper-respiratory infection he was pushing through, the collaboration felt mutually bold, reverential and like a couple hours of downright damn good fun.
Spiraling, suspended in a moment.
One of my favorite things about DJ’s work is his courage.
From the jumping, kicking and other dance moves I was doing for the first time in years (I need to get back into class!!!), I started to reeeeally warm up about halfway through the shoot.
DJ kindly pulled out a gigantic fan for me to be able to cool off with, mostly so I could feel comfortable, but also so I would not be a complete sweaty mess in the pictures…
But rather than putting it off to the side, he high fashion model-style pointed that fan right at me towards the spot on the floor that I was aiming to pose in to be centered in the frame.
“I’ve never done that before.” -DJ Connor
I am no Shalom Harlow, but let me tell you that that fan did something for me!
Playing with the weightlessness of my bright green, thrifted silk button down blowing in the breeze, I leaned the hell into what DJ was giving me and absolutely went for it in these photos.
The result felt super real - a little wild, somehow still elegant, and I shimmered with only a *light* layer of perspiration.
"Is your bottom leg supposed to be like that?" - my dad
"Yes, because my other leg wouldn't be that high if I didn't bend the bottom one...." - me
“What if you were jumping, but bound?”
When DJ gave me this prompt, the photos took a totally different turn.
Many shots later, we closed out the session with some rapid-fire upper torso shots that he arranged in a collage for me. My intention was Vogue; the result was moody (in a really good way).
A little underboob and unconcealed acne never hurt nobody!
Narrowing down these images was tough.
Which, if you’ve ever walked away after 2 hours of being in front of a camera, you know is a great problem to have.
I narrowed them down to my favorites, none perfect, but all quite accurately reflective of exactly where I’m at in my life and artistry right now.
When I walked back into the familiar Pixel Studios with my hair frizzing everywhere from that signature Chucktown humidity, posed for a camera operated by a very talented old friend and put on an album of sweet synthy sounds (Discovery Zone’s Remote Control, specifically) - the particular sonic flavor I first discovered while I was a student at the College all those years ago - the shoot gave me a chance to reminisce on a place and time that I, quite honestly, had not allowed myself to think back on since I left.
Charleston and the people I met during my time there profoundly supported and uplifted me during one of the most influential periods of my life, and although so much had changed since the last time I was there six years ago, I was struck with gratitude for how much had sustained.
Returning to the Holy City and shooting with DJ (+ the bonus of having my Shalom moment!) was the culmination of many prior Virgo seasons.
The experience made me extremely thankful for all the to-do lists, full of ridiculously high standards set for myself and MASSIVE goals (some achieved, others not) that have motivated me to keep going.
I keep looking at these images and thanking myself for continuing to do what I have always loved to do. I’m proud of the dancer I’ve become, as reflected in these photos, and I’m especially proud of the meticulous Virgo moments that have led me to become Director of avec Productions. If you need me, I’ll be filling out yearly, monthly, weekly and daily tasks and to-dos in my planner. Until next time, au revoir!