This was my intro to meeting Leah, the dancer…
Leah Drew dancing. Photo by Dalton Johnson
We all sat around a campfire in Alabama Hills, CA. I lived in a van, Andrew lived in the Museroamer, and Leah lived out of a car while on a road trip. Shooting the shit about photo and video ideas, Leah had an idea:
"I've always wanted to do a photo shoot hula hooping in an abandoned building!"
As a climbing dirtbag who had lived in the area for a while, I knew just the spot. "I know of an abandoned Ashram about an hour hike away. Want to do it there tomorrow?"
Everyone agreed and we enjoyed the campfire for the night. Woke up, made some breakfast, and kept chatting about the idea. Leah pulled out a white onesie and new that is what she should wear.
About noon, we drove to the trail head and packed up the trail.
We had the Ashram to ourselves and walked the space. Talked about ideas and what Leah would do and she started warming up.
Using only natural light, I photographed Leah dancing and Andrew recorded video. I wanted to showcase the motion of the hula hoop, so I slowed the shutter-speed down to roughly 1/40th of a second. The light was perfect, the vibe was fun, and we created something epic all because of a campfire chat.
Check out the full gallery of this session on my "Artisans at Work" collection:
https://dalton-johnson.com/dancer-leah-drew
