My experience in the first International Ballet Photography Contest

Alicia Alonso was a Cuban professional dancer and choreographer, famous for her performances of Giselle and Carmen, in addition to other great works of the classical and romantic repertoire. She was the leading figure of ballet in Latin America and one of the great myths of dance worldwide. She was born in Havana, in 1920 and passed away recently, in October 2019.

Many initiatives were created to honor her, and one of them was the first International Ballet Photography Contest. Of course, I loved the idea from the beginning and immediately remembered that I had saved a photo session that I had done for these young dancers who once requested it to me.

Title: Faun's Awakening

Then I thought that I already had half of the task due, because the photos were already taken. Now it was just a matter of selecting the best three and editing them to the highest possible level. How wrong I was to think that I would achieve anything using footage that had been created for other purposes.

So it was and my suspicions were fulfilled. Unfortunately my work was not up to the competition and they did not win any of the qualifying stages. Despite the failure, I wanted to keep these photos that I show you here, but not as satisfaction, but as a teaching that each photographic project needs top effort and creativity to achieve its objectives.

Title: The Triumph of Love

At that time I received many phrases of encouragement and praise, but the mistake of not having gone out to do a new photo session just for this contest was already done and the consequences suffered, so I had no choice but to thank them sincerely for the support and keep for myself an important lesson for my life.

Have any of you had similar experiences? Tell me about it.