A morning in the East Village

Dane – Alex and I created this image early one morning in the St. Marks and Astor Place area in the East Village. Even at 6 am there was still a number of people in the area that morning. I remember a group of people watching us while we took this image in particular before they entered the uptown 6 Train station.

Alex - This was the summer I rediscovered my obsession with one of my favorite musicians, PJ Harvey. I admired how her music gathered juxtapositions of both aggressive and soft characteristics that inexplicably fused into harmony. That essentially was the way I interpreted the Ballerina Project images, resulting in the two pairing seamlessly in my head. Although it was an early shoot on a Sunday (I also only had two hours of sleep the night before due to excitement and anticipation), my mind managed to create an invisible set of earphones that replayed PJ Harvey's "Black Hearted Love" on full blast, giving me boosts of adrenaline throughout the morning. I also just returned from several outdoor rock climbing trips with my fiancé and his best friend, giving me an uncontrolled desire to climb everything! I knew the instant I saw that pedestrian traffic light that I had to freely hang from it some way or another in order to make me fully express the way I was feeling that morning: refreshed, content, and inspired by the surroundings. In addition to that freedom, this was probably one of my favorite shots also because it gave me an excuse to climb random inanimate street objects in NYC without getting in trouble!