‘I hope it makes everyone want to jump!’: Michelle Z Simmons’ best phone picture

The photographer on bringing a fresh perspective to snapping dancers

Michelle Z Simmons met up with ballet dancer Lucas Labrador in downtown Roswell, a suburb of Atlanta. Simmons had been aphotographer for only a few years, but had developed a love of shooting dancers. Ihad photographed my niece, who is now with Virginia's Richmond Ballet, and wanted to get more experience," she explains. Dancers have been photographed many, many times, so I wanted something different from the classicballet shot."

With that in mind, sheasked Labrador to wear casual clothes instead of traditional ballet attire and arranged to meet in an area filled with restaurants and shops. Unfortunately, as the sun went down and the lights were coming on, the traffic and crowds increased, making the location feel messy," Simmons says. We walked around to aback alley and it was perfect. Igrabbed some sunglasses and a hat out of my car, and we just played ideas off each other until we got some shots we loved."