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| © Steven Laxton |
| One of Steven Laxton's abstract body "landscapes," created with the help of dancers from the New York City Ballet. Click photo for more images. |
Age: 29
Location: New York City
Website: stevenlaxton.com
"Each time [I work with these dancers] they understand what I want and I understand what they're capable of and it gets better and better. I look at them as landscapes."
Steven Laxton says he's had a "one-track mind" for photography since he was about 16 -- and over the last 13 years that track has taken him around the world. After studying photography at the university in his hometown of Adelaide, Australia, he worked for several years shooting small fashion and beauty jobs in London. But Laxton was determined to "learn from the best," and he decided that New York City was the place to do that. Shortly after moving to the city in 2004, Laxton found himself assisting renowned photographers such as Mary Ellen Mark and Craig McDean.
With his personal work, featured here, Laxton has realized a longtime goal: to photograph dancers. For the past couple years, he's been working with members of the New York City Ballet, creating images like the ones below.
"Each time we do it they understand what I want and I understand what they're capable of and it just gets better and better," he says of the collaboration. Although these abstract body shapes are beautifully lit (one of Laxton's specialties), he's also tried to leave them "quite raw" with bruises and bumps.
"I look at them as landscapes," Laxton explains. This likewise explains the relationship between his dancers and his actual landscape images, which he created in the moments between other shoots, without a specific project in mind.
Those "other shoots" are usually assisting jobs, but Laxton has also done his own fashion shoots, musician's promo pictures, and a bit of editorial work. "I like to think of myself as just a photographer," he says, rather than limiting himself to one genre. "A lot of great photographers do a little bit of everything." Like Irving Penn, who Laxton says has been a big influence on him. But his greatest inspiration may still be the city he has come to call home.
"Everyone's doing everything at such a high level," Laxton says of living and working in New York. "It literally brings out your best."
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