After showing the building owner/restaurant manger my portfolio, explaining the project that I was doing, and promising that neither ballerina nor photographer would be naked for the photo shoot, we were granted unfettered access to the building’s beauty, to use as a backdrop with Chavela.

Some critics have called this the greatest album cover that was never released, ‘Siggy, by E.D.S’. The Seattle-based jazz trio rose to popularity in the early 2010s, and have been wooing fans worldwide with their smooth signature sound ever since. Frontman, or better put front-dog Siggy, is a dog of few words, but his look says it all - he means business. But I digress.

I didn’t realize it then, and I should have known better, but the Southern Hemisphere has the exact opposite weather of the Northern Hemisphere. Whilst June is summertime for me in Texas, it’s smack in the middle of winter for the Southern Hemisphere, and also their rainy season. No wonder flights were so inexpensive.

As I’m landing in Charlotte on a layover on my way to Havana, Cuba, I get multiple texts from ballerina friends: “Dude! Isabella is in Havana!” Almost the next minute I saw Isabella’s post on Instagram, asking for suggestions on what to do in Havana. Of course, I had to be annoying and suggest I AM IN HAVANA TOO CAN WE SHOOT PLEASE LET’S SHOOT OK THANK YOU!

As the wind blew to and fro, the palm tree leaves seemed to dance in beautiful synchronization with ballerina and her tutu.

“I know this is going to sound weird, but imagine that you’re dancing with the shadows, imagine you’re the light and in a dance off with the shadows, who want to consume you.”

I told her I’m really not a fan of crossed feet, but let’s try a test shot and see how it looks. And I’m glad I obliged her, because it ended up being better the way she suggested. What do you know - a ballerina knew better than me at what might look best, imagine that.

I envisioned the twins dressed to the nines, identically. Identical twins should be dressed identically, no? Naturally, they had various outfits of the same kind - even wearing the exact same earrings.

Standing on the edge of a nook two stories above street level, I had a birds eye view of the street. I wanted to allude in this frame that it was not such a staged shot, but rather something more akin to a Cartier-Bresson candid.