ELLEN B: Cowboy boots, dancing and documenting everything
I’m Ellen B, I’m a portrait and hospitality photographer from Northampton and based in London. I’ve always had an urge to document wherever I’m at in life and I wish I’d done that more when I practised dance as a young adult - so when I briefly worked at Coyote Ugly I knew exactly how to honour my time there. On my last day I took my camera, one light and a piece of black fabric and sat in the ‘boot graveyard’ after my shift. I photographed as many pairs of the wilted and abandoned cowboy boots as I could in an hour. I wanted to commemorate and immortalise the hard work that goes into literally dancing the soles off your shoes and the dancers who were so committed to their jobs and carried on even with tape holding their boots together.
Each dancer chooses their boots specifically to express themselves and their Coyote alter egos, it was so interesting to see what they picked and how the wear and tear came to reflect their working lives.
My favourite part of the project has been reconnecting with the people I worked alongside and to meet the new people who have come and gone since then. Each dancer chooses their boots specifically to express themselves and their Coyote alter egos, it was so interesting to see what they picked and how the wear and tear came to reflect their working lives.
I wanted to commemorate and immortalise the hard work that goes into literally dancing the soles off your shoes
There’s a black pair of boots from my first photo session that have tassels and fringe all around - they’re so deflated and worn out that they don’t stand up on their own. They belonged to a lovely lady called Martina who got quite emotional when she saw the images and posted online that she had moved to London wanting to become a singer and performer and after a lot of hardship had found this perfect job that allowed her to be exactly who she was; a sassy, loud and confident Italian woman!
the turn out was amazing and so many people not only bought a book but also wanted me to sign it.
The exhibition was so much better than I could have imagined, the turn out was amazing and so many people not only bought a book but also wanted me to sign it. I had such imposter syndrome the whole day. I always imagine my projects as collections belonging to books or other formats that show a narrative. The main difference between exhibition and book really, was that I wasn’t just displaying a group of prints but also marketing a product for purchase, which somehow feels way more vulnerable. I’ve seen it around in people’s houses and coffee tables so from what i can tell, it’s quite well loved and it’s been so surreal to see this documentation of a period of my life materialised into other people’s spaces.
I started going to The Gari when I was a bit too young and will forever refer to it as my local despite never living anywhere near it. When the opportunity came around to exhibit there it felt like such a no brainer, it was so cyclical to where my photography journey started - in Northampton - and of course fitted the theme of shoes! I’d love to expand on the theme of Dancers and Their Shoes - maybe ballet dancers and pointe shoes or skaters and roller/iceskates?
Words by: Ellen B
