Monday, July 5, 2010

Christi, Model, Musician, Daughter, Cleveland, Ohio, United States, June 17, 2010


We meet in a park near her home about six in the evening under a beautiful sky. We talk for a few minutes and make plans for the wardrobe and sequence of photography. Her enthusiasm is genuine, her curiosity true.

Before our session, we exchange a few messages and in one of them she shares her concern of disappointing me. My answer to her is simple: the fact that she feels it within herself to share such a concern means that she cannot possibly disappoint me.

This turns out to be more than true. We work first with one outfit, then move to another seamlessly. During one of these changes, I ask about her boyfriend and she tells me that he lives nearby, offering to call him immediately.

She does so and he arrives a few minutes later, turning the session into a wonderful experience. The sight of this gentle man makes her smile even more so. He changes into an outfit and we make his portrait as well. He does so without effort, with a kindness that people in my portfolio have shown me year after year.
He leaves after perhaps thirty minutes of photography and we finish our session about one hour after his departure. Instead of packing her stuff and leaving immediately, she lingers on sweetly to talk for a little bit. This shows me once again her genuine nature, her most thoughtful curiosity.

Her portrait sits alongside the Mursi from Ethiopia and the ballet dancers from Cuba. She is a sister to them all and walks seamlessly between all of them.

No comments:

Post a Comment