It was an amazing shooting experience. Kalopsia immersed herself into the scene, into herself, into what we could regard as the inner core of her personality.
Kalopsia is a professional photo model who lives in Toronto, Canada and works internationally. I met her through a friend of mine who is a photographer in Toronto. My friend had worked with her and loved her expression. So when I asked for the opportunity of shooting models in Toronto she recommended her to me.
Kalopsia (of course this is her stage name) is a very experienced model that has been working in the model business for a decade. So she had tons of experience as to how to pose and how to present herself to the camera. And exactly that was my concern. How does an experienced model who has a very well established routine of posing, handle the challenge of the Inner Core project where it is not the goal to find effective and well trained poses but to dive deeply into herself and find her inner expression?
And this experience was amazing. Kalopsia was asking for a “warm-up” portrait session just to get used to my style and to find her own way of responding to me and the situation. From there she could change to the Inner Core approach in the nude.
And what happened then was pure magic. Kalopsia immersed herself into the music that she had brought, into the experience, into herself. It felt as if I, the photographer was barely present to her. She developed a flow of slow movements and stillness that appeared very contemplative. She was completely immersed into herself and this experience.
In photography you know “the flow”. It is a moment, a time when shooting becomes nearly automatic, the camaera turns into an extension of your own body and mind. And the result does not really count, it is the path to the result that becomes the goal. Exactly that happened to Kalopsia and me during this shooting. After probably ¾ of an hour we resurfaced and it felt as if something unreal, magical had happened in the meantime.
The results of this photo shoot are as beautiful as the shooting experience was. The editing of the pictures is technically difficult and will take me a while. I will post them by and by. But I do know that I had another wonderful Inner Core shooting experience with my Toronto model Kalopsia. I asked her if she is available for another shooting during my stay in Toronto and she agreed. But that will be another story…..