I need to tell you about the photo shoot with Kisilda in May. I’m writing this in August, so the story has been in the becoming for a while. And I will explain why.
Kisilda approached me via Model Mayhem. MM is a US based website that connects photo models with photographers and other the genre surrounding artists like makeup and hair stylists, professional photo editors, photo studios etc. After having created a portfolio it happens that as a photographer you get approached by models who are interested in your photographic style and who - of course - also want to earn some money by approaching you.
That’s what happened with Kisilda. She is a non professional model, based in Athens, Greece who appears to enjoy being photographed, trying herself out in the field by posing for portrait and artistic nude photo shoots and who finds working as a model a way of earning money in the tough Athenian professional environment.
So she contacted me, I found her portfolio interesting and we made an appointment at my little apartment in Marousi, a suburb of Athens 15 km outside of the CBD. This was the first surprise to me. She agreed to shoot at my place without knowing me, without having any person vouching for me and without having a person accompanying her. I picked her up from the Maroussi metro station and we walked together to my place.
When walking together it turned out that that Kisilda is a quite shy girl who did not find it easy to tell a previously to her unknown person about herself, her story and her work as a photo model. “It must be difficult as a shy person to expose yourself in a photo shoot” I was thinking.
Kisilda had brought some clothes and lingerie for the photo shoot that she showed me at the apartment. She asked me if I would be ok with her wearing these things. And from then it became interesting.
I told Kisilda about my approach to model photography and that I am not interested in my model to strike a pose that I can then capture. My approach is much more that of asking the model to express what she feels during the photo shoot. I am interested in the expression of real emotions during the photo shoot. Particularly at the beginning of a photo shoot this requirement puzzles many models. I give no direction. I ask my model to show me what she feels, let it be surprise, embassement, annoyance, fascination, indifference, whatever emotion comes up that very moment.
Every somewhat experienced model that I worked with found this request difficult to fulfill. A model usually has a certain set of poses and movements available that they use during a photo shoot. It is about showing a posture or a facial expression that a model holds for a few seconds to give the photographer the opportunity to catch that moment and to shoot. Then the model continues to the next pose.
I am definitely not interested in this approach. My goal is to take pictures of a person in a certain situation. It’s about being genuine and to show what is there inside and out. Of course this is difficult, particularly in a situation where model and photographer have never met before. You remove the protective barrier of poses and ask the model to be naked inside and out. That is nearly impossible, at least at the beginning of a photo shoot.
I do help my models by making suggestions how to express themselves in this situation and that any emotion, also so called “negative” ones are acceptable. But I don’t retract my request excuse I want to see an authentic person.
Kisilda was initially not sure what to do with this. She chose to try some dance movements. Over the time she gained more confidence and then she was playing and showing whatever crossed her mind. We were laughing, joking, she took silly poses and poked out her tongue - baehh…!!
Admittedly the out of focus was not on purpose....
We did one session with slow shutter speed motion blur pictures with my Leica Q2 and one with the Nikon Z8 and 50 and 85mm lens for portrait shots. The shooting was a little chaotic and erratic, but that was what I had asked for.
Kisilda undressing. In post I added some colour grading and added some texture.
We shot all in all for about 3 hours which is longer than usual. A photo shoot takes me usually 2 hours give and take. Towards the end we had both the feeling that we had done whatever we could to create something nice and unique.
When I looked at the pictures in the evening, I was quite disappointed. I could find the chaos in the pictures that I experienced during the shooting but nothing really compelling or interesting. It felt that lots of pictures needed to be discarded, either because they were technically bad or because my model did not show an interesting pose or expression. Later I deleted over 600 of the approximately 2000 pictures that I had shot with both cameras together.
I put the files on the hard drive and there I left them for 3 months. I had to work to earn money and there was absolutely no time to look at them again or to start editing.
When I took the first look after 3 months I was absolutely surprised. What I found were pictures with soul, with vibrancy and variety of mood and expression. We had created spontaneous pictures that reflected the mood of the moment and also the inventiveness of my model regarding use of the place and furniture and even light (what happens when you put a chair underneath the corridor lamp, the nude model climbs on the chair and makes use of light and shadow in this completely “unphotographical” environment? It’s amazing!!).
Kisilda on a chair underneath the corridor light
The outcome was great! Thank you Kisilda for being brave and natural and silly and interested in taking that path!.