Nostalgia 041 - 043 : Astrid

A few days after my photo shoot with Rachel (December, 2009) I was approached by her colleague Astrid with the straightforward question "Why did you not invite me?". Astrid had heard from Rachel how much fun the photo shoot had been. Astrid had all the hallmarks of a great model so her photo shoot was immediately arranged and it took place less than a week after we first spoke about it. This was only the beginning. Astrid said that she would really like to pose again and we did four photo shoots within the next eight months. She also participated in the catwalks during the opening of my photography exhibitions in the Netherlands and Germany. After doing a final photo shoot for me in 2011, Astrid decided to become a freelance model and she did some wonderful shoots with professional photographers. Astrid enjoys perfect eyesight but she managed great, credible portraits in strong minus glasses. In portraits like these, the expression of the lips is quite important as they seem magnified in comparison with the tiny images of the eyes. The Flair glasses are minus fourteen, reducing the size of the model's eyes with nearly 30%. The lower of these three portraits was made in my snowy garden in January 2010. The upper and middle portraits were taken during our first photo shoot. Astrid had an outspoken preference for photography on location (outside) but after a shivering hour of shooting in a deeply frozen forest we decided to call it a day and continued the shoot at my place. Astrid was my "quattro staggioni model", having posed for me in all seasons. It was a wonderful collaboration, ending only after her fifth shoot when she had posed in all the glasses that suited her.