Nefeli 169

Another example of excellent posing by lovely Nefeli, showing what sets the "Wall of Glass" apart from all its sisters in my vast collection of contemporary glasses. I always tell the models "If you manage to make the glasses shine, the glasses will make you shine in return". Posing as a Lady behind Crystal Veil implies an ambassador role for the message behind the project: showing that ladies can be beautiful in glasses, even when the lenses are quite strong. It is my hope that opticians and brands will pick up the message and show the models in their commercial photos posing in real prescription glasses. I also hope that the project will encourage ladies with prescriptions higher than minus six to wear their glasses in public.
In a 2011 newspaper interview, a friendly optician in Germany described my confrontation with convention as follows:
"In all my life I have never seen anyone attempting to show strong glasses in such a positive way".
Five years later, my conclusion remains the same: there is work to be done. And who knows, one day at least some professionals in the eyewear industry will see the light.... One of my ambitions - still unfulfilled - is to start a dialogue with optometry students. It was my life partner Nel who came up with this idea, way back in 2010. The project has evolved in a different direction - working with freelance and professional models, first in the Netherlands and subsequently abroad, in nine countries. Especially the editing takes so much time that the dialogue with students has yet to be organized. But no doubt, one day the splendid work of freelance models like Nefeli will contribute to the dialogue with the industry.
"Que sera, sera"