Nicci 129

Another example of Nicci's excellent posing, marking the end of a pleasant photo shoot with marvelous results. Nicci is the 77th Lady behind Crystal Veil.

There seems to be a conflict going on between the formatting by my email provider and the formatting by Blogger :). Apparently there is no way to copy paste an email text into a weblog. So I will behave like a medieval monk and write everything out again. Praise Modern Technology, Amen. See you in a couple of hours.....

Doing a photo shoot in prescription glasses is easy compared to the complicated process of communicating - and choosing from the applications - after a casting call. It often happens that models ignore the fact that sending information about their prescription and PD is quintessential. It's like "Hello, here I am" and then.... silence. As a result, it often happens that their jobs eventually go to models who apply later but with the information required. I accept this as a fact of life, but the weeks before the actual journey are often filled with adrenaline. No doubt, most models can tell long stories about photographers who don't send clear information during the selection process. It's heaven when the communication between model and photographer is clear right from the start. Nicci is a great example of a model who is aware of this. I felt at ease in our email exchange right from the start and this made my eventual decision an easy one.
Motivation is another key element which can make the difference between a good photo shoot and a great photo shoot. I often notice that once the camera starts working, it portrays not just the model's individual looks and her level of experience but also - in a subtle way - the preceding communication between model and photographer. Call it the difference between a chance meeting and a seasoned team at work. This is exactly what happened when Nicci arrived in the Pavilion Gardens and when we started the actual photo shoot.
Another parallel between the email exchange and the actual photo shoot is the degree of "fun element" . A "technical" email communication often predicts a "technical" photo shoot. If there are lively and even witty elements in the email exchange, there is a good chance that the photo shoot will produce at least a number of photos that show liveliness and fun. The term "comfort zone"gets an extra dimension if the fun element has been there from the first email exchange. In other terms, it takes no time investment to break the ice. When Nicci arrived, we were in a lively conversation straightaway, with lots of laughter and fun. And it remained that way throughout the photo shoot. Of course there was lots of serious work to be done and most portraits shown in this documentary are the fruits of hard work, but you somehow feel that the wit and fun was never far away. Whenever I think about the afternoon with Nicci in the Pavilion Gardens, it brings back a happy smile on my face.

Dear Nicci, working with you was a real treat from the very start to the very end. You kept dripping good looks and there was no end in your variety in posing and expressions. It was like a dance in which both of us were able to take the lead and then hand it over, in an endless repetition. You and I are both music composers so another apt metaphor goes like this. Your photo shoot was like a song we wrote together, each of us adding riffs, bits of harmony, fragments of lyrics right until the composition was ready and the lyrics made sense. Real team work. And what I liked best was that it all went without any visual effort, regardless the strength of the specs. Thank you for your generosity and flexibility as well. One moment I will never forget was a moment when we sat down for a parting glass after the photo shoot. You paid Mike a compliment and then turned your head towards me with a smile, saying "And you are a fool, but a nice fool". I took - and take - that as a compliment. Thank you also for your patience and understanding during the long waiting months after the photo shoot. Editing five extended photo shoots is a lot of work and the editing process was delayed by a bad shoulder injury which almost reduced me to the status of a "one arm bandit". Fortunately it's slowly on the mend now. I wish you health, happiness and of course, a great continuation of your modelling career and your music career. And I hope that our paths will cross gain in the future.

Another sincere word of thanks goes to Mike. Now where on earth shall I start? It all goes back several years when you surfaced in my email and introduced yourself. Our correspondence soon covered many aspects of photography and I was impressed by your knowledge about each and every aspect of it. The way many great photos you sent along with the letters testify to that better than words can ever do. Your background as a former freelance artist was visible in your photography. Choice of location, composition and all the rest of it. Gradually our correspondence stretched out to various aspects of editing. Light and colour balance, shade, tint and so on. Much of it was really out of my depth at first, until it dawned to me that your eyes are far better than mine. Take the issue "distance between model and photographer". This can be explained on a theoretical and technical level to a person like me who has no 3D vision at all, but it's impossible to implant 3D into my vision. The same goes for a slight colour blindness from my side. Thank you for all the hours and patience you invested on my behalf to give me a better understanding of all these elements in model photography, especially during the past few months, after my visit to the Brighton area. Having been an autodidact since early childhood, I simply never "learned to learn". However, everything you handed to me is highly appreciated and and I hope that at least some of it will be recognizable in my next photo shoots. You did a great job in your mutually agreed role as critical friend. I'm also grateful for all your help during my visit to Brighton in the middle of an ongoing railway strike. And last but not least, our mutual academic background in geography added to a new appreciation of the attractiveness of the area. Talk soon!

Photographers interested to do a photo shoot with Nicci can check either "niccola da-silva" or "Nicci Infinity". Nicci has given me permission to post this information. Serious photographers only!