Nostalgia 044 : Elena

Lovely Elena from Russia was another great model from the early days of my project. Her photo shoot took place in an art gallery where light conditions left much to be desired. As a result, her portraits came out in a low resolution. During the editing process, I managed to improve on that, albeit at the cost of a bit of sharpness. However, the quality of Elena's posing comes through anyway.

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.

Nostalgia 038 - 040 : Petra

Petra was one of the models who contacted me after reading a newspaper article about my up coming exhibition in Enschede in October, 2010. During the interview with the journalist, I mentioned that it would be great to do some photo shoots with high myopic models. When Petra and I first met to discuss the practical details of the photo shoot, she mentioned that she had just made an appointment for IOL implant surgery so it would be a nice idea to have a "farewell to glasses" photo shoot. Of all models who posed for me in the Flair glasses (Rx -14), Petra was the only model who could see quite well through the blended myodisc lenses. She knew about the existence of blended myodisc lenses as her optician once mentioned them as an option. Petra was really keen to give the blended myodisc glasses a try and she found it a fascinating experience. Note the characteristic "half moon" image in these portraits. The half moon effect is created by the transition zone between the central "bowl" and the surrounding carrier lens.

Nostalgia 036 - 037 : Irma

Irma was my second model and these portraits are from her first photo shoot (October, 2009). The pink frame of the blended myodisc glasses by Flair is especially suited to blondes.

Nostalgia 035 : Marleen

An experienced model, Marleen posed for me in May, 2010 and again in September of that year. The many reactions on her photo shoots were all in superlatives. This portrait was taken during her second photo shoot. The glasses were made by Flair and the lenses are blended myodiscs, Rx -14. The melancholy in this portrait is great.  

Nostalgia 032 - 034 : Carla

This series of edited portraits featuring blended myodisc glasses (Rx -13) from the 1980's would not be complete without Carla who was the first highly experienced model who posed for me. Carla did a magnificent job and I have dear memories of that evening in November, 2009.

Nostalgia 031 : Nel

The first inspiration for the project with "Ladies behind Crystal Veil" came from my life partner Nel who posed for me in November, 2008. We both saw this brief photo shoot (fifty portraits in half an hour) as a bit of fun but after seeing the results, we were both enthusiastic. We did two more photo shoots in May and August, 2009 and then I realized that Nel with her prescription of minus eleven could only cover a fraction of my glasses collection. There was potential for a real photography project but that would require other models. I brought the subject with care and to my delight, Nel came with suggestions about ladies in the know that might be approached. The ball started rolling it eventually led to my first exhibition, showing portraits of twenty models who had posed for me. During the opening of the exhibition, ten of these models did a catwalk in some of their favourite glasses from their photo shoots. The event received an unexpected amount of attention from regional and national media (newspapers, radio and television) and then I realized that the project had even more potential if it could be carried one step further. The year 2011 brought another exhibition, this time in Germany and again with a catwalk and media exposure. Another step was to join Model Mayhem and see if any freelance models might be interested to do a photo shoot in prescription glasses. My first casting call led to no less than a dozen reactions which was far more than expected. Seven models did a photo shoot, raising the standard to an unprecedented level. Nel was a bit surprised by this turn of affairs but she kept supporting the project. After a sabbatical year (caused by a bad concussion, followed by the terminal illness of my younger brother Guus) the project became international. Three casting calls in Ireland yielded dozens of applications - again far more than expected - and this resulted in a dozen photo shoots. Some of these models were full time professionals and their high performance level urged me to take up editing the photo material. This proved to be a demanding and above all, time consuming task. Most of the past twelve months went into it. A couple of months ago, it was time for a bit of retrospection before deciding about the next step. I decided to see if some portraits from the early days of the project could be improved by editing.
The portrait of Nel shown here was taken during our very first photo shoot and it has always remained special to me because of its atmosphere. It was my first attempt to find out how a lady in blended myodisc glasses could be portrayed in an aesthetic manner. Nel had the advantage over later models that she could see well through these intricate lenses. Sometimes we look back on everything that happened after this very first photo shoot and we are still amazed. Nel did a bit of modeling (catwalk) when she was in her teens but never regarded herself a model. It's hard to describe how proud I was when she participated in the catwalks at the opening of my photography exhibitions. She did the catwalk with self confidence, a real ambassador showing other high myopic ladies that they can look great in strong glasses. Nothing to be shy about - rather turning a disadvantage into something special.