// Behind the scenes. A photo and the story behind it!

Yesterday I photographed Kayli, a New York fashion model. The story began two days earlier with the Bill Murray video I had posted on Instagram. She saw it and wrote to me because she was currently building her portfolio. She was contacting New York photographers whose style she liked and asking each of them to create one image of her in a natural environment. She did not want to spend money on the process.

I am going to begin today’s post from slightly farther away, but I will get to the point quickly. Yesterday was perhaps the first day during the five weeks I have spent here in New York when I could finally breathe and process all the impulses I have received. The video did not only bring back the conversations with Hungarian role models from 1956.

You can find the details of the event here. Fashion shapes everyday life. Some people follow it, some create it, and some could not care less. New York has plenty of all three. Last year, I happened to be dressed unusually “normally” by my standards when a professional photographer photographed me in the street. His girlfriend approached me afterwards because they liked the image so much that they wanted permission to use it — and offered to send it to me too.

• Feature article • My first encounter with Norbi happened during a period of my life that remains deeply significant to me. At the time, life was giving me more and more signs that I was beside the wrong person. There was still a long road between that moment and where I am today, but it feels good to look back because every time I do, I remind myself that I am stronger than I think.

She looked at the photograph and her eyes filled with tears. Moments like that frighten most of us because we are completely unprepared for such emotional reactions. I searched for words, but all I could do was watch silently as she wiped away a tear running down her face. Slowly she raised her head and looked for my eyes. For a moment I looked down, afraid of her reaction.

“I have a dream, and I need a few serious photographs from you to make it happen.” That was Csabi's request when he walked into the studio. We had originally planned to work outdoors, but by then there was too little light to create the kind of images we wanted, so we moved inside. The assignment was a serious challenge: he wanted the photographs for his application to the sports reality show Exatlon.

What would it feel like to be a model for a day? To have two or three professionals bustling around you, arranging rebellious strands of hair and folds of clothing so that everything looks its absolute best? For her 13th birthday, Borka's mother surprised her with exactly this kind of professional photo shoot. She gave her not only the joy of the experience, but also tangible memories in the form of the finished photographs. Borka is a cheerful, smiling young teenager.

Dominik is a young, handsome and determined man whose natural qualities often catch people's attention. Several photo series had already been made of him, but none truly showed his versatility. Júlia is an attractive, ambitious young woman. Behind her charming, reserved appearance lives a woman with many different faces — and we wanted to bring those facets to life through photography.

To understand why I love and use the M.Zuiko 17mm PRO, 45mm PRO and 75mm 1:1.8 lenses so much, we need to look back a little. It was late at night and I was standing on the stage of a Ski & Snowboard Festival. Beside me, the DJ was driving the atmosphere into a frenzy; below me, the crowd was lost in the music. I had an M.Zuiko 45mm 1:1.8, an M.Zuiko 25mm 1:1.8 and my favourite creative tool, the Olympus PEN-F.

“Dear Olívia, My name is Tamás. I am forty years old. A few months ago, I decided that I wanted to have a professional photo series made of myself. An acquaintance recommended Norbert, and he recommended you. I would like to find out who I am — and what kind of hairstyle and clothing suit that person…” Those few lines marked the beginning of our journey together.

It is 9 October 2016. Yesterday I photographed Mikayla in New York. We had planned street photography, but the weather was not on our side, so we turned her apartment into a studio. She is twenty-one, an American citizen and a professional dancer who would like to model one day. She has lived in a dormitory since she was fifteen and will finish her studies next year. Before I begin any shoot, I always talk with the model — and for me, anyone who stands in front of my camera