Challenge Cubed: Make a Fashion Photo of Me in Seven Minutes!

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.

Her idea was artist-to-artist collaboration.

What made the request even more interesting was that she is a successful ballet dancer with two degrees and now wants to establish herself as a model too.

She has a strong network and considers herself photogenic.

I took the invitation as a compliment.

I also like supporting ambitious people.

So I said yes.

Yesterday we met in Times Square.

The session had originally been planned for one hour.

Kayli arrived forty-eight minutes late.

Then, the moment she appeared, she quickly outlined a set of requests that sounded almost impossible.

My task was to create one photograph under the idea:

“Style is the person.”

She wanted something she would not simply “see coming toward her in the street”.

In other words:

It had to feel distinctive.

She also did not want colour.

She wanted something with a 1960s atmosphere.

At that point, standing in the middle of Times Square, I was already wondering whether there was any point continuing to listen.

Her outfit had a very good colour combination.

I could not immediately imagine why the final image should become black and white.

Before I could say anything, she continued.

The photograph had to reflect her personality.

It had to show the figure she was very proud of.

And there could be nothing exaggerated about it.

At that point I actually began closing the zipper on my camera bag, ready to say goodbye.

She saw that I looked slightly stunned.

To reassure me, she repeated:

She needed exactly one photograph.

And she had to leave in seven minutes because she was going to a film shoot and absolutely could not be late for that.

Fine.

Let’s do it.

No portable flash.

No additional lighting.

Only natural light.

I made five photographs in roughly five minutes.

Somebody walked into one of the frames.

When I felt I probably had the image that could satisfy the brief, I asked her to choose.

We chose the same photograph.

That surprised me.

Apparently our visual taste was closer than I had expected.

The little shoot attracted enough attention that several young people walked over to her.

She visibly enjoyed that.

Then I reminded her:

Didn’t you say you had somewhere to be? :)

The final photograph is shown above on the left.

She loved it.

And it looks as though there will be a continuation next week with one of her ballerina colleagues.

Fortunately, that time we will have a little more than seven minutes.

Part of the BANHALMI ecosystem

For the professional context and practical side of portrait photography, visit the BANHALMI professional website. Related art series, books and exhibitions are preserved in the BANHALMI ART archive.