The Story of My 30-Minute Photo Shoot

• Feature article •

“This article is so good. Let's add a few photographs of you. Can you email some to the editor right now?”

I don't usually get stressed easily, but those two sentences hit me so hard that I had to sit down.

“I don't have any photographs,” I admitted, a little embarrassed, clutching my half-full glass of water.

“But that's exactly what would make the article powerful — your character. We really need to show that,” continued Sándor, my manager, taking my shock to the next level.

Seeing that I had frozen like a certain window-based operating system, he simply said:

“Relax. I have an idea…”

Then he left me alone in the room.

I don't know exactly how much time passed. Probably only a few minutes.

It was more than enough for me to work myself into a storm of self-criticism:

I should have been prepared for this.

How on earth had it never occurred to me?

Sándor interrupted my internal argument when he suddenly appeared in the doorway again, moving fast and looking delighted.

I looked up and could see determination in his face. Whatever he was about to say, I felt I should simply follow him blindly.

“Come on. I've arranged someone. I've sent a car for him. We'll meet him at Várkert Bazár in about an hour. A makeup artist and a hairdresser will be here shortly too.”

He rattled it off in seconds.

Then silence returned to the room.

Silence, my lightning-fast thoughts, and me sitting there in disbelief.

I felt ridiculous.

I had not prepared for this at all and I was in no mood for anything unexpected.

Then suddenly I realised that a lovely middle-aged woman called Bori and a young man named János were doing my hair and makeup while Sándor kept pointing at his watch.

“We should already be there. The artist has only half an hour because I dragged him away from his family.”

The artist?

Who on earth had Sándor arranged for this photograph?

The knot in my stomach grew.

My need to please people appeared, along with every old fear:

I won't be enough. I won't be good. He will surely have huge expectations. And there is absolutely no way anyone can get anything out of me in thirty minutes.

We were about a five-minute walk from the location.

After a quick introduction, the photographer — his name was Norbi — looked me over and fell silent, thinking.

Oh no.

I must be terrible material and he is wondering how he is supposed to make anything out of this.

The more I thought about it, the more uncomfortable I became.

Then he politely asked me to follow him.

I had no idea how a shoot like this was supposed to work, but there was no turning back.

I had makeup. I had hair. I had a photographer.

So one way or another, a picture had to be made.

We stopped at a rusty wall.

There, Norbi calmly and confidently explained how to stand, what to pay attention to and — amusingly — even what to feel.

Then he clicked.

“Can I see it?” I asked nervously.

With a huge smile, he showed me the very first photograph.

And that was where the film cut out.

The moment I saw that single image, I felt so beautiful that after that I simply floated with the current.

I only returned to reality when Sándor thanked Norbi for his work and turned to me:

“Vegan, Hungarian or Chinese? If you can't decide, we can do the usual pizza.”

---

It had been an unexpected thirty-minute spell of magic.

But its effect is still with me.

I like myself. :)

A well-designed portrait session aims to create genuine, confident presence in the final photograph.

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.