She parked the car, Jane and Sandra pulling up next to her. They had needed two cars to bring all the gear to the location. Today's shoot was a big one, quite possibly her biggest one yet. Usually she didn't do commercial photography, she was more of an artistic photographer. On top of that, she was shooting with a male model today, something she had done only once before. She had told the Adidas representative all of this, but he insisted to hire her as a photographer. She got out of her car, motioning to her friends, ex-classmates from the photography academy, to come along, "let's meet the crew first." They walked up to the white tent, where people were already running around to set things up and get everything ready for the day. It was very early, 7AM, the sun should be rising right now, but it was cloudy and quite cold today. She shook hands with the representative first, "Morning Jack, how are you today? These are my light assistants, Jane and Sandra." "Good morning, Y/N! Come, I'll introduce you guys to the rest of the team." He guided her and her friends into the tent. There was a woman laying out outfits on a table, the stylist, Jenna. Some other people were relaxing on the plastic chairs in a corner, among them the make-up and hair artist, Brandon, and Adidas' creative manager, Morris. After shaking their hands she went up to the stylist. Adidas wanted to go for a skater's kind of style and they had chosen a skate park in a shadier neighbourhood of LA as the location. She had visited the place last week to prepare for today. It had some amazing spots with bright graffiti and an urban look on the background. She discussed with Jenna what outfits to use on which location and they changed some of the accessories around. "There's our super model," she heard Jack greet outside. She was surprised when Jack had told her Louis Tomlinson was the model for this shoot. He was very different from the models they used for their previous campaigns, but she agreed with them that his look would certainly fit with the theme and clothing. "Come, on, girls," she called out for Sandra and Jane, "Let's meet the guy and unload our stuff." She turned around to get out the tent through the flap but she bumped harshly into someone. "Whoops," she grabbed onto their jacket quickly to prevent the both of them from falling over. When she regained her balance she looked up, "Oh, hi, Louis!" She let go of his jacket and reached out to grab his hand, "I'm Y/N, your photographer today." He smiled, "hello! Way to make an entrance, isn't it?" She chuckled, cheeks turning slightly rosy, "perfect! Why don't you get through make up and we'll talk things through in a bit." She winked and patted his shoulder as she exited the tent.
Sandra and Jane carried the rangers from the car to the spot for the first setting. It was just on the side of a ramp next to a railing. The ramp was painted red, but the colour had faded to a dirty dark pink. She was thankful for it to be a cloudy day as it enabled her to do a lot more light-wise, but at the same time she felt sorry for Louis as it was rather cold. When everything for the first setting was set up she went back into the tent. Brandon was just finishing up Louis' make up. She grabbed a can of soda from the cooler and pulled a chair up next to Louis. "So," she pulled her phone from her pocket and opened her gallery to show the sketches she made for the various settings, "this is what we're aiming for. We'll be doing this setting first. Facial expression is most important, I can't photoshop that unfortunately." "Right," he nodded to signal that he understood. "We'll just do short sessions and look at the previews in between to see what we need to adjust, alright?" She smiled at him, he looked kind of nervous. She knew he didn't have a lot of experience with this kind of photography. It was supposed to be rugged, though, manly. All the photo's she had seen of him were all of the happy smiley kind. She hoped he wouldn't pick up on her nervousness and inexperience as well.
Louis stood next to the ramp, skateboard at his feet and wearing a grey bathrobe around his shoulders. "I'll first do a few test shots, yeah? To see whether the lighting is alright. You can keep the robe on for now." She held the light meter in front of his face and the flashes went off once. He nodded and smiled, probably thankful as she could see he was already getting cold from being in the wind. She took a few steps back and made her first shot. She quickly changes some settings in her camera and took another one. "Jane, put the dish one stop down please. And Sandra? I need a reflection screen right here," she said her orders loud and clear. She hated working in big teams like this. She hated ordering people around, it was so not her. She took another shot. Now the light hit his face to her liking. "Ok, ready?" He nodded. "Someone get his robe." Jenna rushed in to take his robe, and Brandon went in to pluck at some strands of hair. "If you get too cold, just tell me and we'll have a break." He was wearing a washed out blue jeans rolled up a bit at the bottom showing off the white Adidas shoes. Jenna hung a backpack onto his shoulder and then Jenna and Brandon stepped back. "Ok, put your foot on the skateboard... right, and turn your left elbow a bit outwards, other left, yes! Alright, chin a bit to the right, oh, back a little, right, and just a tiny bit down." She took her first shot. He didn't wear a top for this set, and it looked perfect. The way his tattoos went with the dark pink blur in the background. She noticed he had worked out as he was a bit more muscular than the pictures she had seen. She liked the overall look. "Chin down a bit more, and put your weight on your right foot." His posing was a bit awkward, it was noticeable that he didn't have much fashion modelling experience, but his expression was spot on in every photo. "Alright, put the robe back on him," she motioned towards Louis as she crouched down to have a better look at the preview screen of her camera, flipping through them quickly. She heard the crew shuffling behind her, probably all impatient to see the first results but she ignored them as she got up and walked over to Louis sitting on the edge of the ramp. "Come, have a look," she sat down next to him. She talked him through every photo: what looked good, and what didn't. He seemed excited and quite surprised that the photo's looked so well. "Let's do just a few more in this setting and then have a break," she flipped through the photo's one more time, their shoulders pressed together as they both looked at the tiny screen.
He sat at the edge of the ramp, feet hanging down, black shoes on them. He wore a white fitted pair of sweats and a black tank top. On his head a white cap, with his hair peeping out underneath. "Pull your left knee up a bit, right, and lean onto it with your left arm." He looked at her questioningly, "Are you sure that looks good?" She snapped a quick picture and jogged over to him. She held the camera out for him, "might feel a bit awkward, but it looks great." "Oh right!" "Let's do a few more and then were done," she patted his shoulder as she checked the preview once again, "Can I get some more powder on his nose?!" She got back to her place on the other side of the ramp. "Sandra, reflection screen a bit higher up please." When Brandon stepped back after powdering Louis' nose the flashes went off again. "Knee a bit higher!" After a few more photo's she could see he was struggling to keep his knee up, a slight quiver in his thigh. It was such an unnatural pose, but yet he still maintained the perfect expression on his face. This guy was a natural, really. "Alright, I think we're done," she said when she had checked the last session one more time on her camera, and cheers sounded from the rest of the team. She glanced up at Louis who let a sigh of relief as he released his leg back down. Everyone got back to the white tent where they had an after-work drink together. Jack and Morris had come up to her to thank her, saying they were very excited to see the finished results. She wasn't able to concentrate though, as she kept stealing glances at Louis every once in a while. He had her wondering about this art project she was working on. She had been using only female models for it, but perhaps the series needed a male model as well. Would he be willing to do that though? She didn't have the money to pay for his precious time. Sandra came up to her, whispering in her ear, "ask him." She looked at Sandra, shocked, "what?" "You're thinking about the project right," what the hell?! Could she read thoughts? "You guys are a perfect team, just ask him. He could just as well say yes." Sandra was right, she should ask him. She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her camera roll as she walked over to him. "Hey, Louis, I want to ask you something." "Go ahead," he took a sip of his beer. "Ok, so, ehm, I'm working on an art project," she showed him some of the pictures with the female models on her phone, "and I was wondering if you'd be willing to work on it with me. I think your facial expressions are perfect for this kind of style." "Sure," he pulled the phone out of her hands, adding his number to her contacts.
"Hi, come in," they hugged as he stepped in, "long time no see." The Adidas campaign had started last week, and it had been crazy. She had had so many requests, she couldn't even take on all of them. She led him to the small studio she rented. She had hung up the black paper background and already set the stool in the middle of the room. "Let's get started, then, shall we? This won't take long." "Right," he smiled setting down his bag, "no shirt right?" She blushed, this hadn't been as awkward when it wasn't just them two. He took off his shirt and sat down on the stool. "Do you mind if I put some hairspray in your hair?" "No, not at all, do whatever you need to do." She grabbed a can of hairspray and ruffled up his hair with it. She crouched down in front of him to style some strands to fall messily onto his face. She had asked him to grow out a bit of a stubble, and honestly it looked super sexy on him. Her eyes met his as she was working on his hair and he winked at her. Her heart skipped a beat but she ignored it. "Alright, all done." She stood up and went over to adjust the beautydish that hung high over his head. The light shone down perfectly on him, made him look like an angel and it all contrasted so well with the roughness of his beard and the tattoo on his collarbones. Three shots was all she needed, it was exactly the way she wanted it to turn out.
She screwed the lid back onto her lipgloss and checked her appearance in the mirror, adjusting the straps of her dress one last time before she went out to the entrance hall. Today was the launch of her exhibition. It was her first exhibition and she was super nervous as she was supposed to hold a speech for the guests. She had invited some friends from the academy, her family of course, the models who had participated in the project and some other important people in her career, mainly customers. She walked up the small platform and looked out at the bunch of people looking back at her. There must have been about 150 people. "Hello everyone," she smiled, "first of all, I want to thank all of you for coming. It means a lot to me." She talked about how the series came to be and she thanked her family for supporting her through everything and of course she thanked her models for working with her. Everyone applauded and toasted with their champagne glasses before entering the room where the printed photo's hung. She sighed, relieved. All of this had been a lot scarier in her dreams. She got down from the stage, deciding she needed the bathroom before going into the exhibition and socialise with the people who mattered to her. She readjusted her dress straps again before she stepped out into the hallway to the exhibition. Busy with putting her lipgloss back into her purse, she bumped into someone. Hands quickly grabbed onto her wrist as they pulled her to their chest. "Hi, love," and she looked up into blue eyes.
