Seven Takes

Part 1

Nana glanced at her watch to see the time ticked to 14:00 hours and watched as everyone around her scrambling around with their individual tasks. The atmosphere in the room was familiar to Nana. It was quite hectic. A close sunbae of Nana had asked her to be the main photographer for an album cover shooting of a rookie boy group.

Nana sighed. She would rather photograph high-profile artistic works or editorial shoots than having to be restricted in her work. But since he was a close sunbae, who had helped her a lot in her past, she couldn’t refuse.

A man ran up to her and breathlessly said ‘they are coming in 5. They are just getting their last minute preparations done.’

Nana nodded as he bowed and ran away.

She chuckled slightly as the man looked at her with tension in his eyes. People around her gave her the cold shoulder when she first started working as an assistant photographer, judging her for her half-blood mix. She had fair skin and prominent light brown eyes. It was obvious to see she was not native Korean, regardless if she spoke the language fluently. Her peers would usually give her all the shitty work to do and said rude remarks behind her back as if she was oblivious.  It wasn’t until her colleagues learnt of her father, that their attitudes changed. They were more fearful and aware of her position. They rarely talked to her unless it was for work. At least when she was treated disrespectfully, people would still talk to her.

Nana heard some noises in the back of the room and glanced over to see people scurrying from the make-up room. The boys were ready. She waited patiently as the well groomed boys bowed to the staff and made their way to the set.

She spotted seven healthy young boys dressed in what she would call it hip hop style. She chuckled to herself. What is this mess?

‘Are you ready to begin?’ Nana yelled from across the room, swallowing her creative pride, as all seven boys came to greet her. The boys looked about 6-7 years younger than she is. How adorable.

‘So we will begin with all of you together and then we will continue with individual shooting. I’d like everyone to do your best and enjoy your photo shoot,’ Nana said in her professional tone and gave a confident smile. Regardless of age and being disrespectful, everyone had to be professional.

Every one of them was uniquely handsome, with a tinge of cuteness. Cuteness they were as a boy with orange hair and a shorter boy with a defined muscle tone exuding from his wife beater, actually skipped to the set, waving their arms around like a bunch of idiots. The tallest with blond hair made a funny movement across the room and hugged a pretty-faced boy with handsomely wide shoulders. Another boy with a rather long face but beautiful smile tapped the other boy next to him who was fixing his pants. Nana noticed that he had a really nice pair of legs and cute half-moon eyes as he laughed along.

She finally saw the last boy, walking slowly, following behind the rest of the boys. He would make a small smile and shifted his gaze when her eyes met his. He looked back again and immediately turned the other way.

Nana raised an eyebrow but soon shrugged it off.

‘Okay let’s do this,’ Nana exclaimed and as usual, she began her magic.

Her models made the usual ‘cool’ poses, acting completely different than they were a minute ago. They had a great few set of shots, but something was amiss. Nana looked back at the screen and stared at the frames. Being a photographer and a creative director is usually not something the fashion industry was keen on doing. But for her, it was a major exception.

‘Hey, you there,’ Nana said to the boy who was sheepishly taking glances at her. ‘Can you manage your eyes please? You seem out of focus.’

The boy looked at her with mouth slightly half open and his big doe-eyes staring rather blankly before he nodded and made a serious face. ‘Let’s try this again,’ Nana said.