Grazyna 112

This beautiful portrait of Grazyna in vintage Cobra glasses concludes her photo shoot which was the first in a series of four shoots done during my stay in the Dublin area. Grazyna is the 40th Lady behind Crystal Veil.

Viewers may wonder how long it takes to produce a series of portraits like this so here's a view behind the screens. I met Grazyna at Bray Station at 18.45 - always a happy moment seeing that a model really turns up, especially abroad - and we took the ten minute walk to my B&B where some sixty glasses were waiting for a quick selection. This took us about 25 minutes and then we walked to the beach of Bray which was only 150 yards away, carrying two chairs, my tripod and two boxes filled with glasses. The actual shoot at the beach took us exactly one hour which yielded 270 photos (mind you, Grazyna changed glasses some twenty times during that hour). At 20.30 we walked back to the B&B and took a break. Shortly after 21.00 we started shooting again and this lasted a little over 20 minutes, yielding another 115 photos. Then I brought  the equipment and the glasses back to my room and walked Grazyna back to the station where we arrived around 21.45, exactly three hours after we caught the first glimpse of each other. Less than half of the three hours was used for the actual photo shoot. This is more or less the normal procedure. It may be added that Grazyna was very cooperative and highly effective with her own time.

I wish to thank Grazyna for her dedication and good posing during what is not exactly the average photo shoot for a freelance model. Technically it seems fairly easy because a photo shoot in glasses is rather static portrait photography. However, there are difficulties as well, not encountered by the model in her "normal" photo shoots. These have to do with the fact that a "Lady behind crystal Veil" does not pose in empty frames or glasses with plano lenses but in prescription glasses. My photo shoots usually start with glasses near the model's own prescription. This is an easy way for the model to get used to the routine. The second part of my photo shoots is all about glasses with a prescription way beyond the model's own prescription so all the model sees through the glasses is a massive blur. Of course there are several tricks that help the model to feel at ease and help her to produce natural, credible portraits. When needed, I explain these tricks at the start of the second part of the photo shoot but many models simply rely on their own imagination and some models even said afterwards that the second part was easier than the first part.

Dear Grazyna, thank you so much for the pleasant hours in your company and for the fine results! My life partner Nel (the entire project started with her in 2009) saw the slide show of your photo shoot and she said, "this is a lovely girl who gradually transformed herself into a beautiful young woman during her photo shoot". What Nel meant is something I witnessed many times before, without finding the right words for the phenomenon. I suppose that it has to do with growing self confidence in a previously unknown setting. What I especially liked about your posing is the switch from beautiful introverted melancholy into bold posing and back. These are good qualities for a freelance model at the start of her career and they will come handy in the future. I wish you all the success you deserve. Thank you so much!