Mid December 2012, I headed to 110th street and central park west, hair twisted in a bun, which meant my sleep on the train was severely interrupted, lol (I tend to sleep on the train :-P). It was time for yet another photo shoot, and as always, I had no idea what was in store for me.
I was in a rush, although I was on time (surprisingly), it was just very cold outside, and I didn’t want my little button nose to get any redder then I felt it was becoming.

I reached the apartment building, went up to the 3rd floor, and walked up to the door of Rick Daccardi. Rick has been in the industry for years, about 20 or more. He knows how to direct a shoot and how an image should be captured. Before he got into photography he was a make-up artist for quite some time. He has beat (make-up artist slang term) many classic faces in the business. 

“Hiiiii Dye! Good to see you dear…wait, are you wearing make up?”…Rick had asked me not to apply any make up, but I still thought he wanted a basic top coat of foundation and a little concealer …”My apologies, yes, just a lil’…I can take it off though!”

…”please do honey, I want you with NO make up, it’s much better for me when it comes to editing.”

I hurried into Rick’s apartment. As I stepped in and glanced around, I immediately felt at peace in his home. It had a very tranquil vibe, mellow colors and very stunning art throughout his home. It was cozy and charming. I knew from then that things would flow smoothly.

He directed me to his bathroom where I begin to remove all my foundation… as I quickly took off my make up with my Olay cleansing cloths, I looked at myself in the mirror, took a deep breath to ease my nerves, and said “Ok, you don’t look so bad for someone that’s been up since 4am!!!” (it was 9pm at the time)… I literally laughed out loud, I guess you can say that was my pep talk, lol… my face honestly looks better without make up. Rick was absolutely right.

Now comes my favorite time, where I met the “Lens”… it’s always a new relationship when I get in front of someone’s camera. It’s just so intimate to me. I sat on a black chair up against a black back drop. Pandora was playing, a great station too. It was my troublesome lover, Amy Whinehouse. Ugh, how her tunes moved my soul, damn her leaving so soon. Rick sat at a normal distance between a photographer and his current muse. I was vibing with the energy & feeling fairly comfortable. And then he pulled up closer to me, about a foot away from me. I felt a nervous rush come over me. Like, my face immediately tensed up. Beauty shots are close-up shots of part or all of the face (lips, eyes, etc.). I don’t normally have a photographer that close within my personal space. Nor do I normally do beauty shots in general.

However, this time I was working with someone that had a different approach to how he caught his captures. Rick begin to ask me about my interest while offering me a cup of tea, he helped me relax. Rick and I begin to talk, we laughed  vibe and without me knowing, he begin to snapped photos and I immediately felt a wave of relaxation come over me. And I begin to work with the lens BAY-BAY, lol!! Rick was right up in front of me, I just stared into his lens, like we were the only two objects in the room, I gave expression after expression after expression…ever so often my thoughts would wonder. Mainly, I kept thinking about how much I loved what I was doing, and how I wanted this to be apart of my life forever. I’ve had a passion for modeling since I was a little girl. Everything honestly felt right.

And then, It was over. We successfully wrapped up our photo session. It was no more then an hour, and we were complete. Rick laughed and said he could of gone for at least another hour. He complimented me by saying I’m very graceful at what I do in front of the camera…it’s like, I morph and transition with so much personality in every shot, he mentioned that he didn’t even want to interrupt too often to give me direction.

In the end, my aim is to please and fulfill the photographers’ vision, while bringing my own unique creativity along with a demeanor that one would want to work with time and time again. It’s my grind as an unsigned model. To keep the buzz buzzing~~~

Signing off,

Just Dye…in reality.