CHAPTER THREE
SIMON
Cedric’s critical eye scanned over my face before he repositioned the gold reflector. He turned it a fraction of a degree and moved it less than an inch. "I know we’ll reposition things when she’s here, but it’s good to have a plan. We don’t want her to think we don’t know what we’re doing."
I rubbed my chin and looked around at all the equipment we’d set up: everything we owed. "If we’re living by the motto ‘fake it until you make it’ we were definitely looking like we’d made it with our very own fully equipped studio."
"What is your plan today?" Decker moved in front of me, his camera pointing at my face. He didn’t usually speak much when the camera was rolling, except to ask direct questions. He said he wanted to record a fly-on-the-wall documentary not direct the action.
"She’s a complete novice so, I think, if she turns up, we’ll probably stick to covered up shots today. Starting with her face, shoulders possibly some cleavage. It will give her a taste of modeling and give her a chance to get used to us."
"If she turns up?" Decker questioned.
"It’s one thing to turn up to an informal interview; it’s quite another to turn up for the job. Model’s not turning up are the bane of an art student’s life."
As an art student himself, Decker already knew that, I was telling the final audience at the other end of the camera.
Cedric finally seemed to have finished fiddling with all the reflectors; he walked over to the kitchen table. "The big question is, how long do we give her before we decide she’s not late, she’s actually a no-show and then start packing all this kit away?"
I got up out of the chair that we’d placed center stage for our model and went to join him in the kitchen.
Exactly when she was due to arrive, Cedric had his answer.
Much as I’m sure Decker would have liked to continue to film us while we worked on our first photo shoot with her, as soon as she buzzed on the intercom from the ground floor he shot out of the door. He was too considerate to stick around even though he lived here; it wouldn’t be fair on Karen having an extra man in the place who wasn’t part of the project.
Waiting for her to reach our apartment seemed to take forever as if time had slowed down, or she'd gotten lost on the way up, or taken the stairs instead of the elevator. Nevertheless, eventually the tiny knock came, and Cedric swung open the door.
For a few seconds, I thought I saw surprise as she registered how our living space had been transformed into a professional studio with a backdrop, lights, and cameras ready on tripods.
We may have surprised her, what she did after a cursory greeting surprised us.
She stepped toward our studio, she dropped her bag, and her hands went to the feature zipper at the front of her dress. One swift swipe and front gaped open. She shrugged the dress from her shoulders and let it fall to the floor where she stepped out of it, and her hands reached for the clasp of her bra on her back.
I remained frozen on the spot, my mouth gaping open like a fool, as she dropped her underwear on top of her dress and kicked off her shoes. I didn't want to behave like a man who'd never seen a naked woman before, but honestly, I'd never seen a woman undress like that just a few feet away from me. And she wasn't any woman; she looked beautiful.
In a flash, Cedric stood beside her. He blanketed her in a sheer, white cotton shawl that we'd already discussed using.
"We thought we'd start with portrait shots. If you'd like to sit over here." At least he the ability to act professionally as he led her to the chair that I'd been sitting on.
I followed the two of them, still unable to think of anything to say. A calm, detached professionalism swept over me when I picked up my camera, and my mindset shifted when I looked at her through that lens.
Sweet innocence and contrasting mature, knowing looks were both evident in her face, while her enticing, curvaceous body was only just hidden. The fabric draped suggestively around her curves. I had no doubt these pictures would be stunning once we positioned the material correctly.
As she sat, Cedric went to adjust the lighting.
"Okay. I thought you wanted nude and erotic." She picked at the white veil that completely covered her torso. "Why are you covering me with this blanket?"
"It's your first time modeling we thought you might be more comfortable if you weren't completely exposed, not straight away. And when you were here before we saw a pure natural quality to your face, we thought this white sheet might help capture that," I answered.
I put the camera down and stepped closer to her. "Do you mind?" I asked as I approached, indicating I wanted to rearrange the cotton draped over her.
"Not at all. Do what you have to," she said.
I tweaked the fabric until it fell from her shoulders and sat about her frame in a most flattering way and hinted at rather than hid her shape.
I picked up my camera and began to snap, only vaguely aware of Cedric doing the same.
For more than an hour, we made suggestions for new positions, some very slight requiring a tilt of the head or the raising of a shoulder. Karen was a natural. She moved instinctively and, from what I could tell, she was a gift to the camera.
Thoughts of her as nude and erotic had earlier threatened to undo this photo shoot; I was inexperienced and unprepared for an erotic encounter with a woman I didn't know. But when the session got underway, my mind went to a place where it felt more at home. The session was work, and we created art from her natural beauty.
"Tell us about yourself," Cedric suggested.
I caught the subtle changes in her face as she thought about it. Surprise. Confusion.
"What do you want to know?" she asked.
"Whatever you're happy to tell us. If you are talking and thinking about what you're saying, your facial expressions will change."
"Oh, I see."
Understanding dawning in her mind brought new changes. Wider eyes. Higher brows. I couldn't wait to compare the pictures later.
"Think about nothing that's going to make you sad or angry, not today. What about your family? Do you have brothers and sisters?"
Good question, Cedric. She apparently found it easy to focus on that subject and it brought a smile to her face.
"That's complicated. I've two sisters that I grew up with. My parents split up years ago. They're on good terms with each other though, and my dad remarried. I have two half sisters there. And my mum has just remarried too."
Brilliant.
Brilliant images were snapped by my camera as she relaxed and spoke with warmth about her family. That warmth seemed to radiate from her, and I hoped the camera captured it.
"Up until now, I've had four sisters. And you won't believe this. Now I also have five brothers, stepbrothers, of course, but I've never met them."
"You didn't meet them at the wedding?" I wanted to keep the conversation going as her animated expressions were wonderful.
"No, crazy, right?"
I lowered my camera. "Didn't you go to the wedding?" I found that hard to understand as she talked about these people with such warmth.
"Neither. Both?" She giggled. Cedric caught it. I picked up my camera determined not to miss anything else. "I've only met the new husband a couple of times, before they married. I'd been so tied up with my own life that I didn't pay much attention to my mom's love life. I didn't realize him, and my mom were getting that close. Out of the blue, just days ago she called to tell me she's on her honeymoon after a secret wedding in Vegas. No guests. No one knew."
"Wow. Was that a shock?"
"At first it was, but mom lives on her own. If that's how she wants to get married, who am I to judge. She said they didn't want a big wedding. They wanted it to just be about them as they'd both been married before and both had grown-up kids. And now I have five stepbrothers that I've never met."