PHOTOGRAPHER: Darius Bashar
MODEL: Jesse "MasterTrak" Iaconetti
MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT:
For the first time, I asked the model to select the music for the shoot. I did this because Jesse is an incredible musical artist and his knowledge of music always blows me away. This immediately made him a lot more comfortable and started dancing. It was amazing to see the impact of music on Jesse's mood and made me wonder if letting every model pick the music would have a similar impact on those of us who aren't musicians.
ONE LESSON FROM THIS SHOOT:
At best, my job is to figure out 70% of the plan for each shoot. I need to intentionally walk into each shoot with 30% totally undefined and allow the dynamic between the model and myself to co-create that other 30%. I can't be too rigid and need to leave space for real and authentic moments. When Jesse started dancing around, I initially told him to "stay still otherwise my shots will be out of focused and not composed properly". But then I realized him dancing around and being silly was his 30%. That's where the magic lived. My job was not to stifle him, but rather get him (and myself) to an emotional place were we can identify his 30% when it shows up. This was a game changer, as it open my eyes for all future shoots.