Mimi · Wild Current
Mimi · Wild Current Backstage
Mimi is a quiet woman, but the drive to shoot Wild Current was anything but quiet. :)
I had a location in mind and wanted to go there with her. It was about an hour away, which gave me plenty of time to talk through my idea. We spent the journey joking and having fun instead. So much for my carefully imagined role as the serious photographer.
I like that contrast in Mimi. She may not be the loudest person in the room, but there is a lot of passion in her. And on the way to the shoot, she was wonderful company. The hour passed with jokes rather than instructions, which is a much nicer way to travel if you ask me.
Still, I had been thinking about this location for a while. By the time we arrived, I was ready to explain what I wanted from the shoot. I could almost hear myself beginning one of those grand photographer speeches. You know the kind: many words, a serious expression, and perhaps one useful sentence hiding somewhere in the middle.
Mimi saved us both from that.
When we got there, she already seemed to know what I wanted from her. I had spent the drive having fun with her, and somehow we had reached the same understanding without my big explanation. Was I pleased? Of course. Was my imaginary speech a little disappointed? Probably.
That gave me something interesting to work with behind the camera. I had chosen a place I wanted to shoot, but I wasn’t arriving with an idea I had to push onto Mimi. She was already with me. As a photographer, I appreciate that more than any impressive speech I might manage to give.
It is easy to make assumptions about someone quiet. You might think you will need to draw every little thing out of her, or tell her exactly what you are looking for. Mimi reminded me how wrong that can be. Her passion does not need a loud introduction, and she understood what I hoped to capture before I found the words for it.
I had been looking forward to photographing her at this location. What I could not plan was the feeling of arriving there after an hour of laughing together and finding that we were already on the same page. That made the work feel personal to me. I could concentrate on Mimi rather than on explaining the picture in my head.
Perhaps I should make fewer speeches on shoots. My models might welcome that. :)
When I think of Wild Current, I think of both parts of that day: the fun we had getting there and the quiet confidence Mimi brought when we arrived. The location was my idea, but she understood it in her own way, and that is what made me happy to photograph her.
Thank you, Mimi, for the laughter on the road and for knowing what I was hoping to capture when we got there.
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