With my friend Michal we were returning from Brugge where we had lovely test photo shoot. In a metro, I have spotted this girl with inspiring beauty. Most of the non-European girls that are living in Brussels usually come from Congo. However, this one was different. Not only she had different beauty than I typically see, but she also had this magic that attracted me. Something characteristic that brings the attention and you know this person will look great in photos.
Therefore I just started a conversation with her. Apparently, she was from Senegal. I have left my card, and happily, after few days she wrote to me. We have decided to meet when she has her afro hairstyle again.
As it was still winter, and cold outside we have chosen my apartment as a place where to take photos. She has arrived with a friend of her. I asked her not to do any makeup, and to prepare some dark clothes. Strong contrasts are not good with dark skin unless you can control the light. The day was cloudy so that I could play with window light only. It was the only way to put some shine on her face, keeping the background dark at the same time.
We have taken some black and white photos on Ilford HP5+ and some color ones on Kodak Vision 3 250D (it is a cinematic material for daylight photography). Perforation you may see on color photos is because the film is IMAX format that was cut and hand-rolled to 120 format
Resplendent work!