“Like this?”

Her model tilted his head to the side and frowned at her, staring at her through the lens of her camera. They were in her basement studio and she was snapping away fruitlessly without anything to really show for it. Her model, while cute, was painfully inexperienced and second guessed everything. Everytime she tried to coach him to do what she wanted he double checked it with her, the indecision painfully visible on his face. Just now she asked him to turn his face and tilt his chin up, keeping his eyes to camera.

“No, no!” she burst out, annoyed. The costume he wore made him look like some prince out of a fairytale, holding an apple like Snow White’s beloved. He had it dangling at his side, which she didn’t mind. She was trying to pull tight to his face getting his green eyes clearly in the shot. They were gorgeous and it was part of the reason she asked for this little session.

“Tilt your face up to catch the light from the window. Like this!”

She mimicked what she wanted from him, looking toward the small basement square catching the only light it would in the dying rays of afternoon. The rich golden light did his skin good and make him look like an idol, shiny. His green eyes sparkled in the midst of such light. He tried his best to do as she asked him to do, tilting his head up. The only problem was he still looked unsure and it translated into the film. She’d been at this for him for an hour now with the same problem and knew she’d lose the light soon.

“Try to relax.”

She knew he couldn’t because she wasn’t relaxed. She was near growling with frustration her memory card almost full with no useable shots in the bunch. She was working on her portfolio for college now knowing she’d have to start working on admissions essays before the school year ended. Next year was her senior year at HITS and she needed to make the most of it. This included trying for scholarships early because her mother did not have some college fund somewhere for her to draw from. These efforts directly affected her college course.

Of course, she was being hard on her model who was only trying to help and still looking too focused and drawn for her to be able to shoot. “Adam! Just, relax!”

Suddenly her model turned and threw his hands up in the air. She snapped away, watching him. “I can’t do this!” he declared suddenly, his face taking on a handsome and hopeless quality. She snapped away furiously, watching his breakdown and noting the specific stages it went through as an artist despite it being a real breakdown from a very stressed out model.

“I’m not fit for this! I keep mucking up whatever you tell me to do and then you expect me to relax? How in God’s name does anyone relax with you clicking away in their faces the way you do?”

He seemed oblivious to the fact that she was now shooting him furiously, catching different angles to play on the light and his body language. Some of the poses she managed to get were stunning and took her breath away. He really was handsome and though she didn’t know him very long she was confident he probably wouldn’t stop speaking to her for this whole experience. She hoped…

He finally realized what she was doing and paused, looking completely unarmed and innocent. She centered on his face and snapped a few pictures of that moment looking helpless.

“What are you doing?” he asked in wonder as she finally lowered her camera.

“Taking your picture.”

“Of that?”

“Sure. I got some amazing shots.”

He broke down, laughing at her and she snapped away again, laughing along with him. Sometimes all it took was breaking down to get you to relax and show the inner you. Harm knew that concept well and walked over to her waiting laptop reaching for the cord to plug in her camera and motioned for him to come join her.

“You’re a natural.”