Well, actually, the air temperature was pretty warm for Nov and the rain wasn’t a monsoon. I was fortunate enough to have my actor/model friend Frankie as a collaborator, so out we went to Coney Island. I always wanted to shoot at the beach in these conditions and emulate the style of my photography hero Peter Lindbergh whose pictures and models always have a deep soul look and that too, describes my friend Frankie. She even looks phenomenal with wet hair/clothes and dealing with the elements.
Back to Peter, I met him just once and fittingly, it was on a rainy day. Not the beach but the NYC Meat Packing district. A week earlier, I met a charismatic street dancer and we agreed to shoot early Saturday. That morning the dancer wanted to cancel as it was drizzling, but I was looking forward to photographing him and the glistening cobble stones, so I persuaded him to join me..
When we arrived a big fashion shoot going on- bus, makeup trailer, crane, tent…. and the legendary photographer, who I became aware of through my Belgium photographer friends when I was modeling there in the mid 80’s. Decades later, I still had dreams of modeling for Peter and also working as his assistant, so my photo shoot didn’t venture far from Peter’s location and eye sight.
And then the rain came down heavy.
“Guy’s, come join us under the tent!” It was Peter calling to the 2 of us huddled in a doorway trying not to get drenched. Drinking a coffee that was offered to us, a smiling Peter said: “I saw you two and told all of this crew…see them? That’s what I want to get back to…one on one with a model. No enormous production…no distractions”
Peter died in 2019 in Paris. His inspiration lives on all over the world…. including Coney Island.