Jakub Stefano in Moevir Magazine Pictorial

Fifteen years ago I was a young energetic photographer full of ideas but without the experience or equipment to execute my visions.  My model was a young but very experienced fitness model with an incredible body and face.  I met him for the first on this shoot which took place in a large rental studio in New York.  What made it exciting for me was that I did not know who Jakub was as global fitness model with a short history at Bel Ami that established his pedigree.

He started at 19 and after two decades he is still working, connecting with fans, and keeping that famous body always in shooting condition.

The shoot was a mix of erotic fashion nudes and artistic nudes.  I did not properly account for the white walls, ceiling and floor of the studio that on one side was floor to ceiling windows streaming in natural daylight and mixing with the few lighting set up I was familiar with.   The vastness of the studio was another issue I had not considered so I tried a combination of camera flash, studio lights and reflectors to incorporate the natural light.

There were some nice images, but as a whole, the concept was a failure and for years I would curse myself to thinking I could shoot white, on white fashions against a white background.  The mixture of lighting sources created an unnatural result and at the time, Photoshop had not yet developed an algorithm for white balance .  Until recently, I revisited the images and saw that there were captures that were of fine art quality that needed to be shared with the world.   

Thanks to the white background that I had been cursing, the images of young Jakub looking clearn cut in the prime of his youth and physical prowess was a unique milestone that I was able to capture and preserve.  He confided that there are no professional photos of him wearing fashion.  He's famous for his shredded but proportional body builder physique.  

I was finally able to use current technology to bring 15 year old images to life.  The French fashion and arts magazine is well established and has a impressive list of famous contributors.   There were very interested in publishing my work because the style and clothing I used did not look dated.   The editors took care to organize an atttractive pictorial that reflected the meticulous corrections I made to each image.   There are a couple of images that are extraoredinary because apart from white balance adjustment I did not do any editing on the model.   The flawless complexion from afar was in part due to his natural beauty, the use of my very expensive telephoto lens that also works as a soft focus in portraiture, and new technology that allowed me to compress the images so tightly that thre skin tone looks even and continuous and all the flaws are compressed.   You can zoom up to 400 times to see the veins and skin texture on his tanned body.  I hope you enjoy and thank you for sharing in this success with me.