June 23, 2006
Murrian In Budapest Days 3 and 4
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Day 3
The next morning our modele du jour is 19 year old Regina, and she shows up early. I gotta mention something here for all the American photographers out there: Back in the days I was working in the US, I recall about a 50% no-show or cancellation rate for models. And even when they did show up, they were usually late.
I’ve been working in Eastern Europe for 2 years now, and have shot nearly 100 girls. I can count on one hand the number of cancellations I’ve had; I’ve never had a single “no-show,” and at least 95% of the time the girls are ON TIME or even early! And in those rare times they are late, they always, ALWAYS call. Moral: If you want to photograph models, move to Eastern Europe!
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Back to our story… Regina shows up early and immediately she and I hit it off. While my best models are usually fair and blonde, I personally have a big thing for petite, dark complexioned, dark haired, dark eyed girls, hence I’m married to a gorgeous little Latina. And Regina really knocked my socks off.
I should mention something here, to those who might be thinking, “Hey, but he’s married!” Nancy and I are totally Soul Mates. We’ve been together for nearly 8 years, married for almost 6 of them, and we go together like Yin & Yang, Salt & Pepper, Gulas & Knedliky (for the Czechs out there). We have a rock solid relationship in which jealousy is completely banned- we need to! With her being a nude model for many other photographers and my shooting beautiful young girls, jealousy has no place in our marriage and we both openly accept our various physical attractions to other people. We think of them as spice on our relationship, our very deep love for each other being the meat of the meal.
So again back to our story. I thought Regina was really something, and it was kinda obvious the feeling was mutual. Nancy picked up on that immediately and just smiled and said, “I think you’re going to have a very good shoot today.” Just as the day before, Nancy started doing the model’s make-up while I got the gear set to go. We pounded out a really big set of photos I’m quite happy with (see the set on the stairs).
Once again, at about noon we headed out into the city to see more sights, and fortunately, Regina knew her way around Budapest so we could venture out further. We saw the Opera. Then “Heroes Square.” Then the national museum. Finally lunch.
We let Regina choose the place and she took us to a nice little Italian place (is it just me, or do all girls love Italian food?). Lunch was interesting. Regina is quite small, maybe 47-48 kilos (about 105lbs). Now, many people tend to believe that skinny models all starve themselves. I’ve long disputed that because I’ve known many models who love to eat, and I’ve believed in a “model’s metabolism.” This girl was a perfect example! I watched stunned as she scarfed down a pizza three times the size of her head and two cokes, and I could only wonder where it was all going! Ah, to be 19 again….
Lunch wrapped up and we jumped back on the Metro and headed back to our apartment to continue shooting. There we made three more sets of photographs, including a cool partial outdoor set, during which we had quite an audience, including our elderly landlords, and a moody B&W set I’ve converted to Duotone that was inspired by a Dominique Isserman photograph of Laetitia Casta.
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The aforementioned chemistry between the model and me really came through in these photos and adds some punch. Plus, she’s just a great model and so I think we have some work that the distinguished membership of MET will really like.
The session wrapped up with no disasters this time, so we did the usual paperwork, snaps of me with the model, and said adieu, though I do hope to work with this girl again in the future.
We went for a last stroll around the neighborhood, back to the Chain Bridge ne last time, and then went out for another night of Hungarian food- this time roasted Goose livers with potatoes, and another bottle of fantastic Hungarian wine. We then met up with Robert, the girls’ agent, for coffees, traditional Hungarian deserts, and conversation about our next trip to wonderful Budapest. We finally crawled into bed late that night, having to catch a train back to Prague the next morning.
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Day 4
We left early, with kisses and hugs from our very sweet landlords (who just adored Nancy and wanted to adopt her), and struggled to get a cab back to the train station. We eventually made it and began the long trip back to our home in Prague (which is an equally fantastic city, by the way).
Budapest was really an experience. It went by much too quickly, and we’ll definitely be going back. The city is fantastically beautiful, very grand- you can feel the history in the air, and I’ve never had such a warm feeling from a group of people as that I felt from the Magyars (Hungarians).
To anyone looking for a European city to visit that is outside the usual “Paris, London, Rome” circuit, I highly recommend you give Budapest serious consideration. The food is excellent, the wine as superb as the French, the prices are low, and it all feels so very cosmopolitan.
Oh yeah… and the girls….. WOW
Until the next installment,
Richard Murrian
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Filed under: MET Art, Murrian, Nudes
