The stalker groupies seemed to sense his indifference towards them, and Victoria couldn’t resist flashing them a smug grin accompanied by a dismissive wave. Turning her attention back on Mark, she was pleasantly surprised that he seemed to recognize her, the flattery quickly dashed as he mentioned her father. Of course. Lips briefly drawing into a thin line as she tried to think of how to carry the conversation away from her family, she glanced out into the buzzing auditorium and looked back to her soon-to-be teacher with a smile.
“Why don’t we sit down? I actually have some questions about the curriculum, and, er, if you don’t mind I’d like you to look at my portfolio? I have it stored on my phone, so…. Yeah.” Laughing easily, she added, “I know, I have like, two years until I even graduate and high school students rarely get gallery shows but I’d like to get a head start.”
Not giving him the chance to agree or disagree, Victoria plucked a few pieces of fruit from the assortment, put them on a plate and walked towards the table. She turned back to make sure he was indeed following, and pulled out her phone, preparing her portfolio. It had been a work in progress for about a year, always changing and trading out pictures that weren’t exactly up to standard. Her work was mostly candids of people on the streets of Seattle, as well as a few shots she’d snuck during LA fashion week when she’d gone. It was an obvious nod to Richard Avedon, who Victoria was attempting to model her career after.
Staring at the pictures for a moment, she looked up at him and offered him her phone. “Here. You don’t need to look through the whole thing, I just want any feedback you can give me.”
Already, Mark started seeing some of himself in this girl. Her suggestion to sit down showed how she also enjoyed taking the reins. Mark hated being a follower, but he decided he would play along for the sake of making a connection---or what this girl believed to be a connection. Social interactions never went skin-deep. He handled everyone on a surface level. Even when he began to obsess over his subjects, he could never love them. Teenage flavors of the month---that’s all they were. The stars turned into stardust as soon as he finished his art.
“Well, how can I say no to that ambition?” Mark asked rhetorically, chuckling as he followed Victoria to the table. He set his plate down and took a seat beside her. When she prepared her phone, he took the chance to eat a cracker with some cheese on it. As soon as the phone was ready, however, he wiped his hands clean with a napkin, careful that no crumbs were left behind on his fingertips. Mark respected technology more than people, and he had no interest in sullying the girl’s phone, even if her fingerprints were all over it.
Mark accepted the phone gingerly and began scrolling through the digital portfolio. Reading her name on top of the website, he confirmed that this was indeed the daughter of the prestigious Chase family. Victoria already appealed to him. Even if he didn’t use her as a model, there was the potential to use her and her family as a monetary resource. She may have not been Prescott-rich, but she was still rich all the same.
“I see you have an interest in high fashion and portraiture,” Mark said as he looked through the candid shots of well-dressed people in Seattle in their winter wear, along with the stealthy shots from LA’s fashion week. “You may have what it takes to make it as a paparazzo.” He was smug and precise enough to use the dead singular form of paparazzi, always keen on the details, be it in words or a composition. “But judging from the care you took in framing these images, I don’t think your pursuits are purely monetary. A lot of these photos are very Avedon-esque.”
He passed the phone back to Victoria and looked into her eyes. “I’m going to challenge you to photograph models who pose specifically for you. It’s a challenge all good photographers need to overcome. You can’t depend solely on them to craft your next masterpiece. You need to give proper direction.” He paused for a moment to let the information sink in. “Also, try doing more black and white photography. Focus on the light treatment---the chiaroscuro, in controlled studio environments. The street photos you took are interesting, but some of the lighting effects you achieved may have been pure luck.”