Quietud, stillness. Valery, close and unhurried; a portrait that trusts what happens when nobody’s performing and the room goes quiet.

This one’s all shadow. We found an old wooden bench tucked into a stand of palms, the light almost gone, the greens going nearly black at the edges. She laid back across the slats, head tipped off the end, hair spilling down toward the ground, one hoop earring catching the last of it. I shot it dark on purpose and then got a little nervous it was too dark, which is usually the sign it’s right.

There’s a softness to her here, the loose black top, the easy way she’s laid out, but the look she’s giving the lens is not soft at all. Steady. Daring me to flinch first. That tension is the whole picture for me. Quiet on the surface, something solid underneath, and the jungle going dim around all of it.