For myself and Justyna, this was the most important shoot so far. And probably the most stressful - even though we had all the time in the world and indecently comfortable conditions, we also had a serious task from our hero model.

We’ve always been admirers of photography - particularly nude art - but only recently seriously got involved in creating it. We did our first shoot with a model in July 2020 and afterwards got confident enough to invite our favorite model to cooperation - the amazing Kate Ri. And though they say “never meet your heroes”, this time it went even better than expected - we not only did two very satisfying photoshoots together, but started hanging out. Fast forward, and 4 months later the three of us are enjoying vacation on Madeira together - a couple expecting a baby and their friend. Or: a photographer, his assistant and a model.

Most of the shoots we did on Madeira were very relaxed, all about having fun and experimenting. But this one was different: Kate approached us with a specific idea, hoping that we could get it published. She also had a look of the photos in her mind, that was very different from our previous (very small) experience. This was no longer a bunch of friends having fun with a camera, we felt treated like real photographers, receiving a real assignment from a model superhero. I wore my professional’s hat, but inside I was eaten alive by the impostor syndrome.

We couldn’t really tell what we got until we selected and edited the photos. Only then we realized that on that sunny day in Madeira we did our best shoot so far. One that couldn't be done with anyone else in any other circumstances: it was as much of a product of skills, as it was of the great atmosphere we had there. Also - well - the product of the intense willingness of a beginning photographing duo to prove themselves. Kate might have become our friend, but she never stopped being our hero.

Kacper