Nigel: “Excuse me, can we adjust the attitude? Don’t make me feed you to one of the models” – “The Devil wears Prada”
As a child, I was never a super girly girl: I did not crave for pink, purple, sparkly, shiny things, I didn’t use to play with little jewels nor looked for twirly dresses or tutus. I was more into pets, I loved to swing and to bike 💕 I began taking pleasure in dressing “in a certain way” in the high school, even though it took me a few more years to overcome my legendary shyness to pose in front of the camera.
What I have recognized, over time, is that there is a silent and vibrant beauty in me and that I know how to dress tastefully. All this can be a strength, a power which sometimes…freaks me out! Have you ever felt scared because you felt real pretty or real good at something? Uhm, you will say: “Elena, this is contradictory and sounds crazy”, and I cannot blame you! The other aspect of my personality that you might ignore, as it is quite underlaid, is the level of ambition and competitiveness that I can have: it’s like a driven force motivating through events and situations, pushing me towards goals achieving. Sometimes I feel it is a bit unbalanced and maybe insane 😅 Last but not least, I confess: in my no longer girlish fantasies, I have dreamt ending up on the cover of Vogue magazine! And there is photo evidence to prove that!!
At this point, as I have already opened up too much, I am finishing this article with a big Thanks to my friend Maria who is a talented artist, who patiently took these portraits of me in 2014!
Elena Arvasi Portrait Photographer 