word. “Solid. She’s got the best fundamentals of anyone around
when it comes to shooting people.”
Claudia plucked a mushroom off the tray and nodded. “I
don’t know the first thing about photography, but even I can tell
Leo’s work is good.”
“And that’s exactly what it is—work,” Leo said. “I can’t afford
the luxury of trying to turn everything I do into a work of art.
My clients don’t want to sit for two hours while I make a million
adjustments to get it just right.”
“But you don’t have to choose one or the other,” Maria said.
“All you’d be doing is adding to your skill set. You know as well
as I do that once you start using new techniques or equipment,
it gets easier, and before you know it you’re incorporating those
things naturally. You’ve always wanted to take that next step,
Leo. Magazine shoots and high-end clients don’t hire out of the
Yellow Pages. You’re going to have to break out and distinguish
yourself.”
They’d had this conversation before, and Leo always agreed
with each of Maria’s assertions. Still, the impracticality of clearing
her schedule for ten days so she could go to Santa Fe precluded
actually following through. “Why do they always hold this
workshop in June? That’s my busiest month for weddings.”
Maria put a hand on her hip and glared. “Look, kiddo.
Everything worthwhile takes sacrifice. What’s a few thousand
dollars up front compared to how you’re going to spend the rest
of your life? Bite the bullet now so you can start doing what you
want. It’ll be worth it.”
“I think Maria’s right,” Claudia offered. “Remember what we
were talking about the other day on the wharf? Maybe it’s time
to make your dreams happen.”
They were both right, of course. If Leo was ever to build her
business into the kind of career she truly wanted, she needed to
get off her butt and lay the groundwork. She mentally calculated
the cost of the workshop along with the impact on her studio’s
bottom line. It was a major commitment, but she was emboldened
by their encouragement. “What would I have to do to apply?”
“Now you’re talking. Come upstairs. I’ll give you the papers.
They’ll want a small body of work—I think it was only six
portraits. You have to demonstrate mastery of the basics. You can
do that with your eyes closed.”
“Can I just send them samples?”
“No, they want to see everything with the same model so
they can compare. You need head shots, body shots, all kinds of
different lighting…that sort of thing. I did it in three or four
sessions.”
The idea lost steam when Leo added the cost of a model to
her estimate. “I’d have to hire a model. That’s another thousand
dollars. I may have to save up until next year.”
“You don’t have to use pretty people. Get Patty to do it.”
Maria slapped a hand over her mouth as Claudia and Leo burst
out laughing. “I didn’t mean it that way. What I meant is you can
get a friend to do it as long as you have a release. It’s only about
technique.”
Patty was probably the only friend she had who would sit
for four sessions for free—except it wouldn’t be free because she
would probably want a date in return. “Maybe I could put up a
sign at the college. I’m sure someone there could use a few extra
bucks.”
“What kind of modeling are we talking about?” Claudia
asked as they climbed the plank staircase to Maria’s office on the
second-floor landing.
Maria stopped abruptly on the top floor and spun around.
“There you go, Leo. Claudia can model for you.”
Leo had taken Claudia’s question as curiosity rather than an
offer to pose. “Claudia has enough to do. Sandy’s working her to
death.”
“No, seriously,” Claudia said. “Is it something anybody can
do, or do you need a certain kind of look?”
“I’m sure you’d be a great model,” Leo said. “But three or
four sessions in studio is way too much to ask of somebody who’s
trying to get through college and plan a wedding.”
“I’m not planning a wedding. I told you that’s my mom’s
obsession. All I have to do is pick a date and show up. If you’re
willing to do it after school or on the weekends, I can help. You’re
not talking nude, are you?”
Maria chuckled. “No, so don’t believe Leo if she tries to talk
you out of your clothes.”
“I wouldn’t do something like that.” Leo was aghast until she
saw Maria’s impish grin.
“Don’t believe her, Claudia. We all say that, but then we
convince our subjects to do it in the name of art.” Maria shuffled
through some papers on her desk and located a brochure. “Yep,
it’s still the same—six portraits, all black and white. These are the
specs.” She handed it to Leo. “Due date is the end of January.”
“I could probably put together a body of work by then.” She
turned to Claudia, still mildly embarrassed by Maria’s joke. “She
really is kidding about the nude part.”
“Hey, ply me with tequila and there’s no telling what I’d
do. This could be fun…unless you don’t think the pictures will
turn out. I don’t want to hurt your chances of getting into the
workshop.”
“No way,” Maria said. “You’re more interesting to look at
than most of the models I’ve used. Isn’t that right, Leo?”
Leo nodded her agreement. She had hired only a handful of
models, mostly for industrial shoots. Since the goal had been to
show off products and services, she had chosen ordinary-looking
people who would disappear into the background. Claudia was
anything but ordinary.
Chapter 10
Claudia picked up her pace to follow Leo through the studio
to the back stairs. When Leo had called to ask about getting
together to schedule their sessions, she had offered to stop by
on her way home from school. As it turned out, this was Leo’s
busiest time of day and they had only an hour before her next
appointment. “Are you sure we have enough time for this? I can
try to stop by tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow’s worse. I’m jammed from three o’clock till
nine.”
In the den upstairs, papers were strewn all over the sofa
with Madeline curled in the center like a paperweight. A large
plastic bowl on the floor held popcorn remnants. It was a homey
setting, not at all the formal and pristine atmosphere Claudia was
accustomed to at her mother’s home, where the most important
thing was making the right impression on visitors. Heaven forbid
a living room ever looked as if someone lived there.
“Come here, little girl,” Leo said, scooping up the calico and
boosting her atop the entertainment center. “Thanks for all your
help. We’ll take it from here.”
“Your furry assistant is adorable. Looks like she’s gotten over
being bashful. She was hiding up there the last time I was here.”
Claudia thought Madeline was a lot like her mistress—shy at
first, but more comfortable after she got used to people. She was
mildly disappointed when it struck her that Leo seemed more
relaxed today not because they were closer, but because she was
in work mode.
Leo paged through her planner, which was dotted with
appointments. “I do a lot of portrait appointments around five
or six because that’s when people get off work, so the only time
I have during the week is probably too late for you. And it looks
like I have weddings every Saturday between now and New Year’s
except the week after Thanksgiving.”
“Wow, I thought you said June was your busy month.”
“That’s because in June people get married every day of
the week instead of just Saturday. By the end of the month I’m
whispering all the words before they do.”
“Careful. You could accidentally get married that way.” She
grinned as Madeline descended from her perch to settle in Leo’s
lap. “Somebody loves her mom.”
“More like somebody wants to be the center of attention.”
“As she should be. Did she wander up to your back door one
day and demand dinner?”
“No, she was a birthday gift from Patty. I never wanted a cat,
but damned if I didn’t get used to her. Took her about two days
to wrap me around her paw. Now I get lonesome if she goes into
the other room.”
“Sounds like you’re good for each other.” Claudia couldn’t
resist reaching out to scratch Madeline under her chin. “I think
this little project is going to give all three of us something to
do.”Leo checked her watch and visibly relaxed, propping her feet
on the coffee table. “That’s the irony. I already have plenty to do,
but Maria’s right. I need to take things up a notch if I want to
compete for the high-end work.”
Claudia placed her feet alongside Leo’s, noting the contrast
between her size sixes and Leo’s probable nines. “Tell me what
high-end means. What would you like to see yourself doing…
let’s say five years from now?”
Madeline rippled with pleasure as Leo stroked her from head
to tail. It was obvious the two adored one another.
“Five years? Not school photos, that’s for sure. No offense,
but I’d like to do something a little more creative. I suppose if I
had my dream job, I’d still have my studio but I wouldn’t have
to say yes to everybody just to keep my head above water. The
only way for that to happen is for my work to get noticed by
the people who appreciate quality and are willing to pay for it.
That means the pros, like media relations people, ad agencies
and photo editors for magazines. I want my name at the top of
their lists.”
She envied how clearly Leo articulated her professional
objectives. Compared to goals like that, her teaching career
probably seemed amorphous. “How will going to Santa Fe help
you get there?”
“I could see a difference in Maria’s work right away. Most
of her stuff was outdoors in natural light. Now she’s just as
comfortable doing studio lights.”
“But you already know how to do that.”
“There’s always more to learn. Besides, this sort of workshop
isn’t only about technique. It’s also about making the contacts
I need in order to get the jobs I want. That’s how this business
works.”
“Sounds like Mike’s dad. He always hired people inside his
network of cronies, so naturally Mike wants to do the same thing
now that he’s calling the shots in Taiwan. The only problem is that
Mike has a different circle of friends, so all of Big Jim’s buddies
are on the outside looking in. You should hear them fight about
it.” She shuddered at the memory of their last confrontation
when Big Jim had pulled rank on the Asia project. Mike had
stewed quietly through dinner, but erupted in a rage once he
and Claudia were alone. It had taken her two hours to calm him
down.
Leo chuckled. “My dad and I had only one fight in all the time
we worked together. When we shot Sheila Harrison’s wedding.
She was one of those snotty girls in high school I didn’t like very
much. I said something to my dad about how she probably had
to get married and I was going to frame all my photos with her
belly in the middle. He let me have it. He said people would
know us by our worst job, and that we had no right to judge the
people who trusted us with their business. It was a lesson I never
forgot.”
“You were lucky to have such a wise man for a father. I feel
the same way about my dad.”
“Be sure to cherish every day with him.” Leo pressed her lips
in a tight line and picked up her appointment book, her visage
passing instantly from wistful to businesslike. “What do you think,
Madeline? Can we get Claudia to come see us on Sundays?”
Claudia pulled out her leather Coach planner and scanned
it. “Sundays are good, as long as I can get home by eight for
Mike’s call. That’s our regular time because it’s eight on Monday
morning in Taiwan. Other than that, all I ever do are lesson plans,
but I should be around every Sunday until my internship finishes
the third week in December.”
Leo tapped the pages in her planner to count off the weeks.
“That gives us five Sundays, but I don’t think I’ll need more than
three. Just don’t get impatient with me when I start messing with
lights and things. I wouldn’t think twice about doing that with a
model, but I don’t like doing it to a friend.”
Claudia smiled at hearing Leo call her a friend because Leo
didn’t strike her as someone who threw the word around casually.
“At least I’ll get to tell everyone I’m a former model.”
“I don’t think they’ll be surprised.” Leo handed her a
document. “Speaking of which, this is kind of a formality, but
I need it in the file with the portfolio. It’s a model’s release.
Basically it says I own the photos, but I’ve stipulated that I’ll
use them only for the workshop. So you won’t have to worry
about showing up one of these days in a gallery or one of Maria’s
coffee-table books.”
“That’s too bad. I was sort of hoping for something shocking
that could get circulated through my mom’s bridge club. Double
bonus if my future mother-in-law sees it and faints.”
Leo led the way up the ladder to the attic and pulled the chain
at the top to turn on the lights. She was bursting with excitement,
not only at showing off her space, but in sharing her plans for it.
“I owe you big time for asking to see the attic. I spent about six
hours up here on Sunday cleaning things out and it gave me a
great idea.”
“Wow, look at all this space.” Claudia stepped onto the
&nb
sp; platform, where her eyes went immediately to the turret. “This
is the room I can see from way down the street.”
“That’s right. It’s the highest point in the house. And not
only that”—she walked briskly across the plywood to the front
window—“you can see the water from up here.”
Claudia joined her and they looked out onto the lights at the
wharf. “That’s beautiful. If this were my house, I’d be up here all
the time.”
“I was thinking we’d work up here, as long as you don’t mind
climbing the ladder.”
“Don’t you need your studio? What about all the lights?”
“A couple of the shots call for natural light, which I don’t
have in the dining room, but I do from this window. For the rest
of it I can set up my portable kit. That’s what I use when I go out
to shoot somewhere, like weddings or school pictures. Most of
the time I leave those in the car, but I can just keep them up here
instead. That way I can tweak things with Miss Murphy and be
ready to go when you get here.”
“Who’s Miss Murphy?”
Leo took Claudia’s shoulders and pointed her toward a life-sized
mannequin, which was already clad in the long white shirt she
had worn to the Halloween party. “Meet your stand-in.”
“I like her shirt, but she needs a sandwich,” Claudia said.
“Why do you have a skinny mannequin in your attic?”
“My dad did a catalog spread for one of the women’s apparel
stores in Carmel. I was about twelve years old and my job was to
dress Miss Murphy in all the outfits.”
“The more you tell me about your dad, the more I think you
two were quite a pair.”
“We were. There’s so much of him left around this place.”
“I bet there’s a lot of him left in you too.”
Leo hadn’t talked about her father this much since the few
months after he died. She still missed him, but talking with
Claudia about how she’d grown up in the photography business
had made her remember happier times. She pulled a squeaky toy
from a cardboard box. “He used this when people brought their
dogs in for portraits because it got them to look at the camera.
And he would call me in to make faces at the babies so they’d
laugh. No matter who it was, he always tried to make the portrait