Zsaharah by Jojie Alcantara

“But even though she was attractive, there was something else about her that caught his eye. She was intelligent, he could sense that right away, and confident, too, as if she were able to move through life on her own terms. To him, these were the things that really mattered. Without them, beauty was nothing.” ~Nicholas Sparks, Message in a Bottle

Whenever I shoot a model, I make sure she makes eye contact with me (or through the lens), as oppose to glam advertising shots that ask them to look like preoccupied puppets with a faraway squint in their eyes. Tyra Banks call it “smize“, smiling with your eyes. In my day, we used to say, “project!” or “emote!” (I was then a fashion model AND a runway director, like a playing coach in basketball terms. Oh right, an old fashioned Tyra minus the booty.) 🙂

My model is Zsaharah, of moslem descent, with a strong, attractive personality and a professional outlook in her work (she is a nurse, by the way). She became one of my favorites. Take a look at her naughty, slight SMIZE.

This photo, taken in 2008, won an award in a prestigious online photo competition, and has remained to be the most popular image in my Flickr page.

There you go. The eyes have it.