Just realised my first and last post is more than two months old. But that’s kind a me. Serendipity doesn’t go along too well with times of fomo, something i really can’t relate to. There is nothing to miss out to, only the life you live. And that’s happening no matter what you think about it. Stay here, stay present - all good.
So, since the Marvel Universe is expanding and my favourite character got it’s own show - released two days ago - i’ll add a real life story to it.
It’s 2007, i’m 28 and i take my first step on the moon - New York City.
I’ve never been taken aback by a city like that big city. Bangkok has been mind-bending with its mixture of golden temple roofs, ever-expanding jungle through the holes in the concrete of Blade-Runner-like Skyscrapers. But New York showed me what it meant to scrape at the sky and how the world could be united by one language. There is no city with greater diversity in my opinion - and this is a good thing. The struggle is real, the hustle is hard and if you have little money in NYC you will be busy making it.
But if you came with time and a Pentax 67 and were just out to take portraits on the street for your final work at University and you had a place to crush (Mira : ) and would spend the money you don’t have on Kodak Portra and the regular evening Cuban Sandwich at Café Habana in NoLIta you can walk miles in the heat of July just to catch the next interesting face on negative.
It’s only a week since i arrived and i see a good-looking fellow with curly hair on the opposite sidewalk. I approach him and ask if I could take his portrait. And this tall gentleman doesn’t only allow me to, he says that i mean good luck for him as i seemed to be aware of his presence. And yes, i have to say, he had a presence. He has a casting shortly and he is happy that i asked him. He asks me if he should pose, but i just wanted a simple portrait for my series. I ask him for his signature in my model release book and his email to send him a copy when i would use the image.
And that was it - 2007 - and out of the 60 to 70 portraits i took, i didn’t use his, because i couldn’t find a good matching virtual backdrop, which i inserted for my ‘Model Citizen’ series. He had a black shirt, two buttons open and i think it just looked a little too perfect. The negatives went to my archives, the model release book in my drawer and i didn’t look at it again til 2019.
BUT: everytime I saw a movie with Tom Hiddleston til 2019 - and there were quite a few on my cinema release list i went to see, ie ‘Midnight in Paris’, ‘Only Lovers left alive’ ‘War Horse’ and the Marvel flicks, I looked at him and thought to myself ‘I know this guy’ but denied it instantly. I thought the same when Daniel Brühl was sitting across the room in an Italian restaurant in Berlin in 2002 and i was staring at him being sure i knew him from a party. Until he stared back with that enervated look he would make as Niki Lauda or any other of his characters and i shamefully realised I did NOT know this boy next door. But he kind of has this appeal, so i wasn’t really wrong neither. I am just a big cineast.
I didn’t look at it again until 2019 and i don’t recall why. But it was cool. Opening a book and knowing I wasn’t wrong this time. I knew a half god before he became one.
Good job, Tom Hiddleston, I am glad you’re doing so well. I can’t say that of all people i portrayed on the streets and some have vanished at early ages. It seems to me your craft is evolving with every role you take, your spectrum widened. And i will believe - though i really don’t know you - that you are the same gentle being you have been before everything took off for you to the elevated heights of Asgard. I am happy to follow your path of mischievous adventures and hope the script will live up to your standards ; )
And i guess i still owe you a copy, let’s see, maybe your email address is still the same…
Tom Hiddleston, NYC 2007