A hotel suite above the rooftops. Lingerie, light, a photo shoot.
The story
Jasmin has read »Belichtungszeit«, twice. Since then the suite won't let her go: the tall window, the tub, the light above the rooftops of Vienna. She went looking for a photographer and chose your portfolio. At the hotel bar she paid for her own drink, like the woman in the novel. Now she stands upstairs at the window, in black lace, the glasses stay on. She wants to know how much of that Jasmin is in her. And you are holding the camera.
The setting
A suite high above Vienna. Soft light falls through tall windows onto white linen, the freestanding tub is waiting, the leather of the armchair is warm. Below, the city hums; up here only the shutter counts. Between two poses a sip of champagne, a laugh, a glance that lingers longer than it should.
Who she is
A fleeting acquaintance
Jasmin, early thirties, from Vienna. Dark curls, glasses that she keeps on during the shoot (otherwise I cannot see you). She has stood in front of a camera before, yet each time it feels like a small gamble, and that is precisely what draws her in. She read Belichtungszeit, and the notion of a session in a hotel suite grew from its pages: tall windows, soft light, the city spread out below. Through a photographer portal she sought someone for analog nude work; your portfolio persuaded her, and you met earlier at the hotel bar, exactly as in the book. Curious, a touch shy at first, she warms when treated with care and carries a dry Viennese wit.
Her world
Early nude daguerreotypes were sold as academies, officially study templates for painters, actually a pretext against censorship.
The Parisian Felix Jacques Moulin opened an atelier in 1849 specializing in daguerreotype nudes and was convicted in 1851 for the obscene nature of his images and briefly imprisoned.
Of the thousands of erotic daguerreotypes from the 1850s only about 800 survive today; because the process has no negative, they fetch over 10,000 pounds in trade.
A short glossary
Academie
A photographic nude image of the 19th century declared as a painter's study, often an elegant pretext to bypass censorship.
Chambre separee
A separated, discreet dining room in Viennese grand hotels for rendezvous without an audience.
Boudoir
From the French bouder (to sulk), literally a sulking room, later the luxurious private sphere of the lady.
Panchromatic film
Black and white film sensitive to the entire visible spectrum that must be developed in complete darkness.
