5 minutes with HESLEY SALIS and RACHELE MARTINELLO

A few photos and I immediately understood...

...that I had two beautiful, immensely talented models in front of me.

They are young, Hesley is 21 and Rachele is 22, but they already have the experience needed to carry a shoot on their own, with that confidence that makes the work smooth and rewarding for both sides.

I met them at an event I was attending as a guest, not as an organizer. I didn't want to take up the participants' time or disrupt the day's schedule, so I took advantage of a break to ask them for a few minutes. Five minutes each, no more. Very little, and yet it was enough.

I set up the shoot in no time, with just the essentials: a softbox about 30° off-axis to my right to give shape and direction to the light, and a white polystyrene panel on the opposite side to fill in and soften the shadows. Nothing complicated. When you have the right people in front of you, you don't need anything else.

And indeed, it took very little. After so many years behind the camera, I have learned to recognize certain things almost immediately: the way a model finds the light, how she moves between one shot and the next, whether she follows you or anticipates you. Hesley and Rachele convinced me after only a few shots. They have a distinctive beauty that doesn't go unnoticed, and they already know how to pose naturally.

On top of that, they are friendly, which never hurts. A set works better when you work with a smile.

That's why I've decided I want them both at the next Shootout in Rome, from January 22 to 25, 2027, together with 30 other extraordinary international models. If five minutes squeezed into a break gave these results, I can't wait to discover what we'll be able to do with all the time and calm they deserve.