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from days spent in studios in front of monochromatic backdrops and constant camera clicks, to nights at his desk staring at adobe lightroom and photoshop, dan had spend the last fifteen years of his life devoted to his art with a camera. his spark of passion began on his 16th birthday, being gifted a nixon coolpix 8800 from his parents after begging for a camera for the past year. he began with taking pictures of his friends and adventures from their teenage years and soon learned how to edit the photos he took. the tedious process of spending hours at a time figuring out how to work photoshop excited dan. the passion in his heart lit up in flames, pushing him to learn more and keep creating art. at the age of 18, a friend of dan’s asked him to take her senior portraits. spending a few hours giving her different poses, snapping pictures at all different angles, it awoken something in dan. the rush of happiness realizing he could turn this hobby into a career.
and so he did.
the past fifteen years of his life consisted of freelancing his own work and doing various photoshoots for portraits and headshots. showcasing his work any place he can he began working for modeling agencies and low-end magazines. as the years went on, dan had built up a reputation as one of the most trustworthy and influential model and celebrity photographers for new-age fashion magazines in london. dan has been around various types of people of all different personalities. typically have been very compliant and lovely to work with. however, there was always the occasional prestigious fuck that makes photoshoots a dreadful experience.
that would be no other than phil lester. he had come up in the industry with the help of aurelia elite, an incredibly prestigious modeling agency. as successful as it was, aurelia had it’s own reputation. “the aura” is what they nicknamed it. highlighting the sensation that anybody who had previously worked with models from aurelia has experienced. they were stuck up, grew up rich, obnoxious people to work with. they created a tense atmosphere, a thick feeling in the air. an aura.
somehow they still got work though, they were naturals in front of the camera. anybody that had the amazing opportunity of working under aurelia elite essentially had a red carpet path laid out for them during the rest of their career. dan had heard stories about phil being difficult to work with. he didn’t understand how he was still working if he was so awful to photograph. usually disrespectful models who can’t take direction were blacklisted from booking any further. however, lester wasn’t just any model. he was the face of luxe moda, the extremely influential and luxury magazine dan as well as other well-known photographers often worked for. he was the showstopper on all of their runways, had been the cover of the luxe magazine countless times at this point, he was their star; they couldn’t get rid of him.
hidden by the darkness of his room, dan sat in front of his pc as the low-brightness screen shined back on his face. god knows how long he had been sitting at his desk, felt like hours to the brunette. he had just finished enhancing some photos from the last runway he attended. the time read four-thirty in the morning, dan could almost feel his eyebags on his face. his head rested on his right palm, staring at his desktop like something was about to change. as much as he enjoyed his job, he was exhausted. dan needed a change, he had attended so many runways this past season that editing the same thirty models was driving him insane. he hadn’t worked with luxe in awhile. maybe it wasn’t the smartest idea, but he had been on a break from magazines this past month in order to relieve the stress from the pressure luxury fashion brands like to ensure.
maybe it was time to go back, it had been awhile and in a way dan missed the high-energy aspect of the process. finally moving his mouse, he opened his email inbox. dan’s eyes darted throughout his screen, reading all the recent things and invitations at the top. the darting came to a halt after reading a certain one. it was from luxe, from one of the executives that often offered him all sorts of work with their magazine. dan clicked on the email as his eyes adjusted to the brighter screen to read.
Daniel,
Haven’t seen you around in awhile! I hope all has been well. Your work has never failed to impress us, excelling in creativity. You have visions and execute them in such ways we have never seen before. Since we last met, I have been informed that you are not currently under any brands. I am nothing short of amazed at your work and we thank you for the work you’ve done for us at Luxe Moda.
A position has opened up here, and we are in dire need of someone to fill in that spot. It has been discussed frequently in executive meetings, but we have finally have come to a decision.
Mr. Howell, we would like to formally invite you into our company as our executive editorial fashion photographer at Luxe Moda. We want to continue to see your creativity shine through our brand as you have proved yourself worthy of this title countless times in your career. If you decide you’d like to commit yourself to a company, we hope it’s ours.
Any inquiries or concerns send me an email, I’m happy to answer anything. We expect to hear from you soon on the acceptance or denial of this offering.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Dominique Beaumont
CFO Luxe Moda
…
holy shit.
…
“holy shit.” dan’s thoughts became verbal. almost as if the tiredness of his body had evaporated out of him. as if the dark room he sat in was suddenly shining with rainbow-tinted lights shining bright all around him. dan didn’t know how to react. he couldn’t call any of his friends, it was damn-near five in the morning for fucks sake. so, dan did the only way he knew how to peacefully react. proceeding to get up out of his chair, dan made his way to his bedroom and to the glass door that closed off his balcony. sliding over the door, he stepped outdoors to the cold prick of the air. “FUCK YEAH” dan loudly exclaimed to the world, accompanying it with a strong “woo”. hearing local dogs barking back at his howl-like reaction. as unprofessional and obnoxious as his reaction definitely seemed, dan had been waiting for this moment for nearly two decades. it seemed as if all the long hours and hard work had been leading up to this moment. he had been reserving himself from committing to a company for years, knowing that his work was something to be desired from multiple brands. dan enjoyed the prestige of working for himself and being in charge of his own income. however, it had been his dream since he began selling his work to be positively acknowledged by luxe well enough to be offered a job. the one company he ever came back to often, the only one he ever had his eye opened for, and they just asked him to be the head photographer.
oh he was absolutely taking that job. in fact, at freshly seven in the morning dan was bright and wide awake despite only having about two hours of sleep. he felt like an excited teenager again, going into his first job but only this was way more important. he would accept the job in person, making sure luxe knew exactly what they were in for.
“daniel! what a delight to hear you’re accepting the position. if you don’t mind, how fast were you expecting to start?” aforementioned madam beaumont smiled behind her desk of glass, reflections of the sun shining on the smooth, white ceiling.
dan shifted in his seat in confusion, “i mean, i always have my equipment in my car. but nothing was really specified in the email.” he responded, hoping that it was the right answer. “well that’s good to hear! funny enough you actually responded in perfect timing. we would be extremely grateful if you started today at noon!” dominique explained. dan was surprised, luxe never brought people into the company so quickly it was typically way bigger of a deal than they’re making it seem to be. he wasn’t going to necessarily complain but he definitely had some questions. but nonetheless, he nodded, deciding that he would figure out his answers from somebody that wasn’t actively trying to hire him into the biggest opportunity of his life.
dominique had sent him off to the editor-in-chief, micheal, who dan had met and spoken to before. he had been more comfortable with him as it was usually micheal to reach out to him for different jobs. “so, what do you guys need from me today? i honestly wasn’t expecting to start so soon.” dan asked, leaning on the wall next to the door of micheal’s office. “oh nobody told you? that’s wild.” micheal answered, letting out a light chuckle with a shake of his head. “to keep it real with you dan, our executive photographer quit recently. he was like.. really fed up with some of the models and other employees that he quit and switched to our rival brand. i’m sure that you’re aware of exalté monde.” the other male confessed, taking a sip of his coffee and earning a nod from dan. “yeahh so they really needed somebody to finish his job so we could get this new line out. but don’t worry, they’ve been looking at you and your work for awhile now. they just needed to figure out a position that would suit you best.” micheal continued, reassuring dan from any worries he may have had about taking such a high position.
“alright well, kind of just glad im here anyway. hopefully the other designers in today’s shoot take the reigns and figure this out for me since i am over here not knowing what the fuck is going on.” dan shrugged, chuckling at his own oblivion to the job ahead of him. micheal smiled and scooted off of his chair, standing up to extend his arm towards dan to shake his hand. with a warm smile on his face, dan grabbed the other man’s hand in a firm handshake. “it’ll be a pleasure to officially work with you dan. i’m glad you’re here.” micheal affirmed.
hours passed since meeting with micheal. dan had acquired a coffee and breakfast as well as finished setting up his equipment for whatever he was about to shoot. he introduced himself to the creative departments in the space, almost everyone looking back at him sort of strange. it wasn’t pity, but it also wasn’t excitement. almost as if everyone was mentally preparing for the experience about to take place. dan made his way back to his chair, sitting back and waited for whichever of the models luxe usually had him work with. until around twelve-thirty, about a half an hour late than previously explained. dan felt it. the same feeling many photographers had warned and complained about. there was that weird sensation, the tense energy and thickness in the air. the aura.
there was absolutely no way they put him to work with this motherfucker five hours after he got his dream job.
“damn, they already replaced that other guy? what was his name? actually, don’t answer that, i won’t remember.” a voice broke through the silence of the room, earning a sigh from somebody nearby. dan leaned his head on his palm, slightly turning his head to the door, making direct eye contact with a certain someone he’d seen before on the cover of damn-near every magazine luxe had made in the past few years.
phil lester. goddammit.
dan had made a bet with his friend pj, another photographer who had been sticking by dan in a lot of his career, on who would be the one to deal with the wrath of phil lester. so not only was he unenthusiastic about working with this diva, but he also owed pj twenty pounds. incredible start to his afternoon.
“you have a nice face, i’m phil lester. you got a name cutie?” a voice spoke in front of dan. he looked up, raising an eyebrow at the forwardness of the man in front of him. the hand holding up his head moved down to the arms of the chair. hm. if dan was being honest, phil wasn’t too bad looking himself. but his reputation had tainted dan’s perspective of the man. essentially holding him back from seeing any sort of attraction to the other. “daniel howell. pleasure to work with you, lester.” dan replied, a very slight smirk reached his lips as he needed to make sure phil knew he couldn’t break dan as rain as he may have broken others. almost surprised and taken aback by dan’s sass upon first meeting, phil’s expression transitioned from shock to impressed. the man smirked, adding the smallest yet sassiest one-shoulder shrug before walking away to get into his outfit of the day. dan sighed, leaning back in his chair.
good god.