Before the photograph, there is a choice.
Before the clothes arrive, before the lights are positioned, before the microphone is switched on or the first idea becomes visible, someone looks at a project and says:
Her.
Let’s photograph her.
Let’s dress her.
Let’s invite her into this conversation.
Let’s discover what we can create together.
That moment rarely appears in the final result.
Nobody sees the email, the first message, the photograph that caught someone’s attention or the conversation in which a possibility began to take shape.
They see what came afterwards.
But I never forget what came first.
Someone chose to open a door.
Being chosen is not something I consider automatic.
Not by a photographer who imagines me inside a particular story.
Not by a brand that believes I can give its work a distinctive presence.
Not by a podcast host who invites me to bring my ideas into a new conversation.
Not by any professional who could have selected many people and decided to contact me.
Every choice creates responsibility.
If someone brings me into a project, I want to bring something real in return.
Preparation.
Energy.
Ideas.
Professionalism.
And the willingness to contribute—not simply to appear.
Because the best projects are never created by one person being observed while everybody else works around them.
They happen when different abilities meet.
Someone sees the image before it exists.
Someone creates what will be worn.
Someone understands the light.
Someone finds the right question.
Someone recognises a possibility that another person may not yet have seen.
Then all those separate choices come together and become something none of us could have produced alone.
That is what makes collaboration so interesting to me.
It is not only an opportunity to show what I can do.
It is an opportunity to discover what becomes possible when my work meets somebody else’s vision.
Of course, the choice must work in both directions.
I also need to recognise myself in the project, respect the people involved and feel that I can add something meaningful to what we are creating.
A good collaboration does not require one person to disappear inside another person’s idea.
It gives everyone enough space to make the idea stronger.
Not every project begins with a grand plan.
Sometimes it begins with a photograph.
A recommendation.
A conversation.
A simple message.
But behind every beginning, there is always someone willing to make the first choice.
So, to the photographers who place me inside their vision, the people who create what I wear, the hosts who invite my voice into their conversations and everyone who has imagined a place for me inside something new:
Thank you.
I know how much can begin with one word : Her.
Silvia