'I am glad that my fate smiled at me and sent me Stephan as a source of inspiration for creativity and Igor as a help in the implementation of my creative ideas.'
In part one of his journey into nude modeling (
HERE:)
Artem (Артём) shared how discovering the work of
Stephan Tobias inspired him to reach out for guidance. There on-line back and forth helped in part to Artem's first nude shoot, and a artistic connection which led to mentee and mentor eventually connecting in person.
'Every day I spent a lot of time looking at Stephan's photos on Instagram and I could only imagine what he really was like. On Instagram, Stephan has an excellent diary about life events and I became his most loyal follower on Flickr. Every day I discovered for myself new facets of his work. On Flickr, I saw that Stephan not only poses qualitatively in front of the camera, but he is also talented photographer.
We already corresponded quite closely with Watsapp, but I wanted more. I wanted to see Stephan, I wanted to learn from him his craft, I wanted to be opposite the lens of his camera and pose in front of him. Thoughts about a possible closeness with him inspired me to new and new photo shoots.'
'The more time passed, the stronger was my desire. I thought: “What can I do to see him?” The fact that my sister lives in Frankfurt am Main and recently gave birth to my nephew. This was a great occasion to visit her. Stephan lives in Berlin. I decided to take tickets to Berlin and at least for a couple of hours to meet with Stephan, and then go to my sister in Frankfurt by bus. I wrote to Stephan about plans to visit my sister and about the desire to meet him at least for a short while.
I was pleasantly surprised by his responsiveness. Stephan suggested I stay with him for a couple of days. It was happiness for me! I did not expect this at all. There was still quite a lot of time before my trip to Germany. I was looking forward to the moment when I could see the man with whom I filled my fantasies, who, unbeknownst to him, involved me in the world of photo art. Time in anticipation of the meeting dragged on for a very long time.'
'When I flew to Berlin, Stephan threw the coordinates of his apartment onto my phone and explained how to get there. Train, transfer to another, walk on foot in search of the desired street and house. And so, I press the bell on the front door, the door opened and the last obstacle is the staircase. I climbed the stairs to the desired floor ... The door is open ... Stephan meets me! On his face is that smile that I have long dreamed of seeing in reality. It was he. Exactly the same as in the photographs.'
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It was wonderful to finally meet him. Before we even got into the apartment, we hugged and kissed in a friendly manner. Stephan’s apartment was also like from his pictures, I have already seen her several times, but this time it, he was real and I could carefully examine and touch everything.'