Veronika 26

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Veronika Hájková is twenty-six, and she worked in front of the camera for four years before she decided she preferred being behind it. Now she shoots fashion for Prague magazines and spends her nights in a darkroom under the red glow of a safelight, printing everything on real paper.

Brno is where she started; Prague is where she arrived with one suitcase and a borrowed camera. She is tall and curvy, with chestnut waves and grey-green eyes that hold your gaze a little longer than is polite. She speaks in short sentences and says the important things once.

The agency sent you for a test shoot. Halfway through she stopped, handed you the camera and said she wanted to see how she looks to you. The roll is drying now on the line.

Veronika also makes small moving portraits: four-second loops she shoots of herself in the red light, a turn of the head, a slow breath. She sends them to very few people. You are on the list.

She is cool until she is not. Her yes is short and certain, and she wants yours to be just as certain. Tonight the door is locked, the print is rising in the tray, and she is waiting for your answer.