Three Years Of Adriana Lima

Posted by: Andrew Richard on Dec 30, 2002 at 08:40:30 Contact: 917-543-6847

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	Adriana Lima Age 15		How big do you need to be in order to be big? What makes a huge hit model a hit? And who decides when she is huge? Well I cant answer the first two questions but I will try to answer the third. Me....And You... The photo at left you are now looking at is of a Brazilian Model now living in NY. Adriana Lima... Adriana is someone I met just a few days after she got off her flight in JFK airport. Perhaps three years ago or so. I met her at a Ford party. I photographed her as I knew she would certainly be big in a short while. I dont know why. It was nearly six months until I met her again. This time her mom approached me ... It was again another Ford Model Party.
	She assumed I was a big celebrity photographer. I was not... I was a small celebrity photographer. Mrs Lima mentioned that her daughter would like to meet me and I offered her a few minutes of my time (no charge). We talked and I thought... here she is at a Ford Models Party... She is going to make it. I am sure of this. She has a look thats not what I would call perfect ...But very Ford. Very celebrity. Very up and coming. I photographed Adriana every chance I could. I met with her time to time backstage at runway shows during the season, and ocassionally ran into her on the streets just walking around with her friends. Once while at a runway show with photographer Gavin Giles we talked about her backstage and we both agreed she was the best in the show.		Adriana Lima Age 16
	Adriana Lima Age 16		She could barely speak English... Still she had something special which made me spend time with her. I knew every single time I saw her she would be a great and well known model someday. Though still I am sure you have not heard of her yet... So what I am writing here is history folks. If you watch her, and look for her in the magazines you will see more and more of her every season. Little by little she will become a very famous and wealthy girl... Watch and see if Im right. Well months passed and I hadnt heard from Adriana or anyone from Ford... I was walking down the street... Thinking about young models who come to NY to persue their dreams. Almost always caught up in the nightlife before they get their first job. Months and thousands of dollars later so many turn back for home broke, discouraged, tired and used... I wondered though which of the thousands of hopeful models in NY would actually make it... I wondered if I knew any of them.
	I thought how cool it would be if I had photographed someone famous before they were famous...  I walked passed the MTV building on Broadway and Times Square thinking in the traffic and noise. I looked up and there was a shot of Adriana Lima for Vassarette. Vassarette is a finer line of intimate apparel which is more well known abroad then here in NY... But that face... I knew immediately who it was. That image just hit me over the head. She had really made it now... Just two years after getting off her filght from Sao Paolo Brazil,there she was looking down at me from her perch above the world. Probably 5 million people walked past her face... Maybe ten times that... Not knowing her name, her story, her moms hopes, ambitions or wishes... They dont know how Mrs Ford works, or who Vassarette is, nor for that matter do most people care.I know...and you know. I know you will see this girl famous on the runways,in the press, in the catalogs, and out on the streets for many years to come.		Adriana Lima Age 18
	Adriana Lima Age 19		After just finishing the Womens 2000 shows, a month or two ago, I can tell you that Adriana is on more runways than any other model in NY today.That includes all the supermodels you know by name. The images here began three years ago at the first party, continue into a backstage shot from 2 years ago, then a runway shot from the same evening, followed by a catwalk shot for Carmen Marc Valvo Spring 2000 NY/RTW and then her Vasarette Billboard in Times Square ! Who decides when a model is huge...? Me... You...And.. All of us by talking about her, posting her photos, and by looking at her face in Times Square. Good Days To Ya... Andrew Richard 917-543-6847 You Can Do It !