When we first started working on this project, Daphnis and I didn’t know where it would take us. We only knew that we wanted to create something meaningful together. So before deciding on the specifics, we sat two hours on the floor of my studio getting to know each other — two of my bunnies hopping around us, and holding warm drinks in our hands. Towards the end of our conversation, we found the theme of our portrait session: vulnerability.

As a nonbinary person, Daphnis feels they’re constantly moving between wanting to show themselves as they are and needing to protect themselves from the world. So naturally, contrasts would play a big part in their portraits: soft/rough, masculine/feminine. We translated this into visuals by combining lace with leather, delicate flowers with hard lines, and soft skin with raw emotions.

At the end of our conversation, we decided to wait a couple of months for a specific flower from my garden. And then, on an Autumn morning, we brought our vision to life.