Title: A Thousand Words (1/3)
Rating: PG-13
Warnings/Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: I don't own Community, yo.
Summary: Jeff enlists Annie to be his muse for a project in his photography class. He's inspired by one particular photo to finally tell her how he feels.
A/N: Based on a prompt by leap_of_faith81 that marries two of my favourite things in the world: writing and photography.
A Thousand Words
"As you can see from the outline, there are a few specific requirements for your third and final portfolio," said Professor Lewis. Jeff sat back in his seat looking over the sheet of paper in his hand. His photography course had been surprisingly interesting and fun—something he never thought he'd get to say about a Greendale class. Professor Lewis was actually qualified to teach the subject, and she had such a passion for the art that it was kind of contagious. Jeff had never had the photography bug until he took this course, but seeing her excitement about it, and getting to do unique assignments with a good camera completely turned him on to the prospect of making photography an actual hobby for him rather than something he occasionally did at parties to embarrass his friends.
"The first requirement for this portfolio is that you use natural light. Now, this doesn't mean you have to go outside on a sunny day and snap around—of course, you can, but natural light can be used in a myriad of ways, and as always, you're going to be graded on your creativity and vision in addition to the basic elements of the photograph," Professor Lewis explained. "Remember the tone you're looking for in your pictures. Remember shadows. Remember the beautiful effects a cloudy day can have on a photo. You don't even have to be outside. Consider trying a few shots in a naturally-lit room. You are in no way limited by the opportunity to use natural light—if anything it will make your photos all the more spectacular.
"The second requirement is to have a theme. I don't want to see portfolios where one photo has nothing to do with the next. Try to tell a story with your images. Make sure that your point of view is reflected. This may seem like vague advice to some of you, but I guarantee that once you're out there you'll know what I mean. It's exhilarating to conceive an idea for a photo-journey and then actually take it.
"The final requirement is that you use a human subject."
Jeff looked up from his paper at this. Crap. He'd gotten really comfortable taking pictures of birds and insects. He didn't even know where to look for a model.
Well... he did. He just didn't want to.
"I know shooting people can be tricky, but it really is one of the major cornerstones of this industry. It's the pictures of people that make the largest impact of the viewer, because so much can be reflected. And please keep in mind, when I say a human subject, I'm not talking about finding the prettiest person you can and taking bright, smiley pictures of them. I'm talking about finding someone who inspires you. Someone who is interesting, either physically or emotionally, and who is expressive. Some of the most inspirational images are not of models, but of the elderly, or children. Seek out a person who has a story, and then let them tell their story through your lens.
"As always, your portfolio should look professional. Retouch if you must, but please not too much. Remember that the beauty of a person is not told through the clarity of their skin, but through the clarity of their eyes." At this point, Professor Lewis finally took a breath, and set down her own copy of the outline. "Any questions?"
As Jeff exited his class, camera in hand, he went through his mental black book of people he could ask to model for him. Of course, he'd dated more than a few professional models in his time, but he had little interest in reconnecting with them. Besides, Professor Lewis had seemed pretty opposed to taking that easy route – and for once, Jeff himself wasn't interested in the easy route. He wasn't sure what it was about this class, but he suddenly had a yearning to actually do an assignment the right way.
He thought about what she said about elderly people and children. His entire collection of elderly people consisted of Pierce and his mom (who would swat him upside the head for calling her elderly). He didn't particularly want to subject her to a photoshoot with him (he had a tendency to get a little heady when he was taking pictures... seriously, this class had done something to him). He definitely did not want to spend a full day alone with Pierce. He shuddered at the thought.
As for children, the only children he knew were Shirley's boys, and while he liked them in small doses, the idea of willingly looking after them for an afternoon made him want to crawl in a hole and die.
He thought about the rest of his friends. Abed would be an interesting subject, since he had such a unique, angular face and bird-like movements. But Abed was a statue, and his eyes offered nothing to inspire a viewer. Abed's neuroses were buried too deep within him for a camera to pick up, so Jeff moved on. He skipped right over Troy, because really, what's the point? He skipped over Shirley too, because she wouldn't even let him take pictures of her under normal circumstances. Britta was a possibility, but he had a feeling that by asking he would be inviting her to share her lengthy opinions on the representation of women in magazines and media, and that was just the last thing he wanted to listen to.
Of course, through all of this brainstorming, he'd purposely skipped over the most logical choice. Annie, while beautiful, was so much more than that, and he had a feeling that Professor Lewis could be properly moved by an image of his young friend if it was taken just right. Not to mention, Annie's eyes could drop the Spartan army if she wanted to – goodness knows she'd used them as a weapon against Jeff on more than one occasion.
But aside from Annie's physical attributes, she had something else that was special. She had a story, a history. In her short 22 years, she'd been through more than most people go through in 50 years. Jeff had only recently started allowing himself to think of her in that way—as a fully functioning adult with a history and a long, difficult life before him. But it was tough. Was he ready to admit to her that he was utterly fascinated by her? That he wanted to take the picture of her that showed in raw clarity just how much she'd faced?
Jeff eventually had to accept the one simple fact about this assignment: he had to ask Annie to be his model. Professor Lewis wanted them to use subjects who they felt inspired by, and no one in the world inspired him like Annie did. There was simply no other option.
With a resigned sigh, he headed for the study room to meet with the group, and to try and figure out how to ask Annie to be his muse.
Study group, as usual, was less about studying and more about the group for the hour that followed Jeff's photography class. To his credit, he didn't spend the entire 60 minutes trying to figure out how to get Annie to agree to be his muse, although the 45 minutes he did spend on it made it difficult for him to focus.
All too soon, though, the group was packing up to leave for the day. Jeff had barely noticed the time had gone by before Annie was up and away with her bag, making a swift exit. Kicking his brain into action, he pulled himself quickly from his seat and chased after her, catching up about halfway down the hall.
"Annie," he called. She spotted him over her shoulder and slowed so he could catch up. "I was wondering if you'd be able to help me out with something for one of my classes." Annie's eyes lit up to cartoon proportions and she smiled.
"Jeff! Are you actually putting effort into a school project?" she teased. Jeff chuckled lightly.
"Yeah, I think I saw some flying pigs on my way in this morning too." Annie giggled and gave him a little nudge with her elbow.
"Well, better late than never. What do you need?" Jeff bit the inside of his lip, trying to figure out how to phrase this particular request. It wasn't exactly a diorama he was looking for assistance with.
"It's actually for my photography class," he began, a little awkwardly. Annie smiled and nodded for him to continue. "We-need-a-human-subject-for-our-next-assignment-and-I-was-wondering-if-you-were-interested." He speed-talked the request in a single breath, but gave himself a mental pat on the back for getting it out without sounding creepy. Annie seemed to waffle with this.
"Wouldn't you rather work with someone who has experience with that sort of thing?" she asked. Jeff shook his head adamantly.
"No, we're not supposed to use professional models." She bit her lip.
"Well, don't you think you could find someone a little more...photogenic?" she attempted.
"Like who?" he asked, a certain level of disbelief evident in his tone.
"I don't know... Britta?" Jeff rolled his eyes.
"Annie, you're plenty photogenic—trust me." She continued to nibble her lip. "Look, if you don't want to..."
"No, it's not that. It's just..." She thought about this for a moment before finally meeting his gaze, "...why me?"
Jeff hesitated a moment with this. He knew why, but it was hard to put into words—especially given the way their relationship had progressed over the past few years. He knew at this point that there was a very fine line between 'just friends' and 'something more' between him and Annie, and fully explaining why he wanted her to be his muse tended to fall on the latter side of that line.
Nonetheless, Annie stood before him expecting an explanation, and he knew he had little choice but to give her one.
"Okay," he said determinedly. He took a deep breath and leaned against the wall, as if the stable force would make it easier. "Annie, you know you're one of my best friends, right?" she nodded, mimicking his stance by also leaning against the wall. "Good. Because you are, and I have a lot of respect for you, you know?" Again, she nodded. "Anyway, this assignment is all about finding someone who... inspires you, and telling their story with pictures. And when I think about you, and all you've been through... it's impossible for me not to feel that way...inspired, I mean." Jeff bit down on the inside of his cheek as he let that sink in. He forgot to breathe until a small smile graced Annie's features.
"Okay," she said quietly. "I'll do it." Jeff let out a long breath.
"You will?" She smiled a little wider and nodded, reaching out and placing a hand on his arm.
"Jeff, in four years, that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me. And I know you don't like mushy stuff, so I just want you to know that it means a lot to me." Jeff smiled lightly.
"Well, I meant it," he said quietly. She smiled and reached up on her tippy-toes, placing a small kiss to his cheek.
"I know you did."
Jeff spent the rest of the week coming up with a plan of action for his Annie photoshoot. He had a lot of ideas, but for some reason they all seemed either too frou-frou or too depressing to really tell her story in a way that was realistic and fair to her. He'd scouted a few locations, counting on the weather to be sunny and hot, as advertised.
Finally, when Saturday arrived, he'd come to the realization that whatever would happen would happen. He trusted Annie to take this seriously, since it was for a grade, and he'd always appreciated capturing genuine moments over posed portraits anyway.
When he pulled up to the Trobed building, Annie was waiting outside for him wearing a knee-length floral sundress, red flats and carrying a broad-rimmed hat. She looked perfectly adorable, exactly as he had asked her to when they were planning out the day's events. She gave him a wide smile as she climbed into the car.
"Hey!" she greeted brightly. Jeff smiled back.
"How's it going?" She buzzed a little as she did up her seat belt.
"Good! A little excited, a little nervous," she offered. Jeff offered a small grin and pulled out of the parking lot.
"There's nothing to be nervous about, Annie. It's just me," he said. She fixed him with a glare.
"Yeah, because you're not intimidating at all." He raised an eyebrow, but she just waved him away. "Besides, it's not you, it's that," she said, gesturing to the camera bag in the backseat.
"It'll be fine," he assured her. Jeff peered at her out of the corner of his eye, noting the way she seemed to nibble uncomfortably on her lip. He reached over and placed his hand on her knee. "Annie, you're gonna do fine." She offered a small smile, allowing her hand to land on top of his as they drove out of town.
They'd been driving for about 25 minutes when Jeff pulled off the road. Annie looked around, realizing that there was absolutely nothing around them of note. The stretch of road they'd been on was completely surrounded by trees.
"Umm, is this the part where you kill me?" Annie asked nervously. Jeff chuckled.
"There's a great spot about a quarter of a mile into the woods." She frowned.
"I'm not really dressed for a hike," she said, gesturing to her dress.
"Don't worry, there's a trail... you'll be fine," he said, grabbing his camera bag and climbing out of the car. Annie sighed, sitting back in her seat for a moment, looking around. Well, they were definitely alone, that was for sure. Steeling herself for whatever was about to happen, Annie pushed her door open and climbed out, allowing Jeff to help her down the embankment and into the woods.
They walked for about fifteen minutes before the dense woods on either side of the... well, Jeff called it a trail, though Annie wouldn't have given it that glamorous a title...either way, the woods eventually did let up, leading to a small, bright, clear space on the banks of a small river. Annie smiled as it came into view.
"This is really beautiful, Jeff." He looked at her behind him and smiled.
"I thought you'd like it. Before he left my dad would take me out here to go fishing," he explained. Annie smiled sadly at him. He wasn't usually forthcoming with information about his father, so she opted not to push it.
"So do you come here a lot?" He shrugged, setting down his camera bag and opening it.
"Sometimes. It's not a bad place to just sit back and relax." He put the strap of his camera over his shoulder and looked around. "So, I was thinking this might make an interesting spot for a photoshoot. The trees offer some really cool shadows, and there's some room to manoeuvre and get different shots." Annie nodded and looked around as he said this. "So what do you think? Want to get started?" She looked at him, eyes wide.
"Right now?" she asked. Jeff nodded.
"Yeah. I mean, there's not much else to see... and I know it's sunny now but they they're calling for showers later..."
"Oh, right, yeah," Annie said. "I guess I just thought there'd be some preamble..." She looked around, hoping some of the trees would be able to tell her what the hell to do now. Jeff crossed over to where she was standing and put his hand on her shoulders.
"Annie," he said in a calming voice. She looked up at him. "You're gonna do great. Just walk around and be yourself, and I'll take pictures when you do something interesting, okay?" Her brow furrowed.
"What exactly constitutes 'interesting' in this situation?" she asked. "Somehow not tripping over tree roots?" Jeff offered a small smile.
"Just be yourself, Annie. That's interesting enough." Annie frowned up at him and looked around once again. Finally, after another look, she shrugged his hands off her shoulders and wandered away.
Jeff chuckled lightly as she walked away from him muttering, "Interesting... be interesting," to herself. He clicked on the camera and looked through the viewfinder as she manoeuvred a little awkwardly before reaching the river. She spun around and looked at him, just as he clicked a picture. "Whoa, okay, we're starting?" she asked. Jeff laughed.
"Yes, we're starting," he said with a chuckle. Annie rolled her eyes, but gave him a little grin over her shoulder, which quickly captured, before she continued onward along the riverbank.
Despite a rocky start, Annie did eventually figure out what Jeff was trying to do. Every so often he would tell her to stop or do that again or look at me, now look left, now look up¸ etc. After a while, Annie realized that doing a photoshoot like this was pretty easy. She wasn't sure what she expected from Jeff, whether it be barking orders, putting her in weird positions or creepily following her around, but she was relieved to find he was doing none of those things. They were chatting and laughing and playing around, just like always. The only difference was, he occasionally snapped a picture of her.
About half an hour after they began, Jeff took a peek through the pictures he'd taken and then looked around their immediate area once again.
"You want to try something new?" he asked. She raised an eyebrow.
"I'm just a model, Mr. Winger, I don't have an opinion," she teased. Jeff laughed lightly and gestured to a tall tree.
"Alright, go behind that tree and just kind of...peer out at me, okay?" he asked. She gave him a little smile and wandered to the location he'd noticed.
"Alright, what do you want me to do?" she asked as she peeked out. He directed her a little more so she was perfectly placed before snapping a few shots.
"Okay, now instead of smiling can you just... I don't know... look distant?" She offered him a confused look. "Like you're thinking about something... traumatic, I guess." Annie frowned a little at this. Things had been pretty light thus far. This was taking an interesting turn.
"Traumatic... how? Like parents' divorce traumatic, or rehab traumatic?" she asked. Jeff frowned, remembering for the first time since they'd been there that the beautiful, effervescent woman in front of him was that same woman who had been through so much in her past. He thought about this for a moment.
"Umm... I guess whatever is more meaningful for you," he eventually directed. She nodded slowly, and he watched as her eyes blinked away the last remnants of her smile, before she was finally just looking off into the distance as if she was in search of something—some meaning, some truth that she wasn't able to find. He almost felt wrong taking the picture, but in doing so, he knew he'd captured what he came out here for.
After a few more shots, which thankfully brought them back up to the playful nature with which they started, Annie reached out to him.
"Okay, enough of that. Time for some payback," she said, holding her hand out. Jeff chuckled and shook his head.
"What are you talking about?"
"Hand over the camera, Annie Leibovits, it's my turn," she demanded. Jeff clung to his Canon Rebel.
"Nuh uh, that's not how this works, Christie Brinkley." Annie rolled her eyes.
"Christie Brinkley? God, you are old," she teased. He scoffed.
"Okay, now you're really not getting the camera." She pouted. "Nope, not gonna work," he affirmed. She gave him the Disney eyes. "Seriously? That's not fair."
He relinquished the camera.
Annie giggled as she absconded with the device, pointing it at him and shooting. It came out blurry.
"Okay, how do you use this?" she asked. Jeff chuckled.
"You have to use the manual focus. Just turn the lens until you're focused on what you want a picture of." Annie pointed it back at him and did as he said, finally finding him in the viewfinder.
"Okay, now do something interesting." Jeff rolled his eyes.
"What's interesting?" he asked. She peered away from the viewfinder, fixing him with a teasing glare.
"Oh, I don't know, just be yourself man." He laughed lightly, and she snapped the picture. It was mostly out of focus, but she felt like she'd won anyway.
They stayed another twenty or so minutes, just hanging around and taking pictures of each other, and of both of them. All of the heaviness in the middle there couldn't ruin a perfectly perfect afternoon in the woods between friends who kind of, sort of, maybe liked each other more than that too.
Of course, that only lasted a while longer until the heavens opened up.
"Oh crap!" Jeff exclaimed as a sudden downpour hit them. He raced to conceal his camera in its waterproof bag before turning back to Annie who, like him, was thoroughly soaked.
"Okay, this officially just became awesome," she said, gesturing to the way Jeff's wet t-shirt clung to him. He rolled his eyes.
"Perv."
Hope you liked it so far. Let me know!