‘ANTM’ star Nigel Barker says supermodels got nothing on his ‘Senior Portraits’ subjects: ‘Talk about being fierce’
20.05.2024 - 17:13
/ nypost.com
preparing his son Jack, 18, a high school senior, to take graduation pictures, the A-list lensman became inspired to immortalize golden agers in their golden years. A post shared by Nigel Barker (@nigelbarker)“I’m about storytelling, capturing the narrative of someone’s life,” Barker, 52, told The Post.
“Seniors have the best stories ever.”“They’ve seen every fashion change, every hairstyle change — so many changes in the world throughout their lives,” he continued. “I’m telling the stories deep in their souls.”But Barker’s brilliance had to be clicking while tackling the task.
Unlike the swanky supermodels he often shoots, such as Tyra Banks and Naomi Campbell, pensioners demanded speedy perfection. “Talk about being fierce and smizing,” said Barker, describing the hauntingly haute looks the seniors serve while staring into his camera.
“But they only give about three to four minutes, five minutes max,” he laughed, “‘and if I haven’t got the shot, they’re like, ‘You’re not as good as people say you are.'”Barker snapped black and white stills of Callegari — who he endearingly called a “heartthrob” — and his fellow residents at Monarch Communities, an assisted-living neighborhood, in New Rochelle. Executives of Monarch, the proprietors of several retirement villages across the tri-state area, welcomed Barker to treat consenting tenants to “‘Top Model’ for a day” splendor in April.He plans to repeat the sweet deed for Monarch dwellers in Connecticut and New Jersey in May.