Audition for a Commission When entrepreneurs Chris Tardio and husband Charles Day sold their company, they wanted to commission a portrait by Rodney Smith.
Chris Tardio: It was 1998 and the current issue of Communication Arts Magazine showed up on my desk. I saw this incredible cover image, Jessica on Rookery Stairs, Chicago, Illinois, and I wanted to be her. I loved the geometry of it. I thought whoever photographed this must be somebody who was kind of magical. Little did I know how true that was. I walked into my husband Charles’ office and said, “My dream is to someday be photographed by whoever took this photo.”
Charles Day: When your wife walks in and says this is her dream, you’ve got two choices—you either start filing for divorce or you figure out a way to make that happen. I reached out to Rodney Smith’s studio and asked if he did commissions. “Yes, he’s open to that possibility,” said one of his staff, “he’d like to meet you if that’s something you want to do.”
Chris Tardio: In New York, Rodney welcomed us and gave us a tour of the house and grounds, which were stunning. Just meticulous. He was so genuine and real. And he wanted to know who we were and what made us tick and what we believed and how we saw the world. The human connection was important in all cases, but particularly with Rodney. It was a fascinating experience getting to know him.
Charles Day: Rodney asked, “Where would you like to do this picture?” He never used the word portrait. It was a piece of art for him. It had a physical embodiment. It was an entity in its own right. And we were sitting in this stunning house, surrounded by magnificent grounds overlooking the Hudson River, and I said, “Here is fine, this will be great.”
I instantly see his interest level disappear. It goes from full to empty. “I’ve shot everywhere I want to around here,” he says with resigned dismissal. Realizing that I’m losing our connection in real time, I ask “Well, where would you LIKE to shoot this?” “Oh, I don’t know—Europe.” Rodney answered.
Chris Tardio: We had just sold a film editing company with operations in Chicago, Los Angeles, London and New York that supported world-class creative talent, so we knew what it meant to take a serious photographer to Europe. But Rodney was in a different stratosphere.
Charles Day: We drove away from that meeting curious about whether we had passed the audition, or at least been able to keep the possibility alive.
Stay tuned until next week to discover if Chris gets to realize her dream.
