It was dark in the Club House "Gleis 1" when my eyes were naturally drawn to Tibor from way across the room.  It was August of 2000, and I was home from L.A. in Kassel spending my vacation in Germany (and hitting every party that I could find).

I observed him for a while, and when it was clear that he was model material, I approached him and asked him if he had any interest in modeling.
 

He looked at me inquisitively, put his finger to his right eye, and shook his head.  At first, I thought he was making fun of me, but then, I realized that there was something wrong with his right eye. 

While still a baby, Tibor developed a serious eye disease.  He had surgery for it, but unfortunately, the doctors couldn't save his sight in that eye.

He could have had his eye replaced with an artificial one, but Tibor told me that his natural eye is "his", it is a part of him.  I can respect this attitude, particularly after getting to know him better, but this makes seeing and getting to know him for the first time, a tough, and perhaps, a bit uncomfortable experience.
 
 

Tibor's eye doesn't change the fact that he is a very handsome and attractive guy, just as pretty and unique as his name.  He has silky smooth skin, high cheek bones, beautiful natural blonde hair, all in all, very germanic - although his strong masseter muscles (lower jaw muscles) and high cheek bones tell of some ancient slavic influence. Meanwhile, no less than two model agencies are interested in him, despite of, or perhaps, because of, "the eye". 

As has, by now, become almost habitual to me, I gave this vision of beauty my card and encouraged him to shoot for me. Frankly, I felt that I would never hear from him again, but then, to my surprise and delight, he called me. In less than a week, we had our first shoot.  Surprisingly enough, the beginner's shyness that everyone experiences during their first shoot, left him very quickly, and he posed exceptionally well.
 

He looked so natural and relaxed in the camera that I caught myself wondering just how much unnecesssary stress average people like me put themselves through over a tiny pimple, or a hair out of place, etc...  Here was someone with a really eye-catching disability, one that people on the street would turn around to stare at, and he, seemingly, takes all of this for granted and keeps so cool and nonchalant.  Perhaps a realistic conformation of the old German saying " There is nothing that can make a handsome man ugly" 

As an interesting side note, after talking to and getting to know Tibor for a while: one doesn't notice "the eye" anymore.  It seems to be part our our human psychology to mentally "retouch" negative or eye-catching attributes in the faces of persons we like or love.  Perhaps this is the reason we find all of our friends and loved ones good looking.  Fascinating possibility, don't you think. 

Strangely, while one's mind is being so nice to our friends and loved ones, it is being just the opposite to us.  Things that we don't like about ourselves are multipled many many times over,  Yes, these things shine brightly when we look at ourselves in the mirror, at pictures of ourselves, etc..  At least this is the case with me, perhaps, a neurotic.
 

Tibor lives in Hofgeismar, a beautiful little sleepy village just twenty miles northwest of Kassel.  Currently (September of 2001) he is trying to decide which field of study to take-up for his career.  This is a common, if not universal, problem of youth. Though I feel that he may not yet have set all real goals for his life, he has the advantage of youth, as he has just turned 20 and still has his whole life in front of him. 

Two weeks after our shoot, I flew back to Los Angeles and stayed there until the end of April of 2001.  I was happy to see Tibor again in early May (at the same club) and we scheduled a second shoot right away.
 

Surprisingly, this time he looked totally different. He had changed his hairstyle, seemingly making himself into a totally different person. As is usual, the models are even more relaxed and composed during the second shoot, probably because they have seen pictures of themselves and have gained in self-confidence and esteem.
 

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