Copenhagen born, New York based Torkil Gudnason approach to photography has been a very cerebral, practical point of view. Drawn to graphically sculptural shapes and with a fine art sensibility, his connection to Jeneil Williams was born out of an interest in her movements. “She moves with confidence and has the sensitivity needed to achieve the perfect image. She’s a natural in the way she projects modeling into artistic pictures that will be inspiring to other people.” As far as inspiration for the visuals, Gudnason wanted to simplify the complicated as much as possible and return back to the basic elements – with Au79 taking prominence. “We are deeply connected to the urban environment now and we can’t live without it, I know I can’t. But, I also need more and more of the natural elements. You’re seeing an interested contrast that compliments one another.” With gold flecked, dusted, melted, and painted on, Gudnason chose to highlight Williams’ “expressive, athletic, strong and feminine” nature in the pure form that he’s accustomed to. “Models need more than anybody to express themselves and those that do, they are gold. They are amazing, not only for the photographer but for the finished image for the whole public to see and enjoy.”

As far as Williams’ story, her competitive spirit drew her to fashion at an early age. “I entered a model search back in Jamaica and I came in second. It was called the Caribbean Model Search which is funny because we did a reality series for the first time this year and I was one of the judges on it.” That full circle experience from competition to catwalk stands as a metaphor to much of the events in her career. She trained cross country when she was younger and now calls Nike as one of her clients. She grew up wishing makeup companies carried her shade in foundation and now is a face for L’Oreal Paris. It’s easy to see how she see things through.

Her disciplined nature in regards to every day, sometimes two-a-day, workouts translates to the way she moves in front of the camera. “When I don’t work out I get moody and everything. I have to run and I have to do yoga. I like shoots where I can be myself and move and yoga helps me to release my muscles. Working out helps keeps your balance and you have to have balance because you’re doing 50 different things at once.” Her juggling act appeared flawless for the vivid imagery captured exclusively here.