An accepted truism is that a great portrait photograph captures a fleeting moment of perfection and reveals honesty in the eyes of the sitter. In inimitable style, Erwin Olaf turns the tables on this concept in his series ‘Fall’ (2008), in which he shot awkward portraits of young models. The models droopy and unfocused, their eyes partly closed. These are not the cute and perky teenagers of Benetton ads, dressed in rainbow-hued knitwear. Instead, Olaf uses the palette of post-war austerity – washed-out colors in the natural hues of cork, straw, marble, teak and terracotta. The five female and five male models are draped in skin-toned colors. Wearing tan and pale pink, Olaf’s models seem nude, though their emotions are camouflaged.