Location: Bistra Castle in Vrhnika
Day: Tuesday, 25th of August 2020, morning
Feeling: On a beautiful sunny day, we were all on pins and needles
It started off nicely. We met at the castle. When I saw a white car with Maribor license plates parked in front of the castle, I knew that Ilka Štuhec was already there. She came a little earlier to get the professional treatment of a makeup artist Tina Fabjan and hairdresser Maša Repovž before shooting.
When I entered the room, which was kindly rented to us at Bistra Castle, I heard Ilka’s pleasant Styrian accent and her sonorous laughter. A journalist and assistant editor of the Lepota in Zdravje magazine, Ilona Penzeš took advantage of Ilka’s “free” hour when she couldn’t go anywhere and asked her questions for the cover story, which will be published in the magazine’s 150th anniversary issue.
SHE ´S NOT SUPERIOR AT ALL
My impression of her was that she was simple, so childishly innocent, and she was not superior at all. Many in her place would be anything but that. I’ve been thinking about how top athletes really live completely differently than we do. The habits and discipline of athletes are the qualities of the ascetics living high in the mountains of the Himalayas. They get up at 4 in the morning to be on the mountain from which they will be skiing already before sunrise. Then they train hard and are completely focused on what they are doing. When they finish their midday workout, they eat a healthy lunch, get some rest, and then train again. In the evening, they go to bed early as in the army. They repeat all this for years and years, and it is no wonder that they don’t go astray as some modern adolescents do.
ILKA MASTERS POSING
When Ilka was groomed perfectly, we were able to get started and there was only an hour and a half left to do the fashion shooting. Ilona and I had discovered all the corners of the castle before, so the changing of clothes and shooting went smoothly. I can say that Ilka masters posing like a real photo model as she masters skiing. Her pearly smile is contagious and she steals glances with her smile. Ilka also stole glances of passers-by when she appeared in a feminine creation with open shoulders and a slit. We all agreed that it is really difficult to meet such an elegant top athlete who does not look muscular.
IN THE END
… when we thought we got the right photo for the cover in the style of Julia Roberts, we sat for a moment with Ilka and her physiotherapist and kinesiologist Tina Kobale, who accompanied her on this fashion venture, and had a drink, and then they drove back to Styria.
Ps: I think it’s great that I was able to give her a farewell souvenir that I had made. This is a ceramic brooch in the shape of a pineapple. And there is symbolism in it. The top part of the pineapple is gold and resembles a crown and who is the queen if not her?
