Do you know what glitter is made of?
Do you know fame? Do you know what's behind the world we see?...
What's behind a fashion show? What thinks that one who takes the photos of the models?
Do the models need to have sex to be famous?...
Do you know what a star is made of?...
Do you want to find it out?...
Is it fashion the biggest lie of all time?
What do you know about the models you adore?
What do you think when the word "model" comes to your head?
Do the photos show and capture the soul of the models?
Are the models only mannequins?
Why female models run the industry?

Let me tell you something about it...
I am a photographer, sometimes I do the fashion style and sometimes I look for the beauty,
not the beauty someone told you it is, not the prefab beauty you see printed on magazines...
I love to portrait beauty, I love to touch beauty in its pure state, because beauty is like blood,
is vital, is fragile and is easy to lose.
I work with models, I talk with and about models, I write about them, I love models but I don't love them
because of their faces or hot bodies; I love models for what they are, human beings just like you and me... They suffer,
they cry, they eat, yes, they eat and they need to pay the rent of their apartments; they use cabs or the subway,
they walk by your side sometimes, on the same sidewalk, they can look shy, silent or introverts; models are extraordinary flesh and bones voices, they are more than what you may think they are... Do you think that because models are beautiful, their lives are easier than yours? Do you think that models don't suffer from loneliness?...
Well, you and i have much to learn about them... Models, the fashion industry and what we read on the magazines...

Because, what happen when beauty is misunderstood, when the glory is not so glorious and when the sacrifices we do outweigh the rewards we should receive?
They say life is a runway show...
Do you have someone who loves you unconditionally on backstage?... Why so many questions?

I was in L.A. hoping for a signal or something and then I discovered a book that changed my mind, my spirit and cleaned
the spiderwebs from my eyes... I could finally see life through a model's eyes, and believe me, the horizon was opened widely to me.

Walking Marina...



That's the name of the debut novel, written by the American author David Raphael Hildebrand



 (D.R. Hildebrand), author and model... Yes, Raphael is one of the most extraordinary models I've seen, he is beautiful, more beautiful than what a man is allowed to be, he is a living dream, a galloping horse who builds his own freedom, he's just inexplicably divine.
It's really easy to fall in love with him when you see his photographs but... Are you loving the model or the man?...
Tell me, do you love the sexy shirtless guy or do you love the man that bleeds when he cuts his hand accidentally, the man who buys bread and milk and maybe he goes to bed hoping to find the love of his life...?
Do you love the clothes? do you love the skin? Do you love what you can't see or you can't have?

Sorry, I don't want to be dramatic and I don't judge what you do, what you love or what you think about models and fashion but you will really know more about the fashion industry, the life of the models behind the scenes, loneliness in backstage and probably when you read the book you will appreciate every step your loved model makes...

Walking Marina is a tornado, my bedroom is a proof, I couldn't stop of reading it till I finished it and all I said was: Wow!... I was in shock, inspired, I could feel the blood running through my veins and I knew I was in front of a treasure that will change the male modeling as we know it, because we know only what they show us, but this Danny Ward is here to share his world, his journey through the fashion universe we all long for, and maybe to open your eyes and make you see another dimension.

Danny Ward could be your neighbor, he could be your son, your brother, your friend, your boyfriend or your employee... He could be anything but he was everything the day he became a fashion model and suddenly the world stopped, all the lights were on him, flashes exploding and with the world at his feet... What was lacking in him?
"I know, that dude is just so selfish, absorbed, arrogant and egocentric... He has everything we would have ever wished, he is surrounded by gorgeous chicks and he even thinks about something missing in his life?... Please Danny, get over it..."

That's what I might have thought but I didn't because I know the models behind the camera, I know models behind the runway show scene, I know what a model feels, what a model eats and what a model needs... 

Danny Ward, the steelworker-turned-model will show you what's behind the curtains that you can't cross, and when New York is not the shiny place we see in the movies, when the glory is gone and reality hits you, when you think no one is there for you, maybe life is just starting; some lessons are made to be learned...

Temptation has a name... Marina, like a walking lightning struck Danny's life; together with parallel paths, they knew the white and black of life and discovered that even when something has a beautiful and luxurious surface, the background can be very dark and hell is just around the corner.

What does happen to a fish if suddenly you extract it from its environment?...
What does happen to a boy from Gary, Indiana, when he is abruptly turned into a fashion model in the world's most glamorous city, New York?. When the industry does not condone the passing of time, when time leaves marks on your face when the woman is man, when man is just an accessory easily removable when life is an unexpected encounter with destiny, when behind the scenes the story is written...

Find all your answers inside the amazing book "Walking Marina" by the astounding and enigmatically beautiful David Raphael Hildebrand... Because models don't only pose, they feel and they are passionate artists, in this case, D.R. Hildebrand is a wonderful writer, he puts his heart in every letter, he's not the pretty face you may notice at first sight;
you have to know that mister Hildebrand is graduated in the University of Chicago where he studied Religion and Human Rights. So when he inevitably became a fashion model found his inspiration to create his debut novel "Walking Marina", what's better than a model telling us the raw reality of a model, an insider of that world we may never know...
D.R. Hildebrand takes us to a unimaginable world trapped in the pages of that captivating story. "Walking Marina" is exactly like D.R. Hildebrand, A-M-A-Z-I-N-G and compelling.

I always knew that a model is able to do something more than modeling, some models can act, some models can sing and some models can be breathtaking.

Writer, model and one of a kind man... D.R. Hildebrand is the model who changed the concept and meaning of beauty I had in my mind, the author who wrote a new era in my life and the man we will know closer soon...

Get "Walking Marina" and get to know Danny and discover who is Marina in his life. I did it et j'ai adoré. This book is just like a movie, it makes you feel like you're there, living with Danny the upside downs and the pain; you can breathe page by page the underworld Danny lives in... Give yourself a chance to read a wonderful book and buy "Walking Marina"; it can be an autobiographical book, but it's more the real story that almost every male model has to face every day from their apartment to the model agency, then they are sent to castings, photo shootings and TV ads; life can be a mess and when comes up someone prettier things will definitely change.


















Pictures from the trailer of Walking Marina.

Watch the official trailer of Walking Marina, the novel.



D.R. Hildebrand on Walking Marina



Visit the site of D.R. Hildebrand.

If you are a model you will feel identified with Danny's story and if you are one of those who loves passionately male models and their work, you will love "Walking Marina", this is like a ticket to watch the life of a model behind the lights and outside the runway.