Wednesday 16th August: Photo Shoot for Magazine
Nas rang me at work and asked me whether I would be interested in doing a photo shoot for a local magazine, well trannies and photos are like panda bears and bamboo shoots, so I was very interested, but I needed to find out some more details.
Nas gave me the telephone number of Aneliese who works for the magazine and would be in charge of the shoot, so after returning home from the dentist I gave her a call to find out some more details. Aneliese explained to me that the magazine was called The local Magazine and it came out once a month in West Essex, the magazine had various articles such as a restaurant guide, property guide and fashion pages. Each month there was a make over slot where a person was chosen and Aneliese did a clothes and make over on the chosen person and after prompting from Nas they decided that doing a TV would be a good idea.
Aneliese explained that the person chosen for the makeover usually had three different outfits in the shoot and that she went out to the local shops to borrow clothes for the shoot, which sounded great to me. The only thing that I was wary of was that she would need a before photo in male mode which I was not keen on, but I decided I would think about it that night and call her next day. After thinking about it overnight I decided to go for as you don’t know whether a chance like this will come up again. Aneliese told that she wanted to come to my flat and look at my wardrobe on the following Monday and that we would take the male photo then.
Over the weekend I dug out all my dresses, skirts, tops and shoes and had them all hanging up for when Aneliese, accompanied by Nas turned up on Monday night, Nas has helped me build my wardrobe over the years so she knew how much clothing I had, but Aneliese was very surprised about the size of my wardrobe and was very impressed by it. We discussed the ideas that both the girls had for the shoot and then I was shown some magazines from the previous issues. Then it was time to do the guy mode picture, I had not shaved all weekend, but as it usually takes me about 2 weeks to get anything like a beard, 2 days growth was not much.
The photo shoot was planned for two days later and Aneliese told me she would call the next day to finalise the final details and the location of the shoot. When she called me I was told that the shoot would be taking place at her house and that I would be having my hair done at a local salon.
I managed to book a half day off work on the day of the shoot and just had time to get home, grab my bags and have a quick shave and shower, before I had to leave to meet Aneliese outside the Hair Salon. I parked up in the nearby supermarket and then walked across to Sekare where Aneliese was waiting inside. We sat with the stylist and Aneliese explained the look that we were trying to achieve and then left me in the hands of the stylist. She started off by washing my hair and applying some mousse then my hair was dryed and styled, I was very pleased by the look that was created. After the styling was completed I sat and waited for Aneliese to return and we then set off to her house, to await the arrival of Nas and the photographer, whilst we were waiting Aneliese showed me the clothes that she had managed to borrow from the local shops and I was pleased with the clothes she had chosen.
Nas was the next to arrive and so she set about doing my make up, Aneliese had already decided that she wanted a more softer day look on me, rather than the heavier going out look. Based on the instructions given Nas did the usual foundation, but used a lot more neutral colours around my eyes, cheeks and lips. When I first looked at the make up I thought it was not enough and I could see too much of my male self, but I was assured that it looked ok.
The photographer and the editor of the magazine then turned up and it was time for me to change into my first outfit, this was ¾ length white skinny jeans, with an animal print top, my own leopard print shoes and a cowboy hat which Aneliese had obtained at the local charity shop. The pose chosen for the first set of clothes was standing by the French windows in Aneliese’s house we started off with one foot up, then the other foot up, leaning against the door, the arm up, the arm down. Whilst trying to look as girly as possible, I was trying to keep my stomach in and my Achilles heel trying to smile also. Nas was doing her best to make me laugh and smile all the time by making silly faces and hitching her skirt and top up. It was quite difficult as I had four different people all expressing views at the same time and one would be telling me to do one thing whilst another was saying something completely opposite, eventually they all agreed on what the desired pose and we went for it.
The second outfit did not need much of a change, I kept the white trousers on and went to an electric blue top, which had a belt, but I believe Aneliese tied this around my neck. She decided that I was not going to be wearing any shoes in this one, not great because I hate toes. I moved away from the patio windows and this time was sitting on the floor with my feet curled around me. I was a bit more relaxed by now and sitting down appeared to be an easier pose for me, and I think I even managed to smile a few times, but again it could have been Nas hitching her skirt up.
The final outfit was a vintage dress, which was from Aneliese’s own collection, we first tried on a full length blue dress which I must admit I thought it was frumpy and I did not like it. Aneliese wanted to go with the dress, but the photographer could see that I did not like the dress and we decided to change it. We finally agreed on a ¾ length silver bearded number which I was much happier with, but it was a little tight getting on and I needed the help of both Aneliese and Nas to get me both in and out of the dress.
These shots were done sitting down in a chair in front of Aneliese’s ornaments, I had put on my gold sandals, and we also went for some sparkly jewellery. I don’t know if it was because I had a seat and got myself a nice comfortable position, but this was the easiest of the shoots to do, probably because I did not have to think about holding my stomach in. I just had to concentrate on stretching my legs out pointing my toes and smiling and then at the appropriate time putting my knees together and smiling. The photographer decided that she wanted to do a close up for this outfit so a lot of the pictures were tight in on my face.
Eventually the four of them were happy with the pictures and I was able to take the coat hanger out of my mouth and regretfully slip out of the beaded dress, take my make up off, slip back into guy mode and sit back and wait for a copy of the magazine to hit my doorstep.
