The
“Sweet” Life strikes a pose or two...
I remember watching “The Parent Trap”
when I was a little girl; you know, back when Lindsay Lohan was still a cute
little girl with freckles on her innocent little face (Oh! How the mighty have
fallen!) and I distinctly remember the scene where she gets to watch a photo
shoot and be in a few of the pictures. It looked so glamorous and like such a
lot of fun. I think that was when I realised that I wanted to do a photo shoot some day. When I was about sixteen, I had a friend
whose mom worked at a world-renowned cosmetics company and my friend and I went
with her mom to a photo shoot one day. The photographer took a few fun photos
of my friend and I before she got to work on the actual photo shoot; we struck
poses left and right and had a fabulous time (for all of fifteen minutes) and
then, for the rest of the day, we just sat and watched the real models at work.
That was the closest I ever got to being in a photo shoot. It wasn’t that I
hadn’t had the opportunity to be in photo shoots – I had. But when people asked
me to be in photographs for their portfolios, the Lodger always disapproved and
(in his way) forbade me from taking part. I dare say I probably should have
noticed that something wasn’t quite right about him back then already, but
alas! So, it seemed as if my little photo shoot dream would never come true –
that is, until a few months ago...  |
| Sinead - Fabulous Photographer |
One of my friends from high school,
Sinead, had taken up photography and started her own photographic company
part-time.
 |
| Keshni - Make-up Guru |
Keshni, another friend from high school, had become a part-time
make-up artist and she teamed up with Sinead to form a kind of dynamic duo. I’d
seen some of their work posted on Facebook and I was really impressed with how
professional the make-up and photos looked. I was browsing Facebook one day, as
one does when trying to avoid work, assignments or any form of real
productivity, and came across one of Sinead’s posts. She was looking for
suggestions of new names for her photographic company, and the person who
suggested the winning name would win the opportunity to be in her next photo
shoot. I always enter competitions and never win anything, but I decided to
enter this one in the hopes that maybe I’d strike it lucky and my little dream
of being in a photo shoot might come true.
A few weeks after I’d posted my name
suggestion, Sinead surprised me with an inbox message saying that she’d chosen
her cousin’s suggestion as the new name of her company but that my suggestion
was the runner-up, and since her cousin was already going to be in the photo
shoot, I was going to do the photo shoot with him. I was so excited; firstly,
because I had never won anything before and secondly, because I was actually
going to be in a photo shoot!
I spent a few days imagining what the theme might
be – perhaps it would be a 50s pin-up theme or maybe it would be one of those
artsy photo shoots in a park or an open field... And then Sinead sent through
her ideas for the shoot. The theme was, wait for it... “Trailer Trash”. Well,
it wasn’t quite what I’d been imagining but her ideas looked very interesting
and edgy. I was quite excited and then I saw that I’d be doing what Sinead
called “intimate shots” with her (male) cousin. Naturally, I was the tiniest little bit worried about this. I
didn’t want to do anything distasteful or anything that I would come to regret.
And the Greek also didn’t seem too enthused about this little detail either. So,
being the paranoid woman that I am, I decided to email Sinead and clarify
exactly what she meant by “intimate shots”. She assured me that I wouldn’t be
expected to do anything that made me feel uncomfortable and that it would all
be very tasteful. She also assured me that there would be nothing for the Greek
to worry about because, in her words, her cousin is “very gay”. This put the
Greek at ease and made me feel much less stressed about the situation which
meant that I could spend the next few weeks looking forward to the shoot.
About a week before the photo shoot was
scheduled to take place, I managed to come down with a dreadful chest
infection. I spent the three days before the shoot in bed and heavily medicated
in an attempt convalesce in time for the shoot. I’d been blowing my nose on a
near-constant basis for a week which resulted in me having very little skin
left on my very red nose, I still had quite a vicious cough and my body still
ached all over, but, I had been looking forward to the photo shoot for weeks
and I was not going to miss it just because
I had developed what felt like the black lung!
 |
| Rhys- Hair Extraordinaire |
The Greek dropped me off at Sinead’s
house after lunch on the day of the shoot so that Keshni could do my make-up
and Rhys, Sinead’s “very gay” cousin who would also be in the shoot, could do
my hair. Keshni did an incredible job hiding my red nose, and I dare say that
even if my nose was red, my eye-make-up would have taken all of the attention
away from my nose anyway! My eye make-up was incredible; it looked like the
kind of thing you see in trendy fashion magazines. Rhys, who I think should be
dubbed “The Hair Extraordinaire”, gave me a hairstyle edgy enough to be on a
poster in a salon somewhere. My hair had never known volume like that before
Rhys came along! Sinead dressed me up in a skin-tight little black number teamed
with trashy fishnet stockings and killer black heels that I literally couldn’t walk
in, and then we were on our way to Newtown for the shoot.
Sinead chose a really quiet spot near an
old building to take the photos. By this time, it had already started to get
very cold and since I was rather scantily clad, I was definitely feeling the
drop in temperature. Sinead got to work quickly, telling Rhys and I how to pose
for our individual shots. She had us both do some quite daring poses, and some
of the people walking past stopped to watch for a while. When we started taking
some of the “intimate shots” that Sinead had spoken about I found it quite
difficult not to laugh. She kept telling us to look serious and sexy and I felt
like one of those girls in the movies being told to “growl” and act like a “tigress”!
I didn’t exactly feel comfortable posing provocatively with another man but all
the laughs and fun we were having made it much more bearable and Sinead kept to
her word and made sure that I was comfortable with everything that she was
photographing. We moved to a different spot for the last few photos and a group
of tourists walked by and asked if they could take some photos of us, too. By this
time we were feeling like pro’s and we happily obliged but I sincerely hope
that they didn’t think that South Africans walk around looking like “Trailer
Trash” on Sunday afternoons!
Once we were done shooting, we made our
way back home where I had to remove my fake lashes and wash my face about five
times before my fabulous eye make-up came off. I also had to take about fifty
clips out of my hair and carefully brush out all of my curls and try to tame my
wild hair after it had been hairsprayed so much that I’m sure the style would
have lasted at least a week. And, just like that, my little photo shoot dream
and come true and come to an end. It was really one of the most exciting and
fun experiences I’ve had. Sinead was such a professional and made sure that I
was comfortable throughout the shoot, having a photographer who can give you
direction while still keeping the atmosphere fun and relaxed makes a world of
difference for someone who has never done a photo shoot before. Sinead, Keshni
and Rhys really make such a fantastic team – they are all friendly,
professional and true artists in their respective fields. Being given the opportunity
to make my little dream come true with such a fabulous team definitely made for a sweet experience!
The photos came out beautifully, I think
that they made “Trailer Trash” look quite classy, actually. The photos were
edgy and arty and everything that Sinead was aiming for.
Check out the photos
from the shoot, as well as Sinead’s portfolio of work at https://www.facebook.com/SAVPhotography
Also check out photos of some of the
amazing work that Keshni has done at https://www.facebook.com/MakeUpByKeshni
Stay tuned for more stories from The “Sweet”
Life.
