But at Least We Got a Good Shot....Kinda

In recompense for the fact that we shot for free and ended up actually paying for jeans we would never wear, we got some pretty decent shots for our book. Here is one of them:



Prior to post, Kari was actually climbing a chair that was upturned on the floor but it got edited out for whatever reason, I don't know why. So, although I think we look good and the dresses (I wish we had bought those instead of the jeans...but the designer was asking $300 a pop) are beautiful, it kind of looks like I am smelling my friend's flatulence with a look of consternation on my face. Still like the picture though! Fart-chic.

Get Drunk & Buy Clothes

Since Kari and I both had shorter hair and most of the girls in Miami for the season had long locks, we ended up booking quite a few jobs together. One of them was for an up & coming local designer who had moved to South Beach from Milan and was looking for two girls to represent her Spring/Summer collection. She chose (insert drumroll here) Kari and I.

Since the designer was new we agreed to work pro bono in exchange for tearsheets and what we hoped might be some free clothes. The photographer, Baruch, was well known in NY and Miami, so getting good pics was a sure thing therefore worth working for no money. The shoot took place in the Penthouse of the Decoplage which meant we just had to take the elevator up to our location. Loved that!

Once on set we got made up by an amazing make-up artist and got to work with the designer on what outfits would look best on us. We got fed an amazing lunch and then the bottles of red wine were brought out and even though neither Kari or I had ever drunk on set before, the atmosphere of this shoot was very casual and the client insisted that we partake in the vino. So we did. Slightly buzzed we started shooting and got some incredible images. At the end of the shoot the client started declaring that the we looked incredible in our last outfits and we needed to have them. "Ok, cool. We guessed this meant we would get to keep our very expensive designer duds....well, we were right....kinda.

Being as we were halfway tipsy we somehow ended up BUYING our outfits from the designer. Not only did she insist that we HAD to have our outfits, but she also insisted that we pay for them. Since local boutiques were selling her jeans for over $200 we'd be passing up a great deal if we didn't break down and pay $100 for them. 50% off...great deal, huh?!

Yeah....not so great of a deal when the next day we looked at our purchases and realized we would nenver in hell wear them out of the house. WHile they looked great through rose tinted glasses and on a perfectly lit set with rockstar hair & make-up....the glittered and paint splashed denim just made us look a little too retro 80's before retro 80's became cool. I don't know what Kari did with her jeans, but I ended up having to cart them to Milan and Taiwan with me after my season in Miami ended only to leave them at Goodwill a year later.

Moral of the story: Never drink while shooting. Even two glasses of red may leave you $100 poorer and richer one pair of god-awful trousers.

Getting Paid to Go to Heaven

A little over a month into season I got a call early in the morning from my booker at Elite to ask if I was available to go to the Bahamas to shoot the next day. What? Am I available? And was I supposed to answer "no" at any given time? There is not much in this world that would have caused me to decline spending a day on a Caribbean beach and getting paid handsomely just to frolic in sand & sea while being photographed. So, of course, and half asleep, I said that I was indeed available and the next day I woke up at 4 am, got picked up by the clients in a van, drove to the airport, boarded the sardine can with wings that was our plane, and spent the next 10 hours in the Bahamas on a perfect beach, with perfect weather and several beautiful co-workers shooting for a delightful Irish client.

I have to add though,that looking down from the plane mid air and seeing another tiny plane laying destroyed in the jungles underneath us was a bit disconcerting. But landing on a tiny airstrip with a miniscule airport and being greeted by the lovely and very warm Bahamian staff who took it upon themselves to escort us to an even tinier cafe for breakfast made up for the panic attack I had in the sky.

And here it is...heaven on earth.....and definitely one of those days I just knew I had the best job on earth:

(De plane! De plane!)



(The clients unpacking the equipment & wardrobe from the boat we took to the Bahamian island we were shooting on...)



(Juliette and I in between shots....oh God, I was so tan then....*sigh*)



(Photographer & male model in action...)



(Yeah...gorgeous. And pictures do this place no justice...)

And on Another Bad Day in Miami....

Apparently I had more than one bad day, or just plain introspective day, while in Miami that season....because here is yet another pity soiree I captured in my journal. I can remember why I was inspired to write this, even though looking back I smirk at myself thinking how thin skinned I still was at that point in my career.

I wrote this entry after going to a fashion show casting for a swimwear designer who had all of us boys & girls line up in our bikinis (board shorts for the guys, with a random speedo thrown in here and there) and walked up and down in front of us with extremely loud critiques about all of our bodies. The comment I got this particular day was "I love your body but your knees are really big." Ok, so was I supposed to say "thanks" to the first half and "what the f***k do you mean by big knees?" to the last half? But I kept my mouth shut and smiled emptily as did everyone else who got shade thrown at them for being less than perfect.

12/19

I'm so tired of being perceived as the vacuous, pretty little thing. I'm not that. There's so much more to me. Self confidence & esteem are not my forte. I don't let everyone see that though. I don't know how to keep my chin up when I'm working as a piece of meat. Modeling, albeit at times devastatingly glamorous, is also painfully humbling. Always too something...too short, too young, too old, too skinny, too fat, too pale, too dark. I'm tired of never being perfect enough even though I belong to this "elite" group of mannequins....the clan of the beautiful people. We are hired, paid and hailed for being as close to perfect as humanly possible yet we are constantly scrutinized & dissected. Perfection is not perfect enough. Go figure.

I want to immerse myself in something I can grow & develop in. I want to write, use my brain, be passionate about something intellectually stimulating. I want to surround myself with other wanderers in the soul search. If I meet one more underaged, vapid, egocentric waif I think I may just spontaneously combust. There's only so much more of the "Oh my God I am so fat, I have a zit, my nails aren't shiny enough, is he/she better looking than me" laden conversations that I can take. All the bullshit.

This career is so fleeting. It caters to the youth and the youth obsessed. Good times...yeah. Travels....yeah. Adventures...hell yeah. I don't regret the memories. Man, all I've done and experienced goes beyond words. Just this Saturday I got paid an insane amount of money to play on a beach in the Bahamas. Tough. But are there greener pastures?

"Could you wanna take my picture, cuz I won't remember..." --Filter

*********************


Of course this moment of fleeting mental anguish (LOL!) was nothing more than just that....fleeting. Because lord knows I kept getting bookings (even with my so-called gargantuan knees) and kept traveling. In my perception the Industry's goods definitely outweighed the bads and well....as of today I'm still a part of this world. Yeah. I'm in it til they force me to retire baby.

Upcoming Attractions.....

One of my 2008 resolutions is to get back to posting on here a couple of times a week at least....and I plan to stick to it. I gotta get out all these memories before my brain cobwebs over and I forget everything! LOL!

More model mayhem to ensue!!!