Last few shoots of 2011

Ok - as ever, I've been slacking with the regular updates on here - whoops.  But I've been busy, and I've not been well, so I have excuses, valid excuses.

So - my last few shoots of  December - well, there was the lovely Craig Llewellyn, who is a new photographer wanting some studio practice - everything about his pre-comms told me he was a nice guy, and he lived up to it on the day.  Wonderfully pleasant to shoot with, and unusually, he went away with lots of portraiture, smiley, toothy shots from me :D

Ian Hos who wanted some lighting practice and is a much better photographer than he seems to think he is!

Then there was Steve Fennel - he had read this blog sometime before our shoot, so one of the ideas he wanted to try was the 'Gwippy' look mentioned a post or two below.  This pleased me :) And out came the floaty skirts and  frilly tops :)  Unfortunately on the day, my old health issues had decided to kick in, meaning I had to rely on painkillers and sitting down poses a fair bit - this did not please me :(  But none-the-less, we got some pretty shots out of it, and I hope to shoot with him again.  He also got me dancing in the fog with a wind machine on the go - the results of this I am yet to see, but will post as soon as I do!

And then there was the studio day with Emma Willis - well, the one slot that we got booked that didn't get cancelled on us anyway :) We blasted through a few different sets with the photographer, and again, I will post the rest when I get them :)

Unfortunately, I had to cancel my remaining two shoots for December, which I regret horribly.  It's been so long since my belly has knocked me off my feet that it came as quite a shock.  Being able to  barely stand up straight without help was not boding well for the next two shoots :( One I have managed to rebook for January though! YAY for understanding photographers :D

Have a couple of  pics from the last few shoots anyways:

 

Steve Fennel:

Ian Hos:

And a couple from our first set with Geoff West:

So far January sees a studio/model evening at Westgate Studios which seems to be selling well at the moment - only one space available already! Three confirmed shoots already, two more available at £50/3hrs including studio, and five more available dates to fill :)  So far, so good!!

And February - oh yes, I think that far ahead - sees a huge change in direction for me, all being well at least, and a chance to create some pretty, pretty pictures ;) Keep an eye out to find out why :p

Until then - happy 2012, folks! xx

MODEL NIGHT!!

Proud to announce my first group model night to be held at Westgate Studio in Long Eaton :D

I've never done one of these before, so I'm hoping there'll be enough interest to make it a good night, and reason enough to run another in the future.

For those who don't know Westgate - it's a fabulous little studio with countless paper backdrops as well as walls decorated differently throughout the studio for variety - even a comic book wall and a Marylin Monroe collage.  There is an exquisite living room set with purple chaise lounge and furniture, fireplace, stylish modern bedroom set, office set a shower room...it can also boast soft boxes, spotlights, ceiling lights, a ring flash, fog machine (so much fun!), wind machine and much more.

Parking is right across the road, and is accessible easily from Junction 25 off the M1.

Honestly - £25 per person for the three hours that night, with myself working to lingerie and topless levels, experienced photographer on hand to help with lighting and advice - a serious bargain!

Have I sold it enough yet!? :p

...And then sometimes I wonder why!?

Seriously - it's so frustrating trying to organise shoots at the moment!! GAH! One thing that really gets to me is when a shoot is booked, discussed and confirmed, and yet the photographer then either postpones (and puts off setting another date) or cancels outright.  It's really, really annoying.  It means going through all the threads and castings for work I have posted, and re-adjusting them again, once having updated with 'NOW BOOKED' to 'Still looking because he cancelled'.  It looks unprofessional on my part and is so time consuming.

Not only this - but photographers quite often fail to understand that modelling is a source of income - not pocket money, not a little extra, some models rely on what they make from modelling to get by.  This is where I'm coming from - it is at the moment, my bread and butter.  So when you go from budgeting £120 for one week - which let's face it, isn't a princely sum anyway, to just £30 - it's going to p*ss you off somewhat.

I try really hard to maintain a good reputation, to ensure good pre-shoot communication, be reliable, contactable, on-time, prepared, and work hard at the shoot itself to produce the images the photographer will be happy with.

Monumentally annoyed at the moment!!

On the upside - I have a new business relationship with a local studio which should help matters in the new year, I have a studio day booked with Emma Willis (Still taking bookings for slots! Get in touch!) and hopefully one booked in February at the WhiteRooms in Birmingham.  Studio days, I like.  Reliable photographers, I like.  Knowing that I am being booked for doing what I love, I like.  Being messed around - I do not appreciate!!

**RANT DONE**

Sometimes It's so worth it.

Every now and again - well, quite frequently actually, I do wonder why I associate myself with an industry that encourages materialism, commercialism and self-obsession.  I always thought I  would try to keep as far out of that as possible, hence focussing on alternative fashion rather than high street or commercial - my own lil attempt at promoting individuality.  Or on art nudes - a celebration of the beauty of a body, a body that lives, and breathes and sees life - not one modified for sexual or monetary gain.


I've got a far from perfect body - I have scars and marks all over me - from injuries and accidents to operations and bearing a child.  My body does what it was intended to do - most of the time.  See - I am going somewhere with this one...


I've had goodness knows how many miscarriages - seriously, I have lost count.  I have had one major emergency operation for an ectopic pregnancy that was almost fatal, luckily I only lost a fallopian tube.  I have had another to rectify the problems I have been left with and all the internal scars from the miscarriages and ectopic.  Safe to say that the child I have got, the only one I am ever likely to have, is IT, my one and only, the only time my body, did as nature intended for it to do.  The only time it was true to it's design as a woman.


From that one successful pregnancy I was left with extensive stretchmarks on my stomach, and fainter ones elsewhere.  I have been left with less than perky boobs from breastfeeding for 13 months...I have a little extra skin in places I'd rather not have extra skin...

So this image, courtesy of Tim Haylock, was as intended in pre-shoot comms, a celebration of my marks, my pregnancy, my daughter and how proud I am of my body for once doing what it was supposed to do. It's an image of mine that over and over again, a lot of models have been referred to when low on self-esteem, when having just had a baby, they worry about modelling again.


And just now, has been commented on by the wonderful and beautiful Helen Diaz:


"I think this image of yours was one of the most startingly frank, honest and inspiring images of a young womans body on a modelling site such as this that I've ever seen.  It's quite unusual to see a model who is so comfortable with their own body and skin, amongst the (lets face it) shallow world of modelling in which people obsess (myself included) over their bodys, weight and flaws.  For me, you are my inspiration, so thankyou." 

It's times like these that I remember, and comments like the above that remind me - I'm not a model to be on trend, to follow the fashion or be a mannequin always ready to parade around as someone else's design.  I'm a real person - and I can only model what I am and what I have been given.  It's times like now that I remember to not feel down when I don't get the work, when I don't 'suit' the style or look.  I'm proud of all my 'flaws' that mark me deep - for all the foundation and concealer in the world can so easily be washed off - my marks are a story of my life.  

Photograph them or not, aesthetic or not...I don't care.  Just wish a few more photographers like Mr Haylock thought the same! 

Change of Direction?

Zenith is a multi faceted nightmare of a lass.  Seriously - she even annoys me sometimes :p  Generally I've always been a bit of a natural grunge-y goth...sort of.  I don't exactly dress it up, but I do love the grown up goth look rather than all the skulls and strips that float around these days.  I love the art nude work I do, though I admit I'll never be a top art nude model - I just don't have the flexibility, balance or tone for high quality art nude images, though I do try....  I also adore the erotica and fetish work I get away with.  Each genre is simply an area of my personality exhibited and played up enough to create an image.  I guess this is why I can get away with a random mix of variety that I do.

But more and more, I'm missing the natural-born hippy in me.  The floaty dresses, full grass and flowers in the hair me.  And I distinctly lack this in my portfolio these days too. Well, the winter months isn't going to help with that either.  *sigh* Spring can't come sooner!

I really want to get a more gentle and serene addition to my portfolio, explore a whole area of myself and see what Zenith makes of it.  A Gwippy (so I have been dubbed - apparently) - Goth Wannabe Hippy - could make for an interesting style of image, in my mind anyways.  So come the spring, hopefully there'll be a 'new' look to add to the list of my styles and the pics to show it off too. 

In the mean time - heavy eyeliner and studio lights are high on the list! Speaking of - I have a Studio Day booked with the lovely Emma Willis soon.  A whole day of prancing around dressed up and/or naked together is always fabulous fun! We sold out our last studio day together and hopefully we'll do it again! Here's to artistic collaborations :)

New Profiles

So this week has seen me updating/reinstaing and creating new profiles around the place. 

Two more now active: http://www.madcowmodels.co.uk/Zenith and here: http://www.musecube.com/Shaz-Zenith

They're both slowly getting there with uploading images.  Just so hard to choose what I should use and letting go of old favourites.  It's weird how I hang onto a particular couple of images, despite them not being recent and possibly having better - some scream personal value to me more than 'model portfolio'.  Hmm... I should possibly address this at some point.

Well - I have a set of pics from Tuesday's shoot with a Joel 27 to sort through - we blasted through three sets of Alternative Fashion for my portfolio update with Spirit Model Management and some low-key art nudes for his portfolio.  I'll update about this shoot in more detail when I get the edits back, I reckon. 

In the meantime, I'm off for an early night and a ponder about rusty old tools, lace and studded items of clothing for Friday's shoot... it's never a dull day!

John Duder 2 (NSFW Pics)

Ok - So here's some of the images from my shoots with John, as promised, in...erm...June? Whoops.

My first shoot with John was the ideal first shoot experience - despite some hiccups in the pre-planning stages, it all came together perfectly in the end.  He's as off the cuff as I am with fetishy/erotica stuff, which makes it easy as pie to collaborate with him on set.  And has no qualms about random props and just seeing what we can swing, so to speak.  So come the second shoot a few weeks later, we were well prepared and blasted through four or five varying ideas and sets, played with masks, violins, cuffs, daggers and pendulums.  Always a fun day :)

He's given me pretty free reign on editing the pics, which has been a good experience for me - and has taught me a lot about the difference between editing better quality pics than I normally get out of my amateur behind the camera experiences.  I hope I haven't screwed them up too much! Anyways, here's some for you to feast on - a selection from both our first and second shoot - and soon enough, I'll have some from out third shoot - this time including the gorgeous Clover and some Shimbari, can't wait!