From Naughty Socialite to Travelodge Trash

I decided to go from Riches to Rags overnight. Following the Naughty Socialite shoot with Jon Mayle (see previous blog entry) on the Saturday, I met up with Bryan Morris (aka Thunder UK) at the Travelodge hotel in neighbouring Billingshurst, West Sussex on Sunday 10 October 2010. We had a chat beforethe shoot on Fetlife and concluded that we do a sleazy motel shoot as I looked at his portfolio and noticed he has done a few and really liked them. I always wanted to do something like that as I seen some awesome B&W images of motel shoots in the U.S. by some art photographers, as portrayed on coffee table books.

Bryan was quite an easy going guy, polite and considerate. Though I myself was a tad quiet at first arriving in a hotel room with a tog I've never met face to face before, he made me feel at ease immediately. What made us both giggle was that he arrived at the room first, and there I was marching through the hotel lobby clad in a gaudy leopard skin coat (part of the shoot outfit) with tons of makeup on with both of us wondering what was on the mind of the poor young receptionist!

The lights were set up and all I had to do was change into lingerie and look pretty. Well pretty? Well, I was to be in black underwear with suspenders & stockings being sexy. However, with the sleazy motel setting in mind, the intention was for me

to be the bored wine swigging, chain-smoking slapper with attitude. What fun that was! There were empty bottles of wine on the dressing table, cigarette stubs piled up high on the glass ashtray (which Bryan smoked all, collected the stubs and brought to the shoot!) and me pretending to smoke! And I don't even drink or smoke... and how cool was that, when I was sitting on the toilet in my bra & knickers having a smoke!

One of the other themes to this shoot was focussed on exhibitionism. Well I won't go into it in detail but I am an exhibitionist. Not only that. I get my kicks doing crazy things like sneaking a flash in public and seeing how far I could go without getting caught. Okay most places have CCTVs but

hey, I'm sure I'm making someone's day! Hehe. So Bryan and I went out in the hallway with me initially wearing that mentioned gaudy leopard skin coat. At one point, an elderly-ish typically Southern-England type couple passed by so I hid in the corner. One they were gone, it was flash time! In another scene, Bryan was to pose as room service and I was answering the door with nothing on. I thought about using the Do Not Disturb sign someowhere but the letters were too small to read...

Another aspect we explored was voyeurism. Bryan was to pose as a voyeur while I was doing my everyday stuff in the hotel room. Drinking, smoking, watching telly, showering, sleeping, looking out the window and even using the toilet! For this shoot, he brought with him a remote-control shutter and disguised himself in a black hood and long leather coat. One of them was of me sleeping on the bed naked while he creeps towards me. Another was of him opening the door whilst am sitting on the toilet seat, knickers down...How rude!

Our final set was a shower scene, related to voyeurism aspect. In the past I never liked doing that because my hair and make up would get ruined. Of course, if we leave it to the last set who cares! And what sleazy motel shoot is complete without a shower scene? So there I went, splashing around and lathering myself with Bryan's shower gel which kinda made me smell suspiciously masculine. I was to act unaware the pics were being taken. Thus, I loved the results when days later, Bryan created a collage of the various shower scenes, as if I was being stalked... the image of this is among the right hand side of this blog...

So concluded our shoot. It was fun and exciting, although at one point we ran a bit out of ideas given the limited space we had in the hotel room. Nevertheless, I think we nailed quite a number of great concepts. I would definitely work with Bryan again, and we plan to shoot soon once our schedules are cleared up. Thanks so much,Bryan, I look forward to it!

...Oh, and now imagine the reaction of the receptionist when I

passed by the lobby with my makeup smudged and hair wet and still wearing my gaudy leopard skin coat!

For more trashy images of this shoot, click onto http://www.flickr.com/photos/minimiu/sets/72157625116446429/

The Naughty Socialite - shot by John Mayle

The many wonders of modeling is exploring creativity and challenge versatility. One minute it's cute and bubblegum glamour, next minute I'm the femme fatale with an evil smirk, another it's the scared and vulnerable look. Anything to bring men down to their knees! Well this time, I thought I'd play the sophisticated but sexy socialite, that elegant high society housewife or that poor little rich debutante... whichever you choose, a secretly naughty one too!

I was involved in several group shoots arranged by the F8 Glamour Club based in Northolt, near London, the first time being around the beginning of 2009. One of the togs I had modeled for there is Jon Mayle who recently got in touch with me to do a one-to-one shoot. As I was very pleased with his work from the group shoots where I did lingerie and glamour nude stuff, I jumped at the opportunity. After a few months of corresponding due to me traveling so much, we fixed the date for Saturday 6 October 2010 at our place.

Jon was, to quote, "after a high-end 'erotic fashion;, sultry sophisticated, provocative and confident look. So designer dresses with plunging necklines, short or split hem." And hence, my outfits designed by my friend, Farzana Warasta, in Amsterdam were perfect. Also, the dresses designed by Lola who is based in Kensington Church Street in London were also great. Jon was also after testing to see what sort of lighting equipment he should invest on and hence wanted to experiment with built-in flash and reflectors at a home shoot. Considering it was a dull October morning, I must say the results turned out rather well!

We started in the bedroom with the white sheets and cream-coloured walls as the room faces Southeast. I first wore my purple dress which had a plunging neckline, so low and plunging in fact that you need "tittie" tape to hold it in place! This was accompanied by a string of pearls. Next I changed into a brown low-cut tight-fitting cocktail dress with diamante straps designed by Lola in London accompanied by some necklace I bought at a flea market in Amsterdam! The final outfit for this setting was a magenta pink dress from Farzana. As the dress had a split in the middle, I thought wearing a pair of nude holdups with lace tops would be quite tantalising... In this scene, I was to be devouring a bowl of my favourite fruit, strawberries!!!

We proceeded to shoot in the lounge downstairs with all the gorgeous furnitures. As the decor was rather dark I thought I'd change into a metalic mustard-yellow dress. It's extremely tight and rather short with a split on the side so high it's obscene yet the outfit somewhat manages to avoid looking trashy. I have however yet to find an occasion to wear this without raising eyebrows! Again, a pair of nude holdups I thought would be perfect for this dress too. The final outfit of the day was a black dress. Yes an LBD as one would call it but similar to the purple outfit, it is has a plunging neckline...

After 5 outfit changes, Jon was happy with the images so we called it a day. We were both surprised how well the lighting turned out despite limited equipment and mediocre natural light on a dull day. I also thoroughly enjoyed my shoot with Jon today. Though rather quiet and reserved, he is very pleasant and polite as well as being organised, knowing exactly what he wanted in the shoot. Both of us felt more at ease being able to do a one-on-one shoot without the frustrations of a group shoot where all the togs randomly click away or queue up so time is lost. It's also less tedious for the model too who has to do the same pose to satisfy each tog...

Few days on, Jon emailed me the images which turned out well. Sexy and sensual whilst sophisticated and sultry. I'm glad both of us were able to achieve what we were looking to do. I'd definitely work with Jon again. Thank you so much!

For more pictures of this shoot, you won't find it in Hello magazine... but you will on my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/minimiu/sets/72157625210498854/

Kinky Outdoors Fashion Shoot with Tim Rosier

Ok... so what's my new excuse for this tardiness? The internet at our Amsterdam pad was down for 5 days! So therefore I was unable to do much but catch up with emails via wifi at the local cafe. Still maybe that's no excuse to keep my friends all waiting for my latest!

September has been a busy month though nothing I can't handle (!). Travelling to and around Amsterdam and back, visiting Mum in London and trying to fit in shoots whenever possible. One of them was with Tim Rosier from Northampton with whom I have previously worked doing fetish/erotic images in a derelict army barrack. This time though, we thought we'd focus on something more modest like actually wearing clothes! We decided to work together again on 18 September 2010 as we were firstly pleased with how our first shoot together went but also because I was participating in the Sin City group shoot (to be blogged soon) in his area with his wife, Karenza. They offered to put me up that evening so we could do a shoot the next day.

Rising quite early we set off around 10-ish to catch the morning sun. The day was rather warm as Tim drove us to a nearby woods with a lake which was relatively deserted as it was a weekday. I quickly slipped onto Outfit I, a PVC bra with leather shorts I was going to use for the Sin City group shoot the day before. Along those were a pair of black PVC gloves, fishnet tights and black/silver ankle boots as well as pasties as the bra had open holes to satisfy FB-friendliness! Oh and we mustn't forget that spiky collar I bought in Amsterdam. The contrast between the harsh outfit and the serenity of the woods created some interesting images.

Outfit II was that sexy red lace dress I got in Unzipped in Amsterdam a week before. It's a short body-con tube dress opened in the middle to expose the abs, ultimately hot! Again, the dress really blended well with the background. We love how the red contrasts well with the greenery behind. And then we broke up for lunch at Tim's place where Karenza kindly left me a bowl of pasta salad to satisfy my need for lots of energy.

After lunch and coffee, Tim drove us to another venue. Another

woodland! The evening before, I was watching a music channel on TV with Karenza and Tim. It featured Madonna's early hits, one of them being "Like a Virgin".... man was she so young then! But then weren't we all. Her white lace dress with plenty of jewelry accessorised around the wrists and neck including a crucifix pendant inspired me as I happened to have a lacy mini dress I had purchased in France more than 10 years ago! I took the liberty to borrow the pearls and accessories from Karenza, so thanks to her for leaving it in the hallway from yesterday's shoot. Minus the big hair Madonna had, I think I did a pretty good job emulating. So it was leaning against the tree looking pure and virginal as possible... The results came out quite well, especially with the white against the tree....

Final set, Outfit IV, was a simple blue tube dress from American Apparel. Earlier on when

we were hiking to find a suitable spot, Tim had spotted an abandoned fridge strewn smack in the middle of the woods. Bless the owner who was too cheap to pay for disposal costs and instead had it carried and dumped! Along with the dress I wore a pair of black fishnet tights and my favourite spiky stilettos, posing next to and on top of this fridge in the middle of the woods. It sure made a very interesting concept! We also did a few shots of me on a hill struggling to climb up in my stilettos. However, as the light was diminishing as the day drew, we didn't manage to nail any decent images. But at least the fridge scene worked well!

With the day becoming dull, we decided to call it a day. Once again, Tim displayed his talent as photographer to perfection as he meticulously handled the lighting. Even when one of the flash guns didn't work at the end of the first set, rather than panic he calmly headed for the reflectors. He sent me the edited images within a few weeks, and I was very pleased with the results. Thank you, Tim! I hope to work with you

in the near future soon!

For more images of this shoot, log onto http://www.flickr.com/photos/minimiu/sets/72157625142579258/