She's A Model And She's Looking Good

Ah, so there's nothing like snapshots to make you totally lose your confidence when you thought you were looking kinda OK from the actual posed photos, but then in the candid pics you just look like a big fat lug with loads of double chins...

Ah well, glory in how nice my pedals look. (Oh yes, and Marianna twirling in the background)



I've come to the conclusion that my band would actually look better if I wasn't in them... I mean, you've got these sassy chiX0rs...



...and then you've got me looking like a big lump. Sigh.



My hair is *so* turning ginger, too.

Yeah. So. Photoshoot on Sunday. I wasn't in the best of moods to start with, having got up at the crack of dawn and dragged myself plus a load of equipment all the way up Archway, only to find out that rehearsal is cancelled and I've got to drag all that equipment back down the hill. Grrrrrr.

Ah well. The studio was beautiful, it was a Proper Photographic Studio with lights and big mirrors and ironing boards and changing rooms with superhot but superglamourous makeup lights. Kinda scary. That's why we're wearing so much slap that looks a bit cheap in outdoor/candid shots but looks great in the actual photos.

It was interesting to see the behind-the-scenes stuff - just how much setup goes into a professional photo shoot, lights and white boards and lighting tests and all that. And Vicki Churchill was fantastic, giving us lots of helpful hints and directions about posing. (She taught us the Heat Magazine pose, which is a guaranteed double chin reducer. Phew!) Unfortunately, this means I am looking over the top of my glasses in all shots - this is for glare elimination, not because I've got some Sexy Librarian thing going on.

We took some Rock Chick poses (where Anna was channeling Shirley Manson). Then we took some cocktail party poses with Tim Ten Yen (where AMP was channelling Jackie O). Then we took some silly shoegazer poses with my pedals (god, I hope those come out) where I thought I was channelling Kevin Sheilds but Brainlove started singing "Smells Like Teen Spirit" grrrrrrr. Then we took some red and black photos (where Marianna was channelling Jayne Mansfield) but by that time, we were all pretty drunk and started lezzing up, feeling each others' tits up and grabbing each other and stuffs - photos we can never use because of err... nipple issues.

It's hard work. No, *really* - it's actually physically quite demanding, striking quite unnatural poses and holding them for 20 minutes at a time while they check the lights and stuff. I've been sore for two days, and would have been worse had it not been for fabulous massage given by Official Band Sister, Lisa.

Poor Vicki - she gave up trying to tell Anna and Marianna and AnneMarie apart and just started referring to us by outfit and hair colour. Not a good day for my fear of turning ginger... I was SURROUNDED by them! At one point, I was standing with two of my ginger bandmates, ginger manager, and then Vicki - also ginger - turned around and I SWEAR TO GOD growled at me. HELP! I think it's catchy.

Anyway, I can't wait to see the finished results.