That ‘Gok Wan’ Moment

 Posted on March 15, 2013      by Ian G
 4

We’d worked with Hayleigh before, but as a makeup artist, not a model, so we were a little surprised when at the end of a nude shoot that Hayleigh had done the looks for, she told us she’d been wondering what it would be like to pose for a nude shoot.

Well who am I to get in the way of an enquiring mind.
All credit to Hayleigh, when I offered her a shoot for my nude portrait project, you could almost see her take her bottle in both hands and jump.
“Yes I’ll do it”
It was a few weeks before we could fit her into the shoot diary and I know she spent that time wondering what on earth had made her commit to a nude shoot and getting more and more nervous.
In an effort to reassure her, I pointed toward all the feedback we’ve had from models, many of them working nude for the first time, all saying how much fun they’d had and how glad they were that they’d shot with us, but I don’t know if that helped.
She arrived bang on time and got straight into the familiar territory of the makeup chair with Linda.
20 minutes later Linda came down and whispered to me “she’s terrified”
Then down came Hayleigh in her robe, she was clearly still very nervous as we chatted through the shoot plan, but all credit to her, she was obviously determined to do a good job, and when the moment came when I asked her to pass her robe to Linda, she handled herself like a pro.
10 minutes later, when we paused to look at some of the images on the computer, she didn’t even glance at the robe hanging on a light fitting, but strolled across the studio completely at home and as though walking naked around photographic studios was something she’d been doing all her life.
It turned out to be a fun shoot for all of us, especially when we got to the set when I give the models the chance to do something different, and maybe a little daft.  
I wonder how many of Hayleigh’s friends know she can still do a hand-stand 🙂
With the nude portrait sets finished, Hayleigh didn’t have anything in particular she wanted to do so we suggested a ‘goth’ look, and Hayleigh made her usual good job of the makeup, but as we shot, it seemed she wasn’t quite as at home as she had been in the previous ones.
Now during the last shoot we’d done with Hayleigh as MUA, the model had made a throw-away remark that she always felt more comfortable in front of the camera when she was nude, and I suspect Hayleigh had thought that a little strange.  But here she was, not quite so happy now she’d had to put clothes on 🙂
It was Hayleigh herself that made the connection to the TV show ‘How to look good naked’ and it was a very happy and confident Hayleigh that was already talking about her next shoot as she left  🙂
 
Gok Wan’s got nothing on Gilchrist Photo 😀
4 Comments for That ‘Gok Wan’ Moment

Samantha Healy

Love them well done guys 🙂 xxx

Reply

Ian G

Hayleigh left this comment on one of her pictures. I thought it was worth bringing it out here:
…

well what can i say i never thought id ever do modelling let alone nude.but i can honestly say it was a amazing day and i enjoyed it ..
i felt very comfortable with Ian and his wife even though i have worked with them before as a MUA on other shoots i was still nervous as hell but i was made to feel good about myself and shown how to pose/sit for photo’s as this was all new to me and i loved every minute as you can see from the end result.
Its all about confidence and i left this shoot full of and am planning to go back soon to model again and as a MUA on other shoots

hayleighlouise

Reply

Ian G

It’s amazing just how many new models have arrived at our studio telling us how nervous they are a the thought of doing their first nude shoot, and left at the end of the shoot feeling 10 feet tall and brimming with confidence.

We have yet to have a first time nude model that hasn’t really enjoyed the experience and gone home feeling great about themselves and we are very proud of that 🙂

Reply



Leave a Reply





 

  • Categories

  • Archives