STARSHOTS of Wise Women

Huge eye bags greeted me in the bathroom mirror.  I glanced at my trusty bottle of Eyesential.   Thank goodness for that! 

Lana:  Leading up to the big day, I had suffered a few health ailments and a very painful bout of neuralgia so instead of consuming a very sensible detox dinner with chilled glasses of  rehydrating water as Gigi had imaged, I accepted an invitation to dinner at a local restaurant (Mr J thought I needed cheering up).

We settle for spicy, stomach bloating Chinese food washed down by a few glasses of chilled Sav Blanc (for the pain).


Gigi:  Because of my busy week, I had little time to plan my clothing selection and so in the morning I quickly threw three changes into plastic bags. 

To get there I drove, I caught the light rail and I walked a long distance.

Lana:  Morning arrived all too soon.

The garments I had chosen for the photo shoot the night before were never going to fit me now, as my abdomen seemed to be swelling by the minute.

I tossed a few more outfits into the bag and ended up with a large suitcase and a bulging suit bag.

This was far more luggage than I would ever expect to take with me on a week’s holiday!

I think Mr J thought I was leaving him!

Gigi:  I arrived on time but Lana was already there looking calm and serene. 

I was sweating profusely and had forgotten to take my blood pressure tablet! 

Lana had a suitcase filled with her entire wardrobe, masses of jewellery, hats, shoes and bags. 

I undid my scrunched up plastic bags, hung up my three outfits and took out my two pairs of shoes.
 

Lana:  I left home extra early as I was aware that car parking was scarce in the inner city area.

After unsuccessfully driving around and around looking for that elusive parking spot, I settled on paying a hefty fee for hotel parking located a few blocks away.

The 15 minute walk to the studio felt like an hour lugging the excessive and awkward baggage behind me.

I was greeted warmly on arrival at the studio with a smile and a relaxing and refreshing cup of tea. I collapsed on the large, comfy sofa awaiting Gigi’s arrival.

                     Belle and Lana


Gigi:  We immediately zipped out our Eyesential and started furiously shaking the bottles.  I applied it to Lana and it set perfectly. 

Kristy, our photographer and Belle, the makeup artist, stared agog at the results. 

Belle worked diligently away on Lana’s face.  Every time I glanced across, Lana looked more and more stunning.  Then Belle picked up the tongs and styled her hair. 

The results were spectacular.  Lana looked divine. I am sure she felt divine as she climbed into a spectacular black pantsuit. 

She looked smart, groomed and very chic. She disappeared behind the curtains to have her photos taken.

Lana:  Gigi applied my Eyesential with amazing proficiency. Belle was faced with a pallid complexion and sunken eyes.

She worked wonders wielding her makeup brush, expertly adding colour and highlights to my face. She directed attention to my lips by painting them fire engine red – clever move Belle.

My hair was ironed and I quickly changed into the black slack suit that Kristy had chosen to help camouflage my distended tummy.

            Lana in her solo shot

Gigi:  Belle started on me.  My eye bags were so bad I thought that the Eyesential had finally met its match but thankfully it worked its magic. Bit by bit the makeup was layered on.  Once the lipstick was applied I sighed with relief. 


                 Gigi and Belle


I could hear Kristy organising Lana into position behind the curtain as Belle styled my hair.  My makeup looked excellent.  How could I ever mirror this artistic makeup design at home! 

Kristy had chosen my animal print top with the riot of flowers.  She had most likely sized me up for my single shot!!!!  Slightly crazy, yet colourful!

Lana:  I posed in various positions in front of a blazing red backdrop as Kristy clicked away on her camera.

Although I felt a little silly and self conscious at first, I decided to enjoy the fun and fantasy of it all.

I returned to the makeup room where Gigi had been transformed. She looked so glamorous and her face looked flawless.

The animal print top with the splash of red that she was wearing really harmonised with her vivacious personality.             


Gigi:  Kristy had me sitting this way and that.  Face up and face down.  Legs this way and twist; eyes here and there; smile, smile with teeth and look serious. 

It wasn’t until afterwards that I realised all of my photos were taken up close with a brown background. I don't consider myself a 'brown' person so I found it a bit odd to be totally immersed in it. And there is something very disconcerting about seeing your face up close and personal.  

    
             Gigi in her solo shot

The lovely Lana, however, had a fabulous and exciting red background and further away shots.  Now how did that happen!!!!!! 


Lana:  I think Kristy is a genius taking my photographs further back!

The rest of the photos were to be taken together.   The first of these was to be a combination of black and white and the red shoes shots. 



 

Gigi:  Lana shimmied into a gorgeous black striped top and black pant.  I popped on my black lace jacket and a stripy scarf. 

Kirsty manoeuvred us into varying positions and there was a lot of laughter as we got into the ‘photo groove’. 

I love these shots the most and we really had a lot of fun posing.  We faced each other; sat back to back and lay on our stomachs.  Look this way; hands that way and lighting was altered.

Lana:   During the shoot, we giggled and whispered like schoolgirls, often reminding each other to hold our tummies in and our shoulders back.

We changed our outfits a number of times and with different backgrounds and lighting sat, stood, angled and smiled.  Belle rushed in to dust our faces and fix our hair.  For about 3 hours we were photographed.

Gigi:  For someone who dislikes having their photo taken it was quite a bit of an uncomfortable feeling to begin with, but after a while, with great company and lots of laughs, we relaxed and hit our straps. 

Lana:  Kristy decided to introduce a seductive windswept effect to the shots with the help of an enormous fan.

Instead of looking like a couple of sassy 50 something’s, we ended up looking totally uncomfortable and dishevelled! Note - none of these photos were chosen!!!

It was finally over.  We had absolutely no way of knowing if ANY of the photos were near decent, but they are professionals so we had to presume they would make us look wonderful.  

Whilst Kristy loaded the photos into the computer we went down stairs for a much needed caffeine hit. 

Then the time had come to view the photos and make a selection.  We needed to choose one single each and four of the both of us. 

We sat on a posh sofa in front of a huge television screen.

Gigi:  We started the photo session looking at the ‘getting ready’ photos and it was there and then I felt a trifle nauseous.  Inside my head I thought ‘I hope they get better than these’ but I am sure it had a lot to do with our bare faces, limp hair and the side shots!   

Then onto the screen came Lana in her solo photos.  She looked gorgeous and I thought she could have chosen many of her solo ones and it was actually hard to pin down the best one. 

Then, up came my solo photos.   I happily excluded many and then wondered if I would have any left!!!!!  But I came up with one which was the best judged by the three of us.

Lana:  It’s very confronting to see your image displayed up close and on the big screen.

I decided to choose smiling shots that emphasised my new and outrageously expensive dental restorations (read my story -: In the Dentist’s Chair).

I thought Janet’s shots looked fantastic, she looked glamorous, wise and sassy and her blue eyes sparkled.

Then we sifted through the group photos.  We went through them many times.  Some were obvious eliminations.  We had to make sure both of us were happy with the shots and in the end it was quite easy.  We chose 4.


Belle (makeup) and Kristy (photographer)

What was a totally terrific experience!  We felt pampered, felt special and ended up looking great.   And let’s face it, the photos say it all.

Would we recommend it?  Of course we would.  It was fantastic fun and you end up coming home with photos of yourself that you could only dream existed.

If you haven’t had your photos taken by professional photographers, well, don’t delay!

Show your friends and family just how glamorous you really can be.

Go to Starshots click here

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