New photos from my last Asian Tour

New photos shot by lovely photographer Geoffrey Pereira in Singapore during my 2014 Asian Tour :)

First up, me modelling nothing but the $1 sunglasses I bought in the market after I managed to break the £90 pair I brought with me. Skincare by Bareskin Beauty.

Lingerie by Playful Promises, shoes by Fabulously Fetish. Apologies if you already saw this one on Facebook!

Leather jacket my own, ended up in the bin after being eaten by extreme high humidity in the Malaysian jungle later in the trip. Oh well!

Back from a last-minute weekend in London modelling for four Olympus workshops and a beauty magazine editorial. I left the house at 4.30 on Saturday morning and arrived home precisely 48 hours later at 4.30 this morning, having stopped at three sets of services on the way back for an hour of sleep here, an hour of sleep there, and finally, when that didn't work, a 3am stop-off for caramel soy cappuccino, brushing and flossing of teeth and a DIY Bareskin Beauty exfoliating facial in the toilets at the last motorway services. I'm very tired today, but at least my skin is glowing!

Here's a clearer shot of those $1 sunglasses, 'cos I know you're dying to see them.

Broke my £90 #sunglasses so bought these replacements from the local market for $1. Just taking a break between two photo shoots here in Singapore today. I don't know why my arms came out looking blue. #redhead #modeldiary #travellingmodel

A photo posted by Anita De Bauch (@anitadebauch) on Oct 22, 2014 at 11:38pm PDT

Dentist appointment first thing tomorrow, followed by seventeen full days of shooting in a row in Somerset, Kent, the Isle of Wight, London, Milton Keynes and Norfolk. Woooooo!!! So close to having the deposit for my dream house now ^_^


5.45pm EDIT: I forgot to say, if you are a freelance model like me, or interested in becoming one, and would like my book on how I do it, the posh hardback version is on special offer on Amazon UK atm, reduced from £26.99 to £16.89 + free P&P :)

NSFW in #Singapore

I should re-title my blog, 'NEVER Safe For Work' ;)

I quite like seeing modelling photos where you can the area surrounding the "photo zone"... the lighting, the assistants, someone with a can of hairspray tucked under their arm texting on their phone, the photographer themselves taking the shot, that sort of thing. It makes the photo seem to dynamic and gives you a sense of all the energies that go into making even a seemingly peaceful mood photo :)

This is another shot by Lem, who I blogged about on Sunday. After shooting on the cool, two storey  high fire escape set he created in his studio, it was nice to shoot something simple on a sofa. It may sound odd, but some of my favourite photos have been taken in ordinary places like people's living rooms. All you need is light :)

Skincare by Bareskin Beauty

Here is a last shot from the cool metal fire escape set Lem created in his studio, but this time, nude. I do like the contrast of soft, pale skin in hard, dark settings!

If you are a photographer in England interested in shooting some studio nudes with me, I have a great package offer available this month at Space Studio in St Albans. There are three 2 hour art nude bookings currently available, each of which is £100 all-inclusive of myself, the studio, equipment, hair and makeup, the signing of any releases, parking and light refreshments.

10am - 12pm: BOOKED

12.10 - 2.10pm: BOOKED

2.20 - 4.20pm: BOOKED

4.30 - 6.30pm: BOOKED

Please click here or email contact@anitadebauch.com for further details or to book, for which you will need to provide your full name, a contact number and a non-refundable deposit of £50. Thanks!

Photographer Showcase: Latex shoot with Lem Cheng Hai at DStudioLab, Singapore

I've been shooting with Lem in Singapore every year since 2011. In fact, I think I had my very first shoot in Singapore in his studio, DStudioLab, which is still my favourite in the area.

On my last trip, Lem set up this cool industrial metal stairway/ fire escape in front of the huge shutter door normally used for letting in vehicles for car shoots, for me to play on, which was mucho fun in 8" spike heels :o

 Latex by Shhh! Latex Couture

I think the next two are my favourites- wearing my long black Lady Lucie Latex leggings and extra high platforms up there really got me channelling some sort of sexy, sensual spider creature..! And although I love a bold lipstick red, I do like this industrial-looking metal structure in black and white- it makes it feel less cheery and more gritty and urban to me.

I hope to return to Southeast Asia again in November- if you are a photographer based in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Japan, or even Australia, please email me to register your interest today on contact@anitadebauch.com, and I will let you know when I am taking bookings :)

If you're a photographer based in England and would like to shoot some edgy, industrial, fetish-y, steampunk, alternative fashion-inspired images with me this month, you might be interested in these two fun package deals I've set up this month, one studio-based with optional hair and makeup artist, and one location, with just me ;)

• 2 hour Urban Camden Fashion Tour with me in London on Wednesday 21 or Friday 30 January, 2 changes in 4 locations plus organic cappuccino, £100 all-in!

• 3 hour studio shoot in Hitchin, Hertfordshire on Saturday 24 January, 10.10am - 1.10pm, complete with themed sets. £150 all-inclusive of me + studio and sets, or £168.75 for me + studio and sets + hair and makeup artist!

My good friend Roswell Ivory will also be in London on 30 January, if anyone would like to book us together while we're both in the same town (we're off to a party in the evening!). She has a real-life alternative fashion look that perfectly fits in with Camden's vibe. We used to do shopping and lunch there quite regularly when I lived in North London :) Her portfolio is here.

Email me on contact@anitadebauch.com with any questions or booking enquiries. Many thanks :)

2014 in Pictures

2014 is nearly over and we're past the Solstice, which I now learn is considered the New Year from a yogic perspective, so maybe I was onto something when I was waffling on about it the other day ;)

I bring you my 2014 in pictures:


JANUARY

January was a lovely month, with all my shoots bursting with love and romance: bridal fashion and couple's portraiture.

I spent five days shooting bridal and couple's portraiture with my boyfriend, which I styled:

I don't think I mentioned it in my blog at the time, but we danced our asses off for hours to The Bug and Fuckbuttons at Brixton Academy for our anniversary.

We were still living in London and I don't recall doing anything for my birthday, probably because I was shooting a bridal catalogue in York outdoors that day and nearly freezing to death :) But you can't tell from the photos, right?

I did a fairly full-on strict detox for the first week or so of January to give me a little boost into having a generally detoxifying diet in 2014. It seemed to help my skin, muscle tone and energy levels quite a lot. I found I didn't need to work out every day to maintain my ideal weight and muscle tone anymore, which was good!

My photos also started appearing on Vogue Italia's website, including this one, by Marcus Jake:

And somehow, I also found time to shoot a shoe campaign for Fabulously Fetish with Phine Ka, and do the hair and makeup for it, too.

Bareskin Beauty looked after my skincare for the whole year, so a big and heartfelt thank you to them!


FEBRUARY

February was more of a high fashion month. It was London Fashion Week, and I walked for several international eco-friendly designers at the EcoLuxe show. The after party was really fun, and I still have and use some of the goodies from the environmentally friendly goodie bag :)

I had an androgynous fashion shoot with MrGlen in London, one of my very favourite photographers to work with. It was challenging to pose in a completely new way and NOT be girly in the positioning of my hands, and so on! Being a guy is tough!

Despite this, I was named one of the sexiest bloggers on the net.

MARCH

Shot one of my favourite figure nudes I've ever done at a workshop in London:

I also love this shoot I did with my sponsors, Playful Promises lingerie and Fabulously Fetish shoes:

The photographer was David Morley. We had two awesome shoots together, and then he seemed to vanish off the face of the earth. I hope he's all right and still shooting.

I toured Norfolk and did this hair shoot for Robert Owen Salon, which was shot by Andrew McMeekin. I did the makeup and wardrobe styling:

I was on the cover of Spain's BeDeSeMe magazine, with a 14 page interview and pictorial shot by Luci Alice! I was wearing Lady Allura's Latex and Fabulously Fetish shoes.

I also met Dita Von Teese in New York and shot a music video in London with SHOWstudio.

Photo by Jennifer Mitchell

I rather overworked myself in March by trying to shoot more or less every day, including ten days in New York and New Jersey, without a break, except for falling asleep on planes and trains, and ended up in bed with a cold and a lot of souvenirs for a few days when I got back home.

APRIL

I had a much-needed holiday in Somerset in April, which was a wonderful time to visit. The countryside was such a contrast to London, and I loved seeing all the trees in full bloom with pink blossoms, the lambs springing around in the fields, and the weather warm enough to visit Glastonbury Abbey. I felt so happy and relaxed that I think this is when I started to subconsciously get the idea to move here sooner rather than later, and get out of the rat-race a little.

I also had a couple of shoots in Helsinki for Damian McGillicuddy and Olympus Cameras, which was especially fun as I'd never been to Finland before.

My boots were custom made for me by Fabulously Fetish to match my hair :)

MAY

Got my butt out in Bo Ningen's music video for Slider, which was directed by Marie Schuller of SHOWstudio. I learned the whole song in Japanese short-notice, then on the day, didn't need to lip-sync any of it after all as none of the other actors had learned it so the idea was scrapped. Ha! Went for drinks with the band and the crew in Shoreditch afterwards and they were totally lovely. Cue drunkenly waffling about creative expression with the guitarist for aaaages.

JUNE

I met the legendary supermodel Twiggy at a photo shoot in June. I was almost speechless with starstruck-ness and she was very kind to me, including pulling me in for this shot and approving it on the spot so I could post it here. She approves ALL her photos before they appear anywhere. Imagine that!

Afterwards, I shot some bright sunny commercial stuff with Stephen Perry:

My most exciting news in June was that my book, The "Ugly" Girl's Guide to Modelling, got picked up by a publisher, meaning I no longer had to worry about self-publishing on Amazon or whatever. As far as I know, this is the first book on freelance modelling that has ever been deemed good enough to sell by an actual publishing house, and I was (and am) absolutely thrilled.


JULY

I had a jam-packed sold-out tour of Ireland for two weeks in July, which was very productive. I dyed some clip-in human hair extensions to match my real hair before I left, and had a go with them at shoots, both loose and tied up into a big up-do:

Photographer: John  Murray

AUGUST

My lower half made an appearance in a fashion film called The Masters for Selfridges by SHOWstudio, which involved many different "masters" of fashion like Jean Paul Gaultier and Oscar De La Renta. I was in the Stella McCartney segment. It was playing on the big screen in the window of Selfridges on Oxford Street on a permanent loop, along with a shop window dedicated to my scene with a mannequin leg to represent me, lol! I don't know if it's still playing or not.

By this this point, we had done some sums and realised that we could almost afford to buy our own place, rather than keep renting the flat in London, and also, that we never wanted to have a flatmate again, so much of August was spent packing, ready to move, at least temporarily, to Somerset, while we figured out what to do next.

SEPTEMBER

I had this fun Star Wars themed editorial in Rebelicious magazine, wearing Shh! Couture latex, shot by Magpie Tommy.

Trying to extricate ourselves from our flat in London was stressful, to say the least, which I guess is why I didn't blog much that month. I think I was just trying to take in my newly peaceful surroundings in Somerset and let go of all the nonsense.

OCTOBER

I did a couple of shoots in London in October, including for Hair Colour Clinic, but most of my shoots were in beautiful Southeast Asia :) I also had a makeup lesson with MAC at Harrod's to brush up on my skills.

Shot in a Malaysian jungle on a mountain by Raoul Alfamuz. I could see wild monkeys and gibbons playing in the trees right above my head! ^_^

NOVEMBER

I did my "Everywhere but the Southeast" Tour of England and Wales in November. The trip included a day at The Pit in Nottingham, which I'd never been to before, but will definitely be going back to. What a fab location!

Photographer: Caught in Action

I also particularly like this retro boudoir shot by LanesRo1 in Wales. I did the hair, makeup and wardrobe styling; the lingerie is from Playful Promises and the heels were custom made for me by Fabulously Fetish.

DECEMBER

The highlight of my December was taking Nan to the Winter Solstice ceremony at Chalice Well in Glastonbury. I thought she would probably enjoy it, but she LOVED it and was still talking about it on Christmas Day! It certainly was very interesting and uplifting to see such a nice group of gentle people coming together to celebrate their religious diversity- Christians, Dianic Wiccans, Brighid worshippers, Unitarians, Buddhists, Sufi Muslims and Pagan Gnostics were all represented in the lighting of the fire ceremony. The Chalice Well's motto is "One Source, Many Paths." I also got some great Christmas cards from the gift shop.

On the modelling front, I scored a great interview and pictorial in Sinical magazine, which you can read here.

I saw the Manic Street Preachers on the last night of their Holy Bible Tour, and was at Stonehenge at 7am the day after Chalice Well for the Druids' Winter Solstice/ free entry into the actual stone circle. I'm really trying to make the most of my time in Somerset because I have no idea how long I'll be here :)

Yesterday I was disappointed to learn that a traditional gypsy caravan is basically just a bed on wheels, and therefore not something I could live in for more than 24 hours (i.e. until I wanted to have a shower or plug the blender in), and that basically takes you up to where I am now.

I've definitely changed a lot this year. I've achieved a lot of my career-related goals- well, all of my goals were career-related, really- and as a result, my priorities have changed.

I no longer see money as a measure of how much I'm worth.

I no longer rate my personal success according to my professional success.

I'm not interested in box-checking anymore, as in: husband? Check! Kids? Check! Mortgage on an overpriced house in the suburbs? Check! Am I happy yet? Maybe I'd better check a few more boxes!

I was never deeply into any of that but I feel that I've managed to let go of it completely the last month or two, and truly not worry about it.

I'm 29 next month and I think it might be my most interesting year yet.

Lots of love,

Anita xxx

Hair Colour Clinic, Manic Street Preachers, foot #FetishFriday, book, Yule

Next in my list of publications/ commercial jobs that I failed to mention properly at the time is this hair colour shoot I did for the Hair Colour Clinic, right before I went on my Southeast Asia Tour in October. I love colour!!!

This is a bit of a different look for me, but it is nice when people have faith that I can do more commercial fashion and beauty looks, as well as the more retro/ fetish type looks I get booked so much for :) I am a chameleon, after all!

Hair by Val Mallia, skincare by Bareskin Beauty

 Photographer and wardrobe stylist: Edgar Brambis

 Apologies if you already saw the silver sparkly ones on Facebook!

I really want a silver sparkly tuxedo now, possibly complete with top hat, cane and slight air of campness ^_^

I was lucky enough to catch the last night of the Manic Street Preachers' Holy Bible Tour at the Roundhouse on Wednesday, which was actually the first time I've managed to see them live. I'm starting to get a bit bored of just "going to see rock bands" as I've kind of been doing that since I was 14, but they were amazing! Super tight and of course, great songs, one of my favourite rock albums ever. I was thrilled that they closed with glitter cannons to my favourite song, A Design for Life! It's only now I've gone back and looked at the fun socialist propaganda video for it, where they all look like teenagers, that I notice it appears to have actually been shot at the Roundhouse:

I'm sure askygoneonfire will be able to tell me, if she reads this ;)

I know I also had something published in Obscure magazine this autumn/ winter, but appropriately enough, I now seem unable to track it down anywhere, lol. But before I forget, you can at least check my Twitter for this week's #FetishFriday photos: elegant barefoot/ wrinkled soles images by SilkSoles.com :)

I've had my last shoot of the year now, which could be seen as meaning I'm on holiday, but really just means I have more time for the non-shooting work, as well as trying to gather Christmas gifts together and make sure all my Christmas cards are posted off, as well as my father's gift (he lives in France).

The book is still floundering at its very final stages of formatting before printing and publication, which is incredibly frustrating, as in my mind it has been DONE for months and months, but just not ready to print, for various technical reasons! I'm disappointed, as I had really expected it to be out for you guys before Christmas, but I know these things happen in their own time, and I certainly would never want to rush it out to catch the Christmas trade in exchange for lowering the quality of the information or presentation. Try to stash £12.99 away (or flog £12.99's worth of unwanted gifts on eBay in January) for the New Year, when I promise it will be ready for you to use to enhance your career and personal freelance modelling journey, and all for the price of a couple of drinks this season, or one cocktail in London ;) I'll let you know when, of course. Hang onto the e-receipt, because I want to be able to give gifts to those who acquire the book to say thanks :)

Tomorrow is the Winter Solstice, according to my diary, so I'm going to check out some of my local celebrations in Glastonbury, although "real" Winter Solstice this year is technically the day after tomorrow, apparently. I don't really care, I just want to see wah gwan :) The last time I went to Glastonbury was with Roswell Ivory, and we were surprised and delighted with the level of Pagan hippie shenanigans on an ordinary weekday afternoon, so I'm kind of hoping they'll be pulling out all the stops tomorrow!

No clothes and no Photoshop, from the Malaysian jungle. Happy nudey Halloween!

So with all the hacked/ leaked celebrity candid nude photos being the latest thing, I thought I should get in on it, seeing as no-one's bothered to hack my phone yet...

lol j/k I'm already naked all over the internet.

Seriously though, it's Halloween, and what could be scarier than having un-Photoshopped nude photos of yourself online? Models, amiright?

Well, here are some of me straight from the camera of Raoúl Alfamuz from our shoot in the Malaysian jungle last weekend! This was just the most idyllic, ANTM-like location... it was handy that I had to look up to catch the natural light, as it meant I could see the wild monkeys, gibbons and exotic birds playing in the branches right above me! What an amazing experience! It was one of those ones that makes me feel so, so lucky for having the job that I have. Welcome to my office.

My hair colour was super bright on this tour as I had a hair job for a colourist team in London right before I left!

This was all shot with 100% natural light and 100% natural skincare and nutrition advice from +Bareskin Beauty.

^Click the pictures for bigger (800px) versions

As well as being completely unedited, these photos are posted in the order they were shot in. See how the last one is slightly darker than the first, despite being taken only moments apart? That was because of this incredible fog that rolled in like something from a Hammer Horror SFX dept! You can kind of see it materialising in the path just behind me, if you look closely.

It is very warm but also very wet in Malaysia this time of year, with the weather alternating between blazing sunshine and torrential monsoons every day. As soon as the insanely heavy downpours stop, the heat starts evaporating all the water, and then you get these completely OTT dramatic mists rolling towards you at top speed like something out of Evil Dead. If you are deep in the jungle, the sudden effect is eerie and really blocks out the light. As a result, this is what the next shot looked like! Although it might not be considered a technical success by some, I think the very sudden drop in light and resulting increased graininess created a spooky Blair Witch/ Pilot episode of The X-Files sort of a vibe, which I personally really like.

I arrived back in London yesterday and as usual am smugly enjoying my lack of jetlag. I've got that shit nailed: just set your watch to your destination's time zone when you get on the plane and act accordingly, e.g. if it says it's 11am, order some coffee, or if it says it's 11pm, pause the movie and put your eye mask on for a few hours. Then you feel like you're on the right time when you arrive. Works for me, anyway! Bit of a life hack.

I leave you with my pumpkin (apologies if you already saw it on Instagram), which I carved despite the fact that I'm totally on my own this Halloween. In fact, I bought two; so far the other one has been made into "cheesy roasted" raw vegan crispy seeds, and spiced pumpkin "latte" (made with almond milk and no coffee, so I can drink it at 6 in the evening and still get a good night's sleep). Maybe I'll roast some pieces with coconut oil and rosemary tomorrow to round off a kale salad, and/ or make soup or some kind of dessert :)

Happy Halloween!

Off to Singapore

I'm flying to Singapore tonight, so should be there tomorrow evening (local time).

Much fun was had asking my Singaporean friends about their nudity laws, confirming that it is definitely not okay for me to wear my new slightly see-through Mango top with no bra while I'm there, and then guiltily wiping all the porn artistic nude imagery off my laptop and phone, too.

I love Singapore and I love flying, so this trip is pretty much guaranteed to be a success in my book from the moment of landing. I want to get an Indian head massage, back massage and a Shanghai pedicure on my first day, as well as eat at my favourite vegetarian restaurant in Little India, before I start shooting on Sunday!

After that I won't have much time for tourist stuff, but it's okay, as I've been there so many times already. I do want to get my traditional Singapore Sling at "my" table in Raffles' Long Bar though, and also visit Pulau Ubin for the first time. And enjoy swimming in the WARM sea! Must remember to pack my factor 50 and a bikini!

Just barely had time to get a fresh mani yesterday morning. Still don't have my Singapore $$$. I had time to fit in a MAC makeup lesson at Harrods, though, so that's okay! Got some new products for my trip and beyond ^_^

 

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Photoshop and filter-free makeup lesson face and new products to repeat it at my next shoot :)

I'm going to post this cool Lady Allura's Latex photo by Adrian Jones now! The gold peep-toes are by Fabulously Fetish. I did my own hair and makeup :)

My hair is, once again, a really bold colour, thanks to the hair shoot I had on Sunday. In case you didn't already see it on Instagram/ Facebook, this is Miley Cirus me on Sunday:

I'll probably just be posting pics on Instagram and Facebook for the next couple of weeks, while I'm in Asia... or Tweet me if you want to stay in touch. Lots of love.

... Anita xo