My beautiful friend Stephanie Dubois and I are considering a trip to glamorous Bruges this summer, which is one of the most well-preserved medieval towns in the whole of Europe- perfect for some truly stunning street fashion shots that simply wouldn't be possible in our local town centres.
We will be shooting over a weekend in June, and with a strict maximum of just four photographers, we can be flexible and agree between us when would be most convenient for everyone. As a photographer, all you will need to do is book your flight/ Eurostar ride and remember to bring your camera and your toothbrush :) Let's get well and truly out of the studio and spread our wings!
We are teaming up with our photographer friend Craig Larkins to provide quality accommodation with plenty of natural light for those who would also like to shoot nudes.
Considering that it would usually cost about £1200 to book Stephanie and I together for two days in good old Blighty, I can't really overstate what a bargain this is :)
Please email contact@anitadebauch.com with enquiries, including a link to your portfolio.
Here are some new beauty shots from my photo shoot with Adam Robertson this January. I normally can't stand being photographed without my red lipstick, but I have been shooting with Adam more or less since I started modelling so he is one of the very few I trust enough to let go of my lipstick security blanket for a few shots ;) Skincare by Bareskin Beauty.
If you are a photographer interested in booking me for a beauty/ nude shoot, please message me via my PP profile. Thanks!
I'm calling this year "my sexy '17", because I want to finally let go of any kind of restrictions and repressions in my work and focus on my own sensuality, natural desires and kink... and profit from them, too.
New photos in my custom-made Lady Allura's Latex bikini shot in my new home dungeon last week... click on the pictures to see larger versions.
I love to share my spicier side with my fans in the spirit of mutual love and sexual freedom and I also think I deserve to be rewarded and looked after for doing so :)
My first tentative step is to finally make my dream of having an "Anita hotline" something of a reality!
If you submit this form and set up a standing order, I'll start personally sending you private raunchy texts as often as you'd like to receive them- **from my actual mobile phone**, not a horrid premium rate number, so you can text me back as often as you like without running up weird fees or a funny-looking payment statement.
People seem to care about this sort of thing, so I thought I'd write a blog about it.
I don't weigh or measure my food, control portion sizes, count calories or any of that stuff, and haven't for years! (I don't even weigh myself.) I think the "calories in vs calories out" model is reductionist and doesn't take into account that e.g. eating 500 calories' worth of avocado has a different effect on my body than eating 500 calories' worth of Quality Street.
Eating 500 calories' worth of avocado has a different effect on my body than eating 500 calories' worth of Quality Street.
"Poor quality" = heavily processed, low in nutrients, low-fibre
I'm not a dietician so all I can really talk about is what works for me at this time of year. And here it is :)
Breakfast
I have the same breakfast most days- a cup of warm water with the juice of half a lemon squeezed in, a pint of water to wash down a good quality probiotic, and about 1 - 1.5 pints of Glowing Green Smoothie. Green is a festive colour, so I guess you could serve green smoothies with wide red paper straws or something if you were in charge of breakfast on Christmas Day (maybe as a starter if you're catering for people who will also be expecting bacon and eggs!).
Mid-morning
Homemade spiced latte and a couple of satsumas. I really associate these flavours with Christmas! Other traditional Christmas fruits that seem to pop up in various re-enactments of A Christmas Carol are oranges, red grapes and red apples.
I make my latte by frothing up hot almond and coconut milk with espresso and allspice, then sweetening with raw honey. If you don't have a coffee machine, you could just warm all the ingredients up together in a small pan, using ordinary coffee from a cafetiere, with the option of frothing it by whipping it up in a blender before serving. It makes it come out really foamy and delish! And if you rinse the blender straight away, you don't really have to wash it up :p #bachelorettefrog (Not recommended if using dairy milk! No-one wants an accidentally cheesy blender.)
If you don't like hot drinks, you could blend frozen cranberries with water and Truvia to make a cranberry smoothie that makes you pee a lot = makes your tummy flatter. It's a standard trick used by Hollywood actresses when preparing for red carpet appearances.
Lunch
I make soup all the time. It's one of the few things I'm good at cooking. A nice easy winter warmer is leek and potato, which is simply boiled potatoes (no need to peel) + leek boiled in vegetable stock + blender. Leeks and potatoes are particularly cheap and good quality right now because they're in season. The potato makes the texture really creamy, so you don't need to add anything else except sea salt and pepper.
The Easiest Winter Soup Recipe in the Whole Wide World
Chop and boil 2 medium-sized potatoes (no need to peel).
Chop and boil a leek in vegetable stock.
Add the cooked veggies and stock to a blender with a generous pinch of sea salt and pepper. Blend while pressing a tea towel on the lid to avoid accidents.
Pour the soup back into a big pan on the lowest heat setting and add more seasoning to taste. Done!
I make a fish-free version of the traditional seafood salad at Christmas- Dharma's Kale Salad, which still has that sea-freshness from the dulse and dill, and uses local kale, which is in season at this time of year. I like a BIG helping ^_^ You can use grated carrot instead of sprouts, or whatever other veggies you like.
Another thing I'm actually good at making is chocolate truffles. It's easier than it sounds. I melt coconut milk, coconut oil and dark chocolate together in a pan, then take it off the heat and stir in a few drops of vanilla essence. Then I just pour the mixture into a baking dish lined with baking paper and put it in the freezer to set. Sometimes I mix fruit and nuts in there too. The texture is always much better than just eating dark chocolate straight out of the pack, and it's so rich I can only manage one or two pieces for dessert.
Mid-afternoon
I avoid caffeine after lunch, and besides, there are so many great Christmas spicy teas to choose from! My favourite is Pukka Vanilla Chai, which doesn't contain black tea, so it's naturally caffeine-free. I also like to bake mince pies the easy way, with a pack of Jus-Rol shortcrust pastry and a jar of ready-made mincemeat.
Dinner
I so relate to this ad ;)
I know plenty of models who eat meat, and roast turkey must be one of the healthiest meat choices available. Still, I prefer to stick with my veggies :) It makes the meal digest more easily for me, and my tummy feel flatter afterwards. I like all the traditional trimmings, mind: sage and onion stuffing, my homemade Yorkshire puddings, a glass of red wine, floury roast potatoes, mashed root veg, kale, broccoli, carrots and super thick English gravy ^_^ Just looking at Brussels sprouts sets off my gag reflex, however D:
No, no, no, no, no.
Hot mince pies fresh from the oven, drizzled with oat or coconut cream and served with sherry in pretty vintage glasses is the perfect dessert to send everyone into a post-dinner food coma in front of the TV ^_^ This year I have a couple of individual-sized Christmas puddings in the cupboard for anyone that wants one. I do like the spectacle of setting a pudding on fire before eating it but then I do also feel like I'm going to die after rounding off a roast dinner with a dense, microwaved pudding, so...
Give yourself the gift of self-hate this Christmas :p
In the evening I like to make hot coconut buttered rum or mull some wine, which makes the house smell even more amazing, light some candles, curl up in front of an open fire with my cats and take time to really appreciate the company I'm with. I like to feel happy and healthy, and not be distracted by a tummy ache or wondering just how hard I'm going to have to restrict in January. I put out bowls of mixed nuts and Medjool dates for people to snack on, but there is always leftover smoothie, soup, salad, roasties and mince pies for anyone still hungry, too.
So, to summarise, this is pretty much my standard Christmas eating:
Breakfast: lots of water and a green smoothie. Mid-morning: nut milk latte and fruit. Lunch: huge salad and homemade soup with one or two chocolate truffles for dessert. Mid-afternoon: vanilla chai tea and homebaked vegan mince pies. Dinner: Traditional Christmas dinner minus the turkey and pork with hot mince pies and oat/ coconut cream for dessert. Evening: mulled wine, nuts, dates, leftovers.
I like reading other people's healthy food ideas, hate being hungry, and am also quite nosey as to how other models and entertainers stay in shape with minimum effort. For anyone out there similar to me, I hope you enjoyed this blog :)
I'd like to tell you a little bit about the unseen making of this image, which I shot for Beyond Burlesque couture in London a few years ago (the Beyond Burlesque designer also creates corsets for Vivienne Westwood, a perennial favourite of mine):
It was a snowy day in London, which was perfect for the glamour fairytale we created... but in real life, snow is cold! Bare skin in the snow is very cold. I had blankets thrown over me between shots, flasks of hot drinks and even hot water bottles to keep my skin the right colour and my muscles able to move freely throughout the shoot. I am fairly sure that in this particular shot I had the hot water bottle pushed up the front of my dress, and that exaggerated hands-on-waist pose is helping to keep it pushed in!
I love it as a festive image not only because it is so chic and timeless, but because its back story reminds me of Christmas itself- all the less-than-glamorous rushing around, preparing, shopping and wrapping that goes on behind the scenes before the moment of calm when the payoff comes: a special person opens the gift that's perfect and personal for them.
I think sometimes with social media we feel we're lagging behind if we're not up doing yoga every morning, followed by sashaying into town and easily finding a slew of "perfect" (expensive and 100% ethically sound) gifts, AND not forgetting to keep our noses perfectly powdered the whole time while we're at it. Really, who remembers that stuff? The part that I remember is that "wow" moment when someone opens that little thing that's perfect just for them- regardless of where it was acquired or if the price tag was in single digits.
With this in mind, and with the photographer's kind permission, I have turned this snowy couture image into a Christmas card that anyone can afford. If you know someone who would enjoy an elegant Christmas card, why not order a couple? At just £1 each plus postage, they make sweetly sophisticated little tokens- and they are printed on premium matte recycled stock.
I'm excited to introduce a guest blog this week from modern-day pin-up girl Penny Dreadful, who kindly agreed to share her perspective on retro glamour modelling with us. If you are a photographer in the North of England who could use a curvaceous 5'10 model who self-styles, you can browse her full portfolio and make bookings >here<.
For the rest of us, I'm happy to share Penny's feelings on what the true essence of pin-up really is. Let us know your responses in the Facebook comments, and let me know whether you would be interested in seeing more guest blogs from carefully selected relevant industry figures in the future!
Penny: When one mentions Pin-up photography or Pin-up modelling, people automatically think of 1930s-1950s styled shoots. This era has become synonymous with the idea of Pin-up because of Bettie Page, whose photos had a resurgence of popularity from the 1980s, and artists such as George Petty, but the first Pin-Up calendars actually go as far back as 1889. Really, “Pin-up” is a concept that emerged alongside suffrage.
From the advertising of Brown & Bigelow, the Gibson Girls, Vargas and Elvgren, all the way through to artists like Olivia de Berardinis and Dita Von Teese, the fascination with the Pin-up has always been strong. Feisty and fearless, she has always been a joy to behold, a symbol of both women’s independence, and their right to be sexy for themselves.
So, what approach to take when attempting to photograph Pin-up images yourself? First off, if you are attempting to recreate a Pin-up style from a specific era, research, research, research! For photographers – there can be different lighting techniques that were popular in each era, for example “Hollywood lighting”, and for models – there are lots of different poses to look for and attempt, some of which may require a little practice! Not to mention wardrobe – there has been a resurgence of vintage clothing, which can be helpful for stylists, and also no shortage of online tutorials for hairstyling and makeup from those specific eras.
Photography still holds with the ideal of independent, strong women, looking and feeling fierce, happy with themselves and their bodies. Who wouldn’t want to photograph a modern day Pin-up? Pick up any magazine on the stands today, and you will find pages brimming with examples- the only things that have changed are the fashions on display. It is not the mood that has shifted, only the trimmings.
Okay, so here's that blog I promised about how I bought my house!
Mortgages
Step 1: ask your bank about Help to Buy. We just missed it, but it's where you get free money from the government to help you buy your first home, no strings attached. Have a meeting in person and figure out the most efficient way to save money for your deposit. It's cheaper and easier to buy a house with someone else- doesn't have to be a romantic partner, can just be a friend, or several friends.
Step 2: You can get a free mortgage broker at London and County (they take their fee from whichever bank they hook you up with). Our broker was called Scott Jackson, and he was absolutely excellent- just sorted it all out for us, completely for free and with no strings attached. His number is 01912 693606, call him!
Boats, Park Homes, Static Caravans, Log Cabins etc
I looked into a range of alternatives to a traditional home but it felt as though the system here in the UK is more or less set up to prevent people living in a truly alternative way. It is difficult and expensive to get a mortgage on a boat or caravan/ park home, and even if you can afford to buy one outright, they get less and less valuable as time goes by, like a car would- not more and more valuable, like a house or flat should. And even when you have bought your boat or caravan, you still have to pay rent to "park" it somewhere at all times, to the tune of thousands of pounds a year. This wasn't the right choice for me. Estate Agents
Estate agents are not legally obliged to tell the truth either verbally or in any of their literature, e.g. the brochure you get when you view a house, or the description on RightMove- so you can pretty much ignore anything they say. You are not their client; the seller is, so that's who they care about. The only person you can really trust is your lawyer (hopefully).
Lawyers
It sends a chill down my spine to think that I ever for a moment considered doing my own conveyancing in order to save money! I was like, well I've not bought a house before, but I've bought stuff before... you just pick the one you want and hand over the money, right? DO NOT DO YOUR OWN CONVEYANCING unless you are qualified! It is way, way, way more complex than it looks, and on top of that, you need a genuine understanding and practical experience and of how it all works as a whole, and then the ability to think outside of the legal box to be a good lawyer. I would recommend making Juliette Scarfe at Carbon Law your first point of contact, as she was excellent with us, even though she is in London and we are in Somerset. We lost so much time and money on disingenuous sellers until we reached out to her, and she got it all sorted for us very promptly and cleanly.
Moving In
The less you have to move, the cheaper it will be, so have a brutal clear-out and donate unwanted items- even quite scruffy clothes and shoes can be donated into clothing banks if they are still functional. Anything with resale value can go on eBay or Depop.
Have a poke around on Groupon for cheap services, like this moving service. If you can't afford a man in a van, just hire a van and drive it yourself :) ZipVan might be a possibility.
Supermarkets throw away hundreds of big boxes every day, so if you go in and ask for some, they'll be happy to let you take away as many as you can carry.
We didn't really have any furniture when we moved in because we'd always lived in fully furnished accommodation. I got an original Deco dressing table with mirror on eBay for £25, and winged Chesterfield chairs for next to nothing- all I had to do was pick them up. Freecycle is also worth checking out for items that are literally free if you are willing to collect them. Sign up for groups in rich areas- I saw numerous nearly-new Miel cookers given away where I used to live in North London just because their owners wanted a new one in a different colour. Furniture and accessories can be painted to match a room, which is often cheaper than trying to buy everything in the right colour, and tools for redecorating can be rented rather than bought.
There is of course tons and tons of detailed information about this complex process online, but these little pointers come from my personal experience as a first-time buyer, and not a desire to try and sell anything ;) If you think you know someone who might be interested in this info, please share this blog using the Facebook link below.
Firstly, more photos from my flamboyant orange suite in Amsterdam- this time in nothing but my Dita Von Teese Madame X knickers and Bareskin Beauty lotion! I loved this padded, spotlit headboard, so I slid a hardback book under the duvet to stop my high heels sinking too deeply and jumped aboard!
Info about the special offer is after the pictures!
You may have already seen this last one on Instagram.
I am so eager to get photos of it in all its glory that I am offering a limited number of discounted one-on-one home shoots in January, when the renovating work will be done and it will be time to revel in its maximalist lusciousness, as well as enjoy playing hostess in my '50s country kitchen.
You could get up to £35 off a half-day shoot, which is a 20% discount! There are only three of the original 14 shoot slots left, so if you would like to book one of them before they're gone, please apply here today (link to PP casting call- opens in a new tab). If you know someone who might be interested in this unusual offer, please share this post on Twitter by using the little button at the very bottom- it looks like this.
If you think you've seen that pose before, you're right... it's one of my favourites from the '40s:
Do you feel a spark? I'm looking forward to bundling up for a firework display in our garden with my home-made Portabello mushroom burgers and sweet potato fries, mmmm! And plenty of mulled cider. This is all assuming my cooker gets delivered tomorrow, otherwise it's houmous all round again :p
I had a very interesting and informal chat with professional fetish and boudoir photographer Nic Marchant in between shooting rope bondage, suspension and vintage glamour with him at his studio for KFS TV. Between us, we have 50 years of experience! I got some real talk straight from the horse's mouth on Nic's line of business, including:
How to start taking good fetish or boudoir shots right away, even with little or no experience*
Film vs digital
Shooting vs post-processing
How Nic chooses models to work with (as if I wouldn't ask that question!)
Watch the KFS video of our shoot and interview below, or watch it on YouTube (contains nudity)!
You may also be interested to know why Nic thinks it really pays to be a boudoir photographer... and what he said that nearly made me cry right there on camera! ;) There is also some footage of me posing nude at my photo shoot with him.
If you want to book a trained TV presenter for a project pertaining to something sexy or unusual, please feel free to email me at contact@anitadebauch.com.
* Hint: “Photographing your girlfriend is a very difficult starting
point... I think it’s unfair to expect anyone who isn’t a professional model to
just switch it on... You need a brilliant model to make it work.”
