3 Goals for 2015

1.   More art nude shoots

Here's to an Art Nude 2015!

I've been desperate to focus more on this side of my work for months, and really want to make it happen more in 2015. I think that I am more known for my stylised fetish and retro looks than for shooting natural, dreamy, classic art nudes and figure studies, so this is something I need to address. People tend to only know you for the last photo they saw of you.

Some of my previous art nude work:

Photographer: 25th Century Quaker in New York

Photographer: John Murray in Dublin

Photographer: Dirk Glassly

I'm going to spend more time studying important art nude photographers' work and planning how I can bring something special to my shoots, including finding great locations and props to work with, but also working on myself and my posing. I'll also see if I can find an appropriate course to do on the history of nude art.


2.   Appreciating British and Irish heritage

I want to try and see as many ancient/ mystical sites as possible in the UK and Ireland this year, which I will hopefully be able to tie in with modelling tours, and quite possibly art nude shoots, for the more remote ones! I have to travel more anyway now that I'm not living in London, so I'm going to turn that into a positive and make the most of it :)


3.    My own hobbit hole

I want to buy the cutest dwelling on the planet this year, and live in it!

A cottage would be okay, but I also like the idea of a more alternative way of life, for example on a boat or in a caravan, generating my own energy, growing my own food and living amongst nature rather than in a concrete box. It was fun while it lasted, but now I want something different! :)

*goes to set up a Pinterest board*

What are your goals, hopes, dreams or ambitions for this year? Tell me all about them!

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

#Stonehenge #wintersolsticeSH 2014. Happy Yule to my Pagan friends :)

I visited Stonehenge for the first time today, for the dawn Winter Solstice celebrations. It was too dark to apply lipstick!

I left the house at 5am to be there in plenty of time for the sunrise at 7.45am, armed with torch, water bottle and my freshly dry-cleaned "fur" coat, which had been in storage in a plastic bag all summer, and I just sewed a new collar onto last night to make it even cosier.

I'm not religious myself, but I did think it odd that Stonehenge must be the only religious site in the UK where people are barred from entry 363 days of the year. I can't imagine say, Christians putting up with being barred from going into Paul's Cathedral. "WHOSE Heritage?"

Similarly miffed that the BBC News report has spelled "Pagans" with a lower case "p" and "Druids" with a lower case "d", even though I'm pretty both are official religions in the UK. Do they also write "christians" and "muslims"? Can't be bothered to check.

Anyway...

Today was one of the two days a year we all get to go right into the stone circle and touch the stones! I'd never seen the place before and was so impressed at seeing the enormous standing stones close-up. Stonehenge was already old when the Druids first started using it!

c. 8am. Hippies. Hippies, everywhere.

Today there was a modern Arch Druid called Rollo leading a fun ceremony of wishing peace on the world, and then others were invited to take the floor. My favourite was a grey-haired and briskly cheerful Enid Blyton schoolteacher-looking lady in tweeds, boots and a sensible hat who sang an Ancient Egyptian power-word song about dead ancestors while doing a "ghost hop" (bouncy dance). YES MATE. I love the Westcountry.

There are some nice photos on the Guardian website, if you're interested: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/gallery/2014/dec/22/winter-solstice-2014-celebrations-at-stonehenge-in-pictures

After the sun had risen and the show was over, I had a sudden urge to call Nan and wish her a happy Solstice (she tends to get up early). I told her I was at Stonehenge and she said I was on the spot where my grandfather proposed to her in the 1940s! That really added an extra dimension to the whole experience.

We drove over to Old Sarum, but there's really nothing left to look at, so we drove into Salisbury and had an all-day veggie breakfast with large soy cappuccinos at a place called Boston Tea Party, which was utterly overwhelmed with customers, presumably Solstice-related, as the staff seemed baffled.

Too tired to go to the Wiltshire Museum after having got up at 4.30am, so came home via Tesco to buy apples and red wine. Early night tonight.

Happy Solstice/ Yule to my Druid/ Pagan friends :)

Anita x

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!

7 original gift ideas for the glamorous gift-giver

It's that time of year again- when busy people and procrastinators alike start the mad online dash to order Christmas presents!

You don't have to order everything from Amazon, though. I've collected some gift ideas together from brands I love, as well as things you can make at home, to make glamorous, luxurious, sensual gifts that are still reasonably priced. At least one of these seven original gift ideas for the glamorous gift-giver should work for whoever you're buying for- maybe more than one :)

Photographed by Peter Scott

Bareskin Beauty natural organic skincare

I'll start with Bareskin Beauty products because I just ordered a bunch as a gift for myself... my skin did not enjoy being without them for six weeks on tour! Their very high-end, luxurious raw organic products come in pretty glass packaging and smell good enough to eat. There is currently a sale on Bareskin Beauty gift sets.


Scented beeswax candles

Beeswax candles are the highest quality and most expensive candles. I got interested in beeswax candles after I learned that they actually cleanse the air, rather than polluting it like paraffin candles do, and discovering that their burn time is much much longer, making them just as good value for money in my eyes!

I make my own at home using plenty of essential oil to scent them, as the ones I've bought in shops don't smell nearly enough for me! I don't like a subtly scented candle, I want to light it and then have the whole room instantly have an opulent, relaxing atmosphere, without having to wait, or light five at once! They're really easy to make using this beeswax candle-making tutorial. I like tying ribbons around the jars to decorate them.


Playful Promises retro lingerie

A shop assistant in a sex shop once advised me, don't hesitate to buy your girlfriends sexy gifts, because why should we wait for the men to buy them for us? It's a good call! Receiving sexy lingerie from a platonic friend is good low-pressure fun, since they're not expecting to see you in it- they just want you to enjoy it! Playful Promises do lovely retro bras, knickers and suspender belts as well as makeup and corsets.

Playful Promises lingerie and Fabulously Fetish shoes shot by LanesRo1

Handmade chocolates

There is so much cheap junk "food" circulating at Christmas that it's wonderful to receive handmade healthy chocolates from friends. Sophisticated dark chocolate really can be very healthy, and it's great to turn up to a party with them as well as the bottle of champagne! My favourites are these Thyroid-Boosting Macaroons. I don't find the liquid stevia is necessary as they are sweet enough, and all the other ingredients can be found in an ordinary supermarket if you are willing to substitute ordinary cocoa powder for the raw cacao. I like to serve them on a vintage cake stand, sprinkled with extra coconut, or wrap an ordinary little box in posh wrapping paper to make a chocolate box for a friend.


Fabulously Fetish shoes

If you really want to splash out on a girlfriend, mother, sister or cool auntie, get their foot measurements and have the shoes of their dreams custom-made in real leather by Fabulously Fetish. It gives a sophisticated option for what to wear to impress on New Year's Eve.


The "Ugly" Girl's Guide to Modelling

Of course, I'm going to recommend my own book... because I made it the best resource for freelance models, and any woman wanting to gain body-confidence and model beauty secrets! It is designed to help anyone look better both in real life and in photos, as well as giving lots of information and inspiration for models at all levels, from total beginners to seasoned professionals, to get the most out of their career- something we think a lot about around Christmas and New Year as this tends to be our quiet time. It also makes a great companion to any new year's resolutions you might have to get fit, healthy, slim and more beautiful for 2015. You can do it :) I don't even know if it will be out in time for Christmas, but you can add it to your Amazon Wishlist here.


Lady Allura's Latex

Lady Allura is a properly trained fashion designer who makes latex couture to order, in whatever classic or avant-garde styles you can think of, and focuses on making styles that suit petite, standard and voluptuous figures too.


A photo shoot with me

If you're buying for a photographer, you can buy gift vouchers for shoot time with me- just email me at contact@anitadebauch.com and imagine their face!


Quality time

The most important thing about this time of year is to take stock of what is important to you and enjoy time off work to spend with those you love. We only get a limited amount of time to spend with anyone in one lifetime, so quality time really is the most valuable gift :) If you aren't able to see certain people over Christmas, use the time to make plans with them for the New Year. You'll remember the time you spent together more than you remember what you got for Christmas last year.

Much love, and season's greetings!

Anita

Editorial & interview in Sinical magazine, Nylons special edition

I seem to have been very lax in blogging about magazine publications this year. I used to be obsessed with clocking up exactly how many magazine/ advert/ website publications I'd made, and conscientiously blog every single one, no matter how minor. Now my credits page on my website hasn't been updated in years and I wonder if I even can update it accurately now as I know there are loads of publications that I've just forgotten about completely at this point.

These days, I seem to have gone full circle back to where I started eight years ago, just being excited about individual images for themselves, even if no-one else sees them except for me and the photographer (although of course I try to get them as big an audience as possible).

When I do get published, I think, well, I'd best not post the images by themselves like I usually do, I'll post a proper blog with scans of the magazine pages and behind the scenes natter about the shoot, and then it just gets buried under the daily onslaught of emails, phone calls, photo shoots, driving hundreds of miles, finding hotels, posting gifts from my Anita De Bauch shop, trying to keep Facebook/ Twitter/ Instagram updated as well as the usual modelly-maintenance of making gallons of green smoothies, working out, dyeing hair, facials, mineral baths, picking up dry cleaning, polishing shoes, manicures, pedicures, cleaning makeup brushes and constantly unpacking and re-packing that big old suitcase on wheels ;)

The Winter Solstice is fast approaching on 21st/ 22nd December and after that, the days will start getting lighter, if only by a minute a day, as the Earth turns back towards the sun and starts warming itself again, paving the way for springtime, new life, and reborn life, like the leaves coming back on the trees, and animals coming out of hibernation (I guess that's why most people celebrate Christmas around this time of year, as it's also to do with birth?). I'm starting to see this time of year as being the "real" New Year (although being that the year runs in cycles, you could arbitrarily pick any random point in the year and call it New Year if you wanted to), as everything starts coming back to life after a cold, dark, quiet finish!

It sort of feels right to try and wrap up all my unfinished business by the "end" of the year (21 December), namely, posting all my publications that I can track down, getting The "Ugly" Girl's Guide to Modelling, my book on freelance modelling, out there, as well as home-based things like having a big clear-out and spring clean. I mainly want to wash all the windows and curtains to let in every photon of extra light that will be coming after 22nd December! I LOVE natural light! *basks*

This is supposed to be a modelling blog, so here is a link to my most recent interview (I think): Anita De Bauch interview in Sinical magazine, Nylons special edition.

^ Click the image to see more photos from this shoot, and the interview!

The photos are from a shoot I did this year for Fabulously Fetish shoes and Gio Stockings with Monochrome Set photography at a lovely stately hotel. My organic natural skincare was provided by Bareskin Beauty, I provided my own lingerie to wear, a gift from Playful Promises, and did my own hair and makeup :)

^ Click the image to see more photos from this shoot, and the interview!

I just got a text message from Madame Bink saying that she's going to be driving past on her way to Cornwall shortly, so I'd better get dressed ^_^

Bye for now,

Anita xo