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!
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
