I'm no model... but I she made me look good

The photo shoot for the magazine was a lot of fun. I knew right away I liked the photographer. Her name is Lisa Wiseman and she's from San Francisco. As soon as I got out of the car she looked at my shoes and said, "Are those Manolos?" Then we both said, "Black, patent leather, Mary Janes!" Her photo assistant looked at us blankly and I clued him in that it's from Sex and the City.

I wore the outfit I bought Wednesday and showed her the others I brought and she picked my second choice. Then we walked over to the first location. She picked this great spot downtown at the public library. I have to admit I wouldn't even thought of shooting there, but I guess that's why she's the photographer.

I was still a little nervous and I knew she could tell. I told her I'm used to being the one behind the scenes, not in front of the camera. I admitted that I hate having my picture taken. And ladies some of you know where I'm coming from on this one, I told her I just didn't want to have a double chin in a photo for a national women's magazine. I felt better just telling her my concerns and she gave me a little tip how to stick my chin out for photos to stop that from happening. BTW, it really works!

I admitted to Lisa I had checked out her website before the shoot and really thought her pictures were beautiful. She told me several of the people on it are "real people" not models. So I thought, well maybe she can make me look that good too.

The one thing I really enjoyed about working with her was she actually showed me some of the shots she was getting to make sure I liked them too. It made me feel much more comfortable with the whole thing. She also told me for someone who doesn't like to have her picture taken, I'm very photogenic and have a beautiful smile.

And I got kudos for being a good model because I followed directions really well. When she said move to the right an inch, I moved an inch. When said move forward a step, I did. She said you'd be surprised how many people don't understand what moving an inch is, they'll take huge steps and not be where she wants them to be. Maybe she was just saying I did well to make me feel good, but it worked.

After an hour, we went to a second location downtown. While most of the shots at the first location where taken from a distance where I was smaller and the building was larger in the background, this time she took a lot more closeups. That's something that made me even more nervous. I told her, I don't normally let anyone with a camera get that close to me. She said she'd take that as a compliment.

And again, she showed me some of the shots as she was getting them. There were actually a few where I though, wow I can look that good?!?! But those shots were tricky to get. I had to put my chin down, stick it out just a little, then relax, then smile. And I'm one of those people who can't just smile naturally, I have to make myself laugh. So every time she was getting ready to take a close up, I had remind myself again chin down, stick it, relax and laugh to get a smile. By the end, I finally felt like I was getting the hang of it. The photo assistant even said I made a "really great model" and I looked really good.

So I guess you'll get to be the judge of how the photo shoot really went when the magazine comes out in July. And after much debate, because I'm supposed to be anonymous, I've decided to tell you anyway it's Marie Claire. I hope you'll remember to buy a copy in July.

Stylishly yours,
Miss Attitude
miss.attitude7@gmail.com