Zaggora HotPants: The Photoshoot!

 Those lovely girls at Zaggora HotPants invited down for a photoshoot in The London last week. We went to SNAP studios and were all treated very nicely indeed!

HotPants had done some research and found that instead of wanting a celebrity to promote their brand, their customers would all prefer real, actual live women to be the Face of HotPants, so that is what we will be!

We had a fridge full of goodies and a lot of waiting to do, but it was a lovely day. Our make up was done by celebrity make up artist, Beth Alderson. There were mixed reactions to the make up if I am honest. I think as mine was done last, it was a bit of a rush job – mine taking 5 minutes and everyone else’s taking about 20!! However, I was relatively pleased with the results. I found it a bit weird that she didn’t take off the eye makeup that I had already had on when I arrived, but I suppose it is a complement to how great my choice and application of eyeshadow, liner and mascara is! I did hear murmered talk of ‘Japanese hookers’ at one point, which made me laugh heartily – and I think I got off lightly. I was assured that the neon lipgloss that had been applied to me would ‘read well on the camera’ and I’m quite happy to bow to professional knowledge, however in the real world it has reassured me that perhaps not using lip colour is the best option for me all round.

Once our makeup had been applied, our ‘modelling’ session began. We were photographed by Chris Scott, glossy magazine photographer and all round nice guy. For each person’s shoot, Chris and his team introduced themselves and explained in detail how many shots they would be taking, the sort of thing they were looking for and how we should try to pose.

 I think there were some nerves all round, but many of the Ambassadors took to their moment of glory in front of the camera like ducks to water. There were some excellent poses, some fabulous pouts and I’m sure that overall, HotPants will have some beautiful pictures for their website and social media.

And then at last, it was my turn. I was pretty nervous by this point as I am hardly the most photogenic person in the world. However, following on from my determination to seize every opportunity that life throws in my direction,  I had decided to come along to the photoshoot in the hope that I would finally come out of it with a photo of me that I actually like.

So, when I was asked to try and look natural, but essentially throw my hands around like a rambler being attacked by bees, I did everything I could to put my insecurities aside, throw caution to the wind and get into the spirit of the occasion as best I could.

 I’ll let you judge for yourselves the results of the shoot, below. The coolest thing was that they were happy for The Boy to come in on a few shots at the end, and of course we have been sent a CD of the photos from the day to keep, which is very nice to have and means I have a few decent pictures to pass on to family when the need arises.

And for those of you interested in how the whole HotPants/training thing is going, over 6 weeks in, the answer is very well. Since my Two Week Trial I haven’t been wearing the HotPants as much, but that has made my laundry regime a lot less stressful. My waist is now 26.5″ – 3.5″ smaller than when I first started. I have had 3 sessions with my Personal Trainer, a lovely prize that I won through the HotPants Facebook page. 

I had a great start this week in the gym, on Monday I ran 1.5km, then cycled 4km, then did a Tone class. On Tuesday I ran 5.25km and then on Wednesday I had my personal training session. And that’s where it went a bit arse over tit to be honest. I’m not sure exactly what he did to me, but Thursday and Friday I was pretty much unable to walk, the front of my legs were so sore!! So having recouperated from that, we went for a longish walk today (about 5 miles) with a pub lunch in the middle, when I realised that now my legs have nearly recovered, I have also had a slightly strained glute! Yes, my friends, I have an achey right ass cheek. It’s a terrible turn of events.

And it is there that I will leave my tale of photography, modelling and broken bums. It’s been a funny old week, but that was a lovely experience and I’m glad I did it. I think overall it has only confirmed to me that my face is just a bit weird and I look better if I actually shy away from smiling wherever possible. That’s no bad thing though, just means I get to retain the rights to my own uniqueness and ain’t no-one going to copy me! I shall continue to enjoy the toning, softening qualities of my HotPants, to be thankful to Zaggora for providing me with the epic opportunity of a Personal Trainer and best of all, I shall always remember the day that I asked myself ” what else can you do with your own hands?” whilst trying to think of new and exciting ways to look daft in front of a camera.