thank god, i'm pretty.: I paint my own reality

(First of all: I know, I know. I wanted to finish this post a lot earlier. Think of it as part of my plan to get you more curious about the shooting :P )

So... about two weeks ago I got a very mysterious message from Leonie, asking if I'd model for her and adding "Just a warning: You won't be wearing much." Of course that left me wondering what exactly she was planning and I have to say: up to this date it's one of the most exciting but also most difficult photoshootings that I had!

Her idea included a dark background, bright big lights from behind and many beautiful colours - those you would use at the Holi festival.

And here's the warning again: If you're at work, school or any other place where you shouldn't be looking at photos of people in just their underwear, you'd probably better skip this post. (Or if you're at home but just don't ever want to see me in underwear: same warning for you! :D )

What always makes me a little jealous of Leonie's school is the fact that they can use the photo studio there. It always feels a little different to shoot in an actual studio!

Since it was obviously going to be a messy shooting, we started with preparing the studio and covering the walls and the floor with plastic sheets. Leonie's friend Johanna was nice enough to get up that early on a Wednesday morning and be the assistant for the shooting, thanks again! Johanna was also in charge of the colours and by the end of the shooting she was pretty much covered in it too.

I have to say, I don't know if I'd ever want to go to the Holi festival. We only had one person throwing the coloured powder in the air but all three of us had to stop to drink water or just take a moment to breathe several times. While the colours are really easy to wash out and also not harmful, it still leaves you with a very dry throat and mouth. I can't imagine being in an entire crowd of people throwing those colours to be honest.

But the effect that the powder had on the photos very really worth it if you ask me. This is also why I don't mind the fact that I haven't been wearing anything but underwear: You can't really see much and the focus is on the colours and not as much on the body. (Also, I don't really get what's the big deal of seeing a naked body anyway since every person has one but that's a different story.)

All in all, it was an exhausting shooting that left me with sore muscles the next day (though I also had my hip hop class later that day, which might be part of the reason too) but it was so much fun. It was definitely a new experience and something that I enjoyed trying, so thanks again to Leonie for asking me to be her model and for taking brilliant photos!

(If you actually read through the text and didn't just skip to the photos: Yay for you!)