I just looked at my blog and realized that it is now JULY and my last post was from way back in April. Time flies when you're busy! But being busy is also bad, says the Times. I've had a great mixture of busyness and well-deserved (at least that's what I tell myself) idleness over the past few months. One of the things that has kept me busy is modeling. So, like, if I told you that I was a model, would you believe me? Would you think I was flattering myself?
No, I don't look like this:
Or like this:
And I don't normally walk like this:
But when I say "model," I'm not talking Blue Steel or smizing for Tyra or being Karl Lagerfeld's muse or the new face of Chanel (though I'd be up for that. Just putting that energy out there.). I'm talking print/lifestyle modeling. Like, you know, "real." Don't us "real" people/consumers (as opposed to the fake Michael Fassbender Promotheus robots out there) want to look at other "real" people on billboards, in magazines, and online? Come on, who would you rather sell you your tampons -- your trusty cute neighbor, or an intimidatingly thin 16-year-old waif from from an unusual Eastern European country? I doubt she even needs tampons. Who is more approachable?
It's like I have the word "approachable" stamped on my forehead. When I lived in New York, crazy people would talk to me (and attack me) on the subway nonstop. When I lived in Moscow, people would rush up to me on the street and ask me for directions several times a day (regardless of the fact that my Russian vocabulary was less than perfect, shall we say). I guess I just always seem like a safe option. I make friends on airplanes. I don't know why, but people always talk to me. I thought maybe I should capitalize on this facet of my personality (or face?) by doing some print modeling. I have been working hard over the last few months to do just that. I shot some lifestyle pictures with Guy Viau , and signed with a great print agency.
Though print modeling isn't like doing Lady Macbeth at the Globe or Hedda on Broadway, I must confess, it is not easy! Looking natural in still photographs takes a lot of craft and care. You know how they say a photograph can steal your soul, or whatever? Well, I think even the "realest" of "real" people can tell when someone isn't believable in a picture. So it really is like playing a role.
A few months ago I shot a job for a big electronics company (that shall remain nameless here) where I played the role of a young mom. Yes, 23 may be a little young to play the young mom if you ask me, but hey, short hair in the commercial world often means either "young mom" or "girl with dragon tattoo," as I've often said, and hey, I'll take what I can get! Plus, who doesn't love working with babies? Especially this particularly adorable one that played my daughter:
It brought me back to the good 'ole days when I was a toddler working on my very own first print modeling job in this catalog:
So, I'm saying it here: I'm a model. Do you believe me now?
See you on a billboard!
Gilli
