Saturday, November 22, 2008

a day in the life of...



a friend of mine Heli Sengezer , who lives in Istanbul and makes the most wonderful bags and funny little crafted animals, asked me to track a day in my life for her friday blog-postings which have an almost cult following ...

i was surprised, but thought "why not" and so i made a little photo essay of one of my shoot days...
..it turned out to be a really interesting and strange exercise... and in fact i enjoyed it

as i am totally curious by nature, every friday it is a wonderful treat to look at other folk who are generally artists and artisans all over europe ,and see how a day in their life unfolds ...
so here it is from first awakening grumpy and kranky .....to falling into bed in the evening ....



friday is my day

6.25am
the alarm goes off and the first words that run through my head are "oooooo nooooo i'm already late!"

....

first steps straight into a wall...klonk...groan... dressing gown ..computer on ... and straight to the kitchen to set up a giant coffee .. the only way forward dazed wanderings for another 20 minutes check my emails and grumpily go back to get my coffee
..
6.50am
answer emails ... not sure how nicely .. i so dont like early mornings ...but today is a shoot day so i must soldier on
7.00 am
jump in the shower
no photos no photos!!!

7.30am
scan the news items on the sydney morning herald and wish i hadnt
pass by etsy and check the forum and my convos ...much more positive vibe
look at my little nest ..it looks so cosy but i have to go out in the big grey world of Milan



7.45am
jump downstairs with my equipment to the taxi already waiting
the city is grey and it starts raining
i go to the studio early to miss all the rush hour traffic


8.25am
arrive at condé nast studios
..
i drop off my equipment at the studio and wander off to second breakfast
(i do come from the land of Lord of the Rings after all)
here i am in my favourite bar in Milan "living"


..
they tell me off for taking photos inside
i ask why its not allowed but they dont know
it just isnt... o well ... italian logic ...

8.50am
back to the studio to meet everyone arriving i brief them on the idea which today is "Glamour and Glitter"
theatre style
studio, model and makeup room ...before..........



my magicians start to work
the model reads while the torture her into a new character


my usual assistant is away assisting Deborah Turbeville for Italian Vogue

so the new assistant (no photo) and i start to build up the set and construct the lighting i want

its a spaghetti bomb...
health and safety....!!!
i tell the assistant to lock down the wires and make it a bit less of a death trap




11.30am
finally we are ready
, the model is dressed and we put her in postiion
its always a good picture :)




i tell my assistant to do crew cam and he comes up with a few awful photos of me

..
and alot of nice ones of the model ....hmmmmmmmmmmmm
half way through the day he falls in love with the model and loses focus on the world
he asks her to marry him ... i photograph the proposal on his cell phone ...hmmmmmm

2pm
we have 3 shots under the belt and go for lunch next door
its very sheeshee
nice food too




3pm
espresso coffees all round and back to work
makeup and hair retouched and changed

,,
5.30pm
7 shots away and we are finished ,... one of the clients did not send their dress so we finish early ...
(there's a first for everything !)
we breakdown the set super fast and rush off to beat the milan deadly rainy weather rush hour traffic
unfortunately i cant show you the actual shots of the model as the magazine hasnt been published yet...

6pm
in the taxi its already dark
Milan floods when it rains...it is built on a massive system of canals designed by Leonardo da Vinci...most of which are still under the streets

the taxi driver thinks its funny me shooting blurry shots of lights through his window

...
6.45pm
arrive home starving
i eat some fresh handmade pasta (not handmade by me) and drink a glass of red wine and relax

checking my emails .. and my etsy pixie pals
...
10pm
my little brother rings from New Zealand and we talk nonsense and laugh for an hour
i go back to my computer world


nearly 12pm
my eyeballs feel like theyre about to fall out so i crawl exhausted into bed
and look at my palm trees in Fiji...


goodnight

zzzzzz
zzzzz
zz

11 comments:

ingermaaike said...

The glamorous life of FJ Melhop. Illustrator extaordinaire. A pleasure and joy to read.

StaroftheEast said...

I really enjoyed your friday :)

Heli said...

Frances you....are the best :)
Thank you!

Amanda Yu said...

Thanks for sharing your lovely Friday with us Frances! :))) I love my Friday too! It feels so good.

karuski said...

It was truly a pleasant reading! Thank you for sharing a day of your life with us, grazie mille:)

minna

lune_blanc said...

I enjoyed readin your exciting life Farnces, thanks for sharing! Your home looks so cozy and lovely.

Mitsy / ArtMind said...

Loved to read your day! :)

Unknown said...

Wow, it was lovely to get a peek into what it is like to do your amazing work! Thank you for being so generous and sharing!

ira said...

Fantastic daily life Frances!

Sigmosaics said...

gee and here was me thinking i'd already commented! I thought it was great at the time and I still think it's amazing .. the feature and your work ;)

Bee Skelton said...

This is just fascinating! I've added a link to my blog so I can come back often to see what you are upto :)

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