The GaydarGirls 2012 Photoshoot

I am not quite sure what the manager of the sedate, ivy covered pub in North London was expecting before the 20 people strong crew from GaydarGirls bundled in just before 7am.

This was the beginning of a photo shoot which would finally capture the brand new faces of GaydarGirls.
One thing is for sure, as laid back and accommodating as she was, she certainly did not bank on how much coffee would be required that early on a frosty Monday morning to get us all going.

Bleary eyed but excited, I was lucky enough to be invited along to document what happened behind the scenes

Eight girls were selected after responding to an announcement on GaydarGirls.com that they were looking for real women to model for an exciting new photo shoot, with the resultant images to be used on an all-new GaydarGirls website.

Editor’s Note: Some of which you’ve actually seen on this blog. We don’t want to blow our own horn, but they look great don’t they? Sorry Laura, back to you…

The models arrived in drips and drabs to the first location of the day which was a traditional north London boozer.
Classic posters and newspaper clippings covered the walls and the smell of aged wood and late nights permeated the air.

The models had travelled far and wide to get to the shoot and had overcome family emergencies, transport disasters and even acute hangovers to be part of the exciting new project.

They were obviously anxious; worries about being forced into heels or conversely, ‘looking like a man’ were bandied between them as one by one they went through make-up, hair and styling.

These fears were soon assuaged as each girl’s individual assets were highlighted in the hope of representing the beautifully diversity of all the women that are part of the GaydarGirls community.

By 9.27am the sun had come out and it was looking to be a glorious day as sunbeams shot in through the windows.
Quite likely messing up the lighting in the photos but it looked great to me.

By this time we were all getting hungry and along with sandwich-maker-extraordinaire-Alex, I was tasked with a quick supermarket sweep to pick up some food for everybody, but what to get?
A mixed selection of rice-cakes and cottage cheese did not appeal to me but is that what they would want?
The pressure was on.

After deciding on ‘baguettes and bits’ I returned on my bike to a flurry of bowler hats, hi-tops and bubbles and not a stereotype in sight, which was refreshing and I started to feel really excited about the final result.

The first girl had already taken the plunge as the others nervously watched on, including me (a true camera-phobe).
As the lights flashed and the camera clicked in the background, I got the chance to sheepishly interview the models and hear the stories about their different lives and how they had come to be at the shoot, as well as simultaneously wishing I had brushed my hair that morning.

A nurse, a plumber, a student, a singer, a professional basketball player!
The variety was fascinating.

The shoot saw everyone mucking in, Alex was scrubbing windows whilst juggling many other things and I was tasked with setting up crockery for a traditional English Tea party.

Needless to say, I had left my Debrett’s etiquette guide at home so muddled through, miraculously not smashing the whole setting to smithereens with nerves.

With the tea party shoot in the bag, we were ready to head to our next Location in the heart of Soho to take things up a notch with the night time shoot.

With a large injection of raspberry mojitos, the shoot was about to take a turn!

Stay tuned for part 2…

What do you think of the new-look GaydarGirls?
Let us know your thoughts on the comment box below.