Second Shoot

My second ever photoshoot was far more professional.

By the time I did my second photoshoot, I had already been on Extreme Makeover. My episode aired on March 17th of 2004 - St Patrick's Day. I always thought it didn't get many people watching it, since most people were out drinking green beer in Irish themed pubs that night - but just recently a freind from the 6th grade corrected me there. She asked me if that was me she had seen on Extreme Makeover a few years ago. I was blown away.

After the show I didn't feel as though there had been enough of a change. They took about 2 inches from the bottom of my hair and cut bangs (known as 'fringe' in the UK) and colored my hair a dark chocolate brown before putting me in a black ball gown and heels, turning me into Audrey Hepburn. I wanted something more dramatic.


In the following months I went shorter and shorter with my hair until finally it was as short as you see in the photos displayed in this post. I went with a bright red color, since I had been a Strawberry Blond as a kid. With my freckles and light skin, it seemed a natural fit.

Once more I was approached by photographers. One in particular had an extensive online portfolio and seemed quite professional compared to the other emails I had received. I decided to contact the photographer, a gentleman by the name of Richie Bravo, for a 'real' photoshoot.

At first he wanted to do a studio shoot, but as I've said many times over, I'm wary of strangers. I opted to do an outdoor 'on location' shoot. It seemed a good half-way point for the two of us would be Old Town Pasadena.

We met in front of a shop in Pasadena and I made sure to bring a couple changes of clothes with me. We wandered from place to place, shooting anything and everything that appealed to me. He came up with some brilliant ideas as far as placement. While the photo to the right seems graceful and elegant, this was strictly his idea and felt completely un-natural at the time. I felt silly and stupid as he told me to arch my back more and more.
The red dress became my favorite dress after the photoshoot. I wore it every time it was clean and the weather would permit. Before long I began to be recognized while wearing it. I even had my drivers license photo taken in the same dress and necklace some time later on.

By my own judgement I thought the shoot was a huge success. It put me on the right road to get several modeling jobs and several more photoshoots. I became more involved in the industry, but it wasn't until my very next photoshoot that I became interested in acting. The next photographer I worked with set me on the road to being an "Extra" on several TV programs with some fairly prominent roles.

It also wasn't the last photoshoot I did with Richie Bravo.