Spier Advertorial Winter 1998

Once again it was purely the power of Storm agency's recommendation that secured me a shoot. Men's Health magazine was shooting an advertorial for Spier wine estate in Stellenbosch, my university town. Advertorials are promotions or reviews presented in an editorial style, paid for by the client. Advertisers pay a lot less than they would for a normal ad and still have content approval. The magazine passes it off as editorial content and the consumer puts more faith in the "objective" article than they would in a normal advertisement.

The point is, while doing a full-on advertising campaign for a wine farm might earn a model a nice, fat paycheck, an advertorial would not. So when Storm was asked to put forward models available for the shoot, Debbie suggested me, the local, as a girl who would've had to drive all the way from Cape Town and back would hardly earn enough to cover her petrol expense.

When I arrived at Spier, I discovered that this was to be my first shoot working with a male model. His name was Rory, he was a surfer and he'd been modelling for years already, an old hand. I never really had an eye for blondes, was very caught up in my relationship with my boyfriend at the time and still felt a bit uncomfortable in front of the camera, so I found the whole exercise rather unsettling.

We had to look really intimate and comfortable and I'm grateful that Rory's experience meant he launched straight into puppy dog eyes as soon as the camera started clicking. This man could turn it on and off like a tap. I secretly wondered how any girlfriend of his could ever be sure whether he meant it not? For my purposes it was perfect though, he'd turn on the charm and the starry eyes while we were shooting and the rest of the time we were perfectly civil, Rory doing his best to make me feel more comfortable by chatting to me about modeling, my studies and my boyfriend.

I can tell by my posture how uncomfortable I am in these pictures, can you? Just a little bit too much space between Rory and I, a slight leaning away from him, avoiding actually looking into his eyes. By the time we took the final shot (the top one on the second page, standing at the bar) I think it looks a lot more casual and believable.

Another shoot under my belt, watching a pro turn the love-looks on and off, it had been a most productive day!