A planned week away in Fuerteventura up in the North of the island meant only one thing: taking Ali Brooks along for a working holiday.
And so it was that we shot from our luxury villa, did a bit of “urbex” in an an abandoned, half-built hotel complex and of course the marvelous sand dunes.
The results can be seen in the Art Nude gallery.
I’ve not updated this site for way too long: my PurplePort portfolio is the place for up-to-date shots, by the way.
But I had the second of two shoots yesterday at my apartment with the superb Marlyn Lindsay: both have included proper seamed, fully-fashioned nylons and a variety of outfits matched with Jimmy Choo and Frederick’s of Hollywood stiletto heels.
Some handmade shoes from Fabulously Fetish in Marlyn’s size – size 4 – are still on order, sadly, although this does mean we’ll have to shoot again soon when they arrive.
Anyway, there are some images in the Fetish and the Glamour portfolio pages.
…is that the wine is hideously expensive!
So Friday found GT and I in a cab heading to St. Pancras and the Eurostar to Paris. Arriving early Friday afternoon at the Radisson Blu Le Metropolitan Hotel, Paris Eiffel thanks to our pre-booked taxi, we dumped our bags in our large room and headed off on the Metro from Trocadero to the Expo where GT was picking up her race number and pack as yes, she was due to run the Paris Marathon on the Sunday. Oh and we picked up a new running outfit at the same time…
Back to the hotel where we got some advice about one of best Italian restaurants in Paris, so off we went. Luckily, despite not having a reservation – the hotel had warned us we’d probably need one – we managed to charm our way to getting a table and enjoyed a lovely meal with one of those horrendously expensive bottles of wine … good, though!
It was important that the Friday night would bring lots of sleep with the Saturday night’s sleep likely to be fitful so we headed back to the hotel at just after 10pm … to find the door to our room and its main window open! While I poked my head inside to see if there was still an unexpected visitor in there, GT hightailed it down to reception to report it and get the police. By the time I got downstairs, the police had been called and I’d summoned the Hotel Manager back from his evening out (at the Cirque du Soleil, as it transpired). I went back up to the room to do a thorough sweep to see what had been taken and was relieved to find that my iPad and iPhones, UK wallet and passport were all still safe and sound, as was GT’s running gadgets – phew!
It was very late by the time the Manager had got back and checked what was what, so they moved us to a suite as there was no way I’d stay in the same room with someone possibly knowing what they could go back there to collect. The designer bath had a broken plug that I’d be trying to get fixed the next morning as a bath is high on the priorities list after a marathon…
Saturday morning and off we went to do mainly death-related touristy things: Jim Morrison’s and Oscar Wilde’s graves up at Père-Lachaise Cemetery in the morning followed by the incredible Catacombs in the afternoon. The latter holds the remains of roughly six million people. Yes. 6,000,000. Neatly stacked and arranged. It’s a bizarre thing to visit, running for 2km under Paris. We ate on our way back before celebrating my 51st birthday at the hotel.
Sunday saw us up bright and early to head to the start of the marathon up at the Champs-Elysèes. I’d chosen the hotel to be close to both the start and finish lines with the view of the Eiffel Tower an added bonus. It was cold, so GT was pleased to be able to wear much of her new, warmer, kit. The start corrals were sheer chaos as there was no apparent way to get in: many runners were climbing over the security fencing to get in and there were 50,000 running. So different to the efficiency of the London Marathon. After seeing GT off, I walked back to the hotel, stopping at what had become our favourite café at the Trocadero, overlooking the Eiffel Tower for coffee and croissants and juice. Lovely!
I downloaded the official app and headed back to the hotel to track GT on her run. No sign of any plug for the bath: the one they brought didn’t fit so it was back to the drawing board, sadly.
Then off to meet GT at Exit A in the finish area. Or Exit B as they’d managed to cock that up too and had swapped the exit signs and flags over so they were wrong. The pandemonium that ensued with tired and confused runners all trying to get out of the wrong exits was something to see. I stayed looking for GT until she texted me from the hotel: she’d left from the incorrectly-signed exit and found her way back. I stuffed the plughole with a flannel and ran the bath. After she’d recovered sufficiently, we walked down to the Trocadero for Kir Royales, beer and food! Then back to the hotel to celebrate her time – a few seconds over that milestone 4:00:00 she wants to beat – meeting her friend who’d managed a 3:58:10. She was off for a massage; we settled on another lovely meal over the Place at another great Italian restaurant followed by more birthday celebrations for me…
Monday and we checked out: the first night’s (upgraded) accommodation was given free by the hotel, but another guest had signed for a 52€ breakfast and a 389€ dinner on our room! That was quickly resolved, so we left our bags and headed up to Montmartre for more touristy stuff including a little roadtrain ride down to Pigalle and back up to Montmartre.
Then off to the Eurostar Business Lounge for complimentary wines and our train back to London.
The hotel’s Manager rang me today: they’ve checked the door key logs and it appears on first checking that it was one of the maids who’d left the door and window open for some reason. They’re interviewing her and getting the hallway CCTV footage to check.
So then: Berlin Marathon … and I’m running that one!
Well since I last updated this blog, a lot has happened. Obviously the main event was my trip along Route 66 on an Electra Glide (posts syndicated below and on my Big Trip Blog). Breathtaking!
A week back in the UK – missing the States a lot – and I was off to Paris for a couple of days again with one of our Clients.
Back in London and the weather was wonderful at last, making walking home from work lovely if challenging – trying to avoid pubs!
Paralympics were on, bringing with it the Mayor’s fun: a big screen on Potters Field between County Hall and Tower Bridge with stalls selling all sorts of food and a bar. Made walking home and indeed lunchtimes different and bringing out the crowds.
GT got us tickets for the weekend’s Paralympics so off we went for a look around and to be awestruck.
I think GT’s favourite part of the Olympic Park was probably the champagne and seafood restaurant where we spent a pleasant hour or two!
Then the following week, it was my daughter’s 21st birthday, so she came down to stay at mine for the weekend, with a trip to the West End shops for a dress and a champagne afternoon tea at Harrods’ Georgian Restaurant (after we’d had the Best Milkshakes Ever!).
My 21st birthday present to her was a vanity plate for her car: 1991 AM (her birth year and initials). This was the end of the weekend that I’d spent with GT shopping in Kingston for an LBD for a do coming up with a lovely vegetarian meal on the Thames.
The following week saw more meals out plus a trip and stay in the Midlands to train a client’s staff. Great fun as always, but hard work.
Last week was fun: GT came with me to a champagne drinks reception at the Spencer House in St James Place, hence the new Karen Millen dress and Jimmy Choo killer heels! Driving in the back of a cab over Waterloo Bridge, we saw a huge ride at the Southbank that we decided we had to go on, so plans were hatched for coming back last weekend to ride on Priceless London Wonderground’s high-spinning swing ride, the Star Flyer, the tallest travelling ride in the country at 60m tall, with amazing views of London (especially when we went back later, after dark.
That was a weekend of film too, seeing “Killing Them Softly” (slow-paced but well done) on the Friday night and “The Sweeney” (which was an enjoyable romp if paying only lip service to the original series) on the wet Sunday afternoon.
Quite pleased too, recently, with the release of iOS6 and the iPhone 5 which is a lovely shiny thing!
And finally, Esther, I’ll leave you with my favourite track during this period which sums up a lot of things (more of which later):
Well what a great weekend that was!
Nipped over to GT’s after work on Friday for a lovely home-cooked meal before an early night as GT was up early on Saturday morning for another cheeky 20 mile run before breakfast! She’s almost ready for her seventh marathon in three weeks’ time; her third London Marathon.
So when she got back, I got up and we headed into Epsom: GT to get a pedicure and me for a coffee and porridge at Caffè Nero. Then we set off for our weekend destination…
GT was a tad hungry by now, so shortly after leaving hers (and returning to pick up some undies!), we stopped for lunch at the Bear in Oxshott. Lovely food too with huge sandwiches and excellent fillings plus some great choices of starters and sharing platters.
Then on to our hotel for the weekend: Luton Hoo where one of GT’s friends was celebrating her birthday that evening. I’d had a cunning plan and booked us a room in the Mansion House itself as I had (incorrectly) assumed we’d be eating in the main house rather than one of the other buildings on the estate so we wouldn’t need to walk anywhere or go out in the cold that night.
And we were greeted with a pleasant surprise: we were upgraded to a Mansion House Suite – usually a £500 night option – which was heroically impressive with its own sitting area, a massive bed, a lobby and separate bathroom, walk-in wardrobes, etc.
The bottle of champagne I’d ordered was there chilling in its ice bucket and so everything was great as we spent the afternoon with a photoshoot and sipping champagne. GT said she could easily get used to this! My favourite from the shoot is on my photography profiles/pages.
Time then to get dressed for dinner: GT in a new LBD and heels – GT had brought a selection of stilettos with her including the Jimmy Choos, of course – and me in a suit and tie.
We then realised that Lu’s birthday dinner was actually taking place in the brasserie which was a short taxi ride away – the hotel has a fleet of its own taxis to ferry guests around the estate – so off we went for more good food and wines with great company before heading back to the main house for a nightcap!
The next morning we had a late start with a leisurely breakfast in the restaurant before heading outside for a walk around the extensive gardens (and a quick play on their croquet lawn) before coming back for a pot of tea in their gardens in the warm spring sunshine.
Sadly, we then had to pack and head off home after lunch. A memorable weekend!
I had a lovely shoot with Polly Lockitt yesterday at her flat in Orpington. It started off even better as Polly has a habit of laying on something to eat for the photographer: in my case, a sausage bap! Fabulous!
The shoot was really a test shoot to see if we clicked artistically and we did: Polly’s a great model to work with and her photos really don’t do her justice. Some great nudes and some lovely lingerie shots. Time didn’t permit us to really go to town – that’ll teach us for nattering away during the shoot!
Some of the results are in the Lingerie, Artistic and Headshot albums.
On Saturday, I had the studio shoot with Anita De Bauch and Madame Bink at LightSpotStudio, London that I’d previously mentioned. Anita works internationally as a fetish and art nude model. Bink works all over the place throughout Europe as an art nude model and the two of them have worked together before.
Both were really very professional, really friendly and a great laugh and they were simply phenomenal with their imagination and posing. Nothing was too hard or difficult and the poses they created were stunning. My job was so easy as both were so natural and so imaginative. I would thoroughly recommend both models and I can’t wait to work with Anita and Bink again! Oh and Anita makes fab cookies!
Images have been added to the Headshots, Art Nude and Fetish albums.
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