March 13th - Model Shoot

Ziima and I had arranged that she would come to the hotel for about 10:30 so that (after makeup) we could start shooting around 12. Punctuality isn't a particularly Indian virtue (or indeed much of a possibility given the traffic) so it wasn't a huge shock when they arrived a little late. There were three girls - Ziima herself, a friend who was meant to help her (and who actually seemed to be giving her directions on how to model) and a make up artist. Whilst I wasn't unduly concerned about this, I was pleased that I had made sure I'd put all my valuables in the safe as a precaution.

We managed to get through 3 changes of clothing at the hotel - all different Indian outfits. We started with a sari, where we took photos in the room and the hallway by the lifts. For our second outfit we went outside to the little courtyard in the hotel for some more casual shots. The third and final one was a gorgeous bridal outfit. For that we started in the bedroom and then moved to a stairwell near the breakfast room to get some full length shots.

Whilst having a make up artist definitely improves the look of the model, my goodness it slows things down a lot. We had hoped to get through 4 outfits in the hotel but had run out of time after 3. Then it was time to head off to Ziima's apartment for the second part of the shoot.

We went in the MUA's car, and got just as lost as the taxi driver had the day before. We also managed to prove that there are rules covering road usage when we got pulled over by a policeman and had to pay a fine. In all honesty, I'm not sure what she'd done that was notably different from anybody else but she ended up 100 rupees the poorer.

At the apartment we had already decided that we would do western fashion type clothing and that only one set of makeup would be required. We managed another 3 sets here (and also had time to have a takeaway delivered and eaten while the makeup was done). The first was a red dress, which arguably gave me the most effective shots of the day. The second was a black trouser suit and the third a purple dress. Unfortunately by the third set it had got dark and I was relying on flash and manual focus as it was too dark for the autofocus to work.

I then paid the make up artist the 3,500 rupees that I had agreed upon. It was then that things went wrong, when I paid Ziima the 6,000 rupees (approx £80) that I thought we had agreed upon. She said that we'd agreed 60,000 rupees. Oh bugger. I didn't have the money, and no way with me to get the money. I also couldn't afford the full price she was looking for and said so. Under the circumstances she was pretty reasonable and we agreed on 30,000 rupees that she would come to the hotel on the Monday to pick up. She could have been a lot more awkward. That said, I suspect that the 6,000 rupees was a more than reasonable rate for her. Whilst she was certainly pretty, she didn't seem to have the experience that might have been expected as she was constantly looking for advice and suggestions from her friend.