Thursday, November 20, 2008

Friday is my day: Frances Melhop

Jaa
Today I am so proud and happy to travel to Milano, Italy, the center of Fashion and meet Frances Melhop aka Matchstickgirl aka enchantedpond. She is a professional photographer and her works has appeared world wide such as Italian vogue, Paris vogue, Australian vogue, Elle etc. And today we are all honored to take a peek to one of her days. Enjoy the trip and after that I am sure you want to make some souvenir shopping from her Etsy shops :)

(Click any picture to go to shops)
6.25am
the alarm goes off and the first words that run through my head are "oooooo nooooo i'm already late!"




first steps straight into a wall...klonk...groan... dressing gown ..computer on ...
and straight to the kitchen to set up a giant coffee ..
the only way forward
dazed wanderings for another 20 minutes check my emails and grumpily go back to get my coffee

6.50am
answer emails ... not sure how nicely ..
i so dont like early mornings ...but today is a shoot day so i must soldier on

7.00 am
jump in the shower
no photos no photos!!!

7.30am
scan the news items on the sydney morning herald and wish i hadnt
pass by etsy and check the forum and my convos ...much more positive vibe
look at my little nest ..it looks so cosy but i have to go out in the big grey world of Milan



7.45am
jump downstairs with my equipment to the taxi already waiting
the city is grey and it starts raining
i go to the studio early to miss all the rush hour traffic


8.25am
arrive at condé nast studios

i drop off my equipment at the studio and wander off to second breakfast
(i do come from the land of Lord of the Rings after all)
here i am in my favourite bar in Milan "liviing"



they tell me off for taking photos inside
i ask why its not allowed but they dont know
it just isnt... o well ... italian logic ...

8.50am
back to the studio to meet everyone arriving i brief them on the idea which today is "Glamour and Glitter"
theatre style
studio, model and makeup room ...before..........



my magicians start to work
the model reads while the torture her into a new character




my usual assistant is away assisting Deborah Turveville for Italian Vogue

so the new assistant and i start to build up the set and construct the lighting i want

its a spaghetti bomb...
health and safety....!!!
i tell the assistant to lock down the wires and make it a bit less of a death trap


11.30am
finally we are ready
, the model is dressed and we put her in postiion
its always a good picture :)
i tell my assistant to do crew cam and he comes up with a few awful photos of me


and alot of nice ones of the model ....hmmmmmmmmmmmm
half way through the day he falls in love with the model and loses focus on the world
he asks her to marry him ... i photograph the proposal on his cell phone ...hmmmmmm

2pm
we have 3 shots under the belt and go for lunch next door
its very sheeshee
nice food too


3pm
espresso coffees all round and back to work
makeup and hair retouched and changed




5.30pm
7 shots away and we are finished ,... one of the clients did not send their dress so we finish early ...
(there's a first for everything !)
we breakdown the set super fast and rush off to beat the milan deadly rainy weather rush hour traffic
unfortunately i cant show you the actual shots of the model as the magazine hasnt been published yet...

6pm
in the taxi its already dark
Milan floods when it rains...it is built on a massive system of canals designed by Leonardo da Vinci...most of which are still under the streets

the taxi driver thinks its funny me shooting blurry shots of lights through his window

6.45pm
arrive home starving
i eat some fresh handmade pasta (not handmade by me) and drink a glass of red wine and relax

checking my emails .. and my etsy pixie pals

10pm
my little brother rings from New Zealand and we talk nonsense and laugh for an hour
i go back to my computer world


nearly 12pm
my eyeballs feel like theyre about to fall out so i crawl exhausted into bed
and look at my palm trees in Fiji...


goodnight

zzzzzz
zzzzz
zz



25 comments:

  1. My weekend will be enchanted indeed after reading about such a magical day!

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  2. How wonderful to read about Frances day! Thank you!

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  3. ahh, absolutely fabulous story!
    and definitely brought back some memories from my earlier days :)

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  4. Frances, I loved reading about your day! You have done a fantastic Friday is my day. I think the best ever! :)

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  5. Heli and Match - fantastic Friday is my day!

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  6. Awesome friday is my day, I didn't expect less of Frances, awesome pictures!!!

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  7. Fantastic! What a day she had!
    I'm forest green with envy:)))) Good on you Frances. Now I know why she so successful in her career, a very proffessional photographer!

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  8. Thank you for sharing! What a day, what a job !!! so very intressting to read, thanks to you both!

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  9. Congrats Heli and Frances - a great read!! It all seems so glamourous and a hell of a lot of work!!! Fab to see the little dandy birds enjoying Italy too ;)

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  10. What an interesting day, Frances! Love the photos too - thanks for sharing!
    Ha! Are you one of those, who also has two or more alarm clock on the table? :D

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  11. this was enormously interesting!! thanks for this great photo-report!

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  12. You've made me dream... thanks for such a great fun story:
    Thanks Heli for a great friday post!

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  13. thank you so much lovely Heli for the feature ... i had really alot of fun making it ...its something you never think of doing

    thank you !!!

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  14. Wow! What a grrrreat article! So much fun to read about Frances "in action" :) Heli and Match, you both rock! :)

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  15. Wow! so completely different from my life. What a pleasure to read.

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  16. This was great reading, thank you Heli & Frances! Yeah, Italian logic is a bit strange, lol;)

    minna

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  17. wow, really cool :))) What a day!
    It's so lovely to seeing how is people live. Thanks Frances for the generous share and Helis to featured her as well :D

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  18. Great story...and it reminds me of some photo shoots many years ago... It was really enjoyable to take a peek into your day, frances. Thanks Heli :)

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  19. Super to see and read more from Frances :)

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  20. That was a full day for sure! I had fun reading about it.

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  21. what a fabulous day! life! job! everything! :D
    definitely envious :D

    great read :D

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  22. how amazing!
    thank you for sharing such a day!
    i had the opportunity to work
    with frances, too
    and i can tell you,
    it's such a great honor.

    she's professional, smart,
    ironic on her own set.
    and she has such a good taste!

    i wish u a great week
    :)
    silvia (BusyB's on etsy)

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  23. Ohh I almost missed this!
    How wonderful! One of my favorites!
    Hey match, is that you taking the photos, with blond hot hair? :D

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  24. Yes, this Friday feature is a huge favorite that I look forward to immensly! I loved following our incredibly talented photographer/artist through her busy day! Thank you so much for this lovely post!
    ~Emily

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