Saturday March 13,  2004
SHOOTING IN THE DESERT IN LATEX

Once again I had to get up early to do my hair and makeup because I had a shoot with the talented Marla Rutherford.

we left for the Mirage Dry Lake, a spot in the desert where people can camp and do motocross.


We arrived at

and the area was packed full of people and motocross; most probably because it was the weekend. Fortunately, to avoid any problems with the public and the authorities, Marla had gotten herself a permit. So we started the shoot in a more secluded area where the ground is extremely dry and all we can see on the horizon are a couple of mountains. It wasn’t the typical desert setting that we’re used to seeing in the movies but beautiful nonetheless. All in all that day I wore 4 different latex outfits. My first outfit was my laced purple dress from Especially Rubber with black opera gloves and my black platform shoes. Outfit number two was the pink and white one from

Torture

We ended the photo shoot at around 6:30pm when the sun went down and we had to leave almost immediately for Las Vegas because we had a 2 ½ hour drive. We had to be in Las Vegas as early as we could because we didn’t have any hotel reservations. I also had a shoot with Playboy Special Edition the next day. We only stopped for a quick bite and when we got to Las Vegas none of the hotels had rooms because there were 6 conventions at the same time! Finally after lots of searching, we stopped at a hotel that luckily for us, had just had 11 cancellations! Yeh! It was already 11:30pm. 8:30am would come around quickly!

Sunday March 14,  2004 PLAYBOY PHOTOSHOOT IN VEGAS
(Sorry, no photos available for this day.  Playboy is very strict about the release of their material.)

I was pretty tired this morning but still quite exited to work for Playboy once again. I’ve been keeping a secret from you because Playboy wanted to…. Shoot me….. dressed…. In LATEX!!!! Yup! Even Playboy can’t resist this fabric. J I bet you want to know more right? Well… ok then. If you insist! J So, as I was saying, Martin and I arrived at Michael Wardle’s studio (a painter) at around 10:30am (Playboy rented the studio for the day). Jodi Vander Woude, the producer, was already there and the photographer John R. Mourgos, and his assistant John would arrive shortly. Once every body there, we decide on what latex clothing I would be wearing. I thought they were going to select the pink outfit from Torture Garden because it’s so cute, but they wanted something a little more audacious. They chose Especially Rubber’s purple dress with platform shoes but without gloves or socks. Let’s not forget that Playboy wants to show off some skin… I would be posing standing on a table with the artist’s paintings in the background. The table wasn’t too secure and during the shoot a couple of screws came undone from the floor. It was time to change setups! Fortunately John had already taken many shots. A part from that everything went well. It was already 3:00pm! I have to say that we started late since Jodi did my makeup and hair (a bit curly) while the two Johns set up the lighting. Let’s just say that it was time for a pizza slice between setups!

The second setup was a bit more complicated to do since John wanted to do the shoot outside on the roof. But the sun’s light kept on changing so he constantly had to do metering and white balance tests with the help of John and Martin using reflectors (Martin stayed for the whole shoot, helping me with my latex dress and then to help out the 2 Johns. I’m quite sure that his help sped this up a little and kept a good flow, not to mention helping me translate the few words I didn’t quite understand). We started at around 4:30pm but the sun wasn’t at its best. I wore a beige bikini with beige sandals and I poured water on me using a green pitcher. John was looking for a less provocative feel, something cuter. Since the sun was almost gone, we ended the shoot at around 6:00pm. I was glad to be honest because I had poured two pitchers on me and was cold. L

Once Jodi had enhanced the curls in my hair, we started the third setup at around 6:30pm. I slipped into a black and fuchsia bra and matching underwear accompanied by my new black/fuchsia shoes (they were glad that I had brought all of my shoes because they didn’t have that many nice ones in size 5). I was lying down for the entire shoot on an old-style black leather canapé with the photos taken from above. I really didn’t mind lying on my back or stomach because my feet were starting to hurt me (since my new Hollywood shoes might look good but aren’t that comfortable!). We ended with this setup at around 8:15pm.

Today, approximately 8 rolls of 36 were taken per setup. That’s a lot of photos! But the day went really well since every body was awesome. Jodi was always very considerate making sure that I wasn’t warm or cold, hungry or thirsty and that my hair and makeup made me look sexy. John, the photographer, was very respectful and smiled easily. He always made cute little jokes to nag Jodi. He let me propose some poses and gave me lots of feedback; something that I truly appreciated. The other John and the painter were also quite nice. And Martin was true to himself: positive, helping and full of initiative.

Generally speaking, even though I enjoyed my first Playboy experience in New York, I preferred my Las Vegas shoot. The energy was more relaxed and I preferred the warm lighting to NY’s whiter lighting. I’ll be in a better position to judge when I see the photos in the magazine. As a matter of fact, my latex shoot will be in “Voluptuous Vixens”, the roof shoot in “Girls in Summer” and the third one in “Lingerie”. When? I don’t have a clue as of yet. I’ll kee you posted! J

  Monday March 15, 2004

Finally a break in Vegas!!! I haven’t had the chance to visit the city yet a part from a few casinos seen in the distance. But today I went all out!

Vegas is a city surrounded by mountains and the desert. You won’t find any skyscrapers or stressed out businessmen. Nope. What rules here are the casinos lined up on both sides of the main drag: Las Vegas blvd. There are giant posters, huge TV advertising screens some even being projected onto buildings. The casino lights shine everywhere and it’s the big race to see which one will have the most. You can find big crowds on the sidewalks especially at night, even on a Monday in March. You’ll always find tourists looking to win big bucks or seeing spectacular shows. The energy is a bit chaotic but enchanting and we were immediately charmed. We arrived on Las Vegas blvd. at 2:00pm wanting to eat at the highly recommended buffet in the Bellagio casino. And what a buffet! Sushi, pizza, pastas and sauces, salads, cakes… all homemade on site. I was delicious! Having forgotten our camera, we went back to the hotel to pick it up. What would this diary be without pictures?! We got back at around 4:00pm where we visited many casinos.

Even though the casinos’ outside décor are interesting, I think that the main action is inside. A part from playing games, each casino has its theme with its shows, bars, restaurants and mini shopping malls. At the MGM casino, the theme roams around lions (the MGM symbol). Inside they had recreated an artificial habitat with two lions inside posing behind Plexiglas. You can rest assured that they were well taken care of and they didn’t seem to complain at all. The New York New York has a mini Statue of Liberty and its own roller coaster ride ($10 a ride!). As for the Aladin, it has its own “thousand and one nights” mini village, and the Bellagio has an inner garden and a butterfly cage. Every casino is worth a visit!

We walked around for about 6 hours that night. Martin even won a few bucks at blackjack while I played the 5 cents slot machines. It was fun. We got back to our hotel room at around 1:00am quite tired but happy to have done what we had done. We leave for Montreal tomorrow. I can’t wait to see my cats and especially my 2 ferrets. J

Tuesday March 16, 2004

Not much to say about today. Our plane left at 11:30am for Montreal with a stopover in Cincinnati. We got home at around 11:30pm very happy to see our little babies! I really adore my pets, especially my ferrets.  When they saw us they started running and jumping everywhere! Two little clowns!

To conclude I would say that I really appreciated discovering L.A. with its glamour and Mexican feel. As for Vegas, it’s the perfect place for a party weekendJ. Not to mention that this trip gave me the opportunity to work with Rubberella, Emily Marilyn, Masuimi Max and, of course, Julie Strain. They’re all quite charming and professional and I’m positive that some great photos will come out of it. You’ll be the judge.