Martin and I left for Ottawa on a Tuesday, the shoot planned for the following afternoon. When we arrived there, we found out that this year, the sculpture weren’t on the canal but in a park and each sculpture had a gate secured around it! Martin even crossed one of the gates to take a few shot and was immediately stopped by security and warned that he needed a permit to cross the gates. Unfortunately, all the offices were closed. We had to make a quick decision: stay and have the makeup artist come anyway or leave and cancel the shoot…

Also, were the sculptures really worth it? They were actually quite disappointing. We had to leave, cancel our makeup artist (who had already left 30 minutes ago) as well as get in touch with our other friend, Kosmikkreeper (the diary translator) to let him know that we wouldn’t need his help the following day (he had taken a day off!). Man! What a blunder. Thank god they weren’t angry.

Martin and I still wanted to do a shoot at home even if it wasn’t the Ice Queen. It was a sad mood and deep inside, I didn’t want to let the idea go. So on the way back I had the idea to stop on Mount-Royal in the heart of Montreal. Who knows, maybe this mountain (an old volcano) would offer us some fantastic icy decors? It was pitch black, 8pm, when we arrived at the foot of the mountain and in the parking lot of a nearby church. Martin didn’t want to take pictures of the church. The parking lot had huge piles of snow that could make interesting backdrops. We then went on Beaver Lake located on the mountain. In winter, this lake is transformed into a skating rink. The ice would be the ideal accessory! All things considered, Montreal was a better place for my Queen! Who would’ve thought that I had everything I wanted 10 minutes away from home! The grass isn’t always greener on the other side!

----- Dring, dring! Hi Catherine (the makeup artist)? Meeting tomorrow morning at 8am. Yes, we’ll be shooting the Ice Queen! -----

I can tell you that 8am arrived very quickly. Even though I was tired my excitement took over knowing that my project would become a reality. A beautiful day was announced with only -2C. Once Catherine arrived we brainstormed on my hairdo and makeup. Catherine even took the time to study the makeup techniques used for Mister Freeze in Batman 4. She didn’t want to recreate it but be inspired by it. The makeup’s success would be done in the final stages with airbrush techniques that she had just recently learned. In total, it would take close to two hours. As for the hairdo, she got inspired by the android in Blade Runner. For the shoot, I bought some blond extensions that we would tint silver to give my red-passion hair a cooler look. Just the hairdo took close to 1 ½ hours. It was close to mid-day when all was completed and the blue morning sky was now hinting signs of grey. Quickly, I jumped into a black spandex catsuit then got into my silver dress. Yup! I cheated a bit. This was Martin’s idea and it allowed me to shoot for a longer period of time. We were ready to leave and pick up our helper and movie man, Patrick, when I realized that I had forgotten to put on the white contact lenses that would crown the costume. Since I had makeup on my hands Catherine and then Martin tried in vain to put the contacts in. They wanted to abandon the idea and I was about to give in until I saw myself in the mirror; those were not the Ice Queen’s eyes. No. They were too warm. So I thoroughly washed my hand and put the white contacts in giving my hazel eyes a blue-grey tint. When I lookup into the mirror my Queen was finally born, looking at me with amusement and a smirk on her lips. She looked like she was proud of me.

--- and after feeling the joy of seeing her in front of me, I started feeling the first burning sensations in my eyes; probably caused by some makeup particles on the contacts ---

So we left at around 12:30pm, picking up Patrick on the way to the icy rock wall on Mount-Royal. We parked close by and while Martin was doing some lighting tests and Patrick was shovelling a path for me, Catherine fixed a loose eyelash menacing to fall off. While every body was busy at their chores, I was focussing on the task at hand. I meditated to gain valuable strength. You’re probably thinking against the cold right? Not at all; against the burning sensation in my eyes. The cold seemed comforting compared to the pain in my eyes. Should I take them off? Not yet. I had to at least do a couple of shots with them on. And that’s what I did. Martin lubricated my dress with Eros Cult then Patrick helped me get in front of the rocks where I could place my feet on a towel to keep my balance in the snow. Even with that, it was still very difficult to pose and the snow managed to get into my boots freezing my toes. Of course, the nearby cars would honk their horns or slow down to get a better look. It was flattering. It actually wasn’t that cold. The sun was shining warming me up. My toes were the only ones frozen and I had to go back to the car to warm them up before heading back to the icy rocks. We took close to 50 photos before heading to the ice rink on Beaver Lake.

It was a bit trickier accessing the lake with a tight latex dress permitting me only small steps and with summer boots on... I also didn’t want to put my coat on since the latex was nicely lubricated and I didn’t want my pets’ fur sticking to it. So I was walking one baby step at a time with Martin and Catherine acting as my supports and a thermal blanket on my shoulders. I looked like a baked potato or a Christmas turkey :). It was quite funny. We had a good laugh. I finally made it to the lake in one piece. There were children and adults on the rink. Patrick seemed a bit nervous unsure at how the people would react. The rest of us didn’t have a care in the world. Dressed like I was with a whole team around and a camera far from being amateur, the crowd would quickly realise that we were professional and usually take pleasure in looking at what we’re doing. And that’s what happened! The kids gathered round and some, smiling, even wanted to touch the dress. The adults were taking pictures or asking us for which magazine we were working for. All went well and we managed to take lots of photos in various poses even though my movements were limited. Since the area was wide open it was a lot colder and after a while my body started to shiver and my feet were numb. And my eyes, my poor eyes! Imagine spraying jalapeño juice in your eyes and you’ll understand what I was feeling. Every minute was a test of the will and spirit.

We then moved to a different location on the lake, right in front of a snow wall. I was in constant shivers now. I had a headache, my eyes hurt and I couldn’t feel my toes but I was having fun and I didn’t want to end it right away. Catherine would often lend me her coat exposing her to the cold and Patrick kept on filming until the tape ran out. I think that the last bit filmed was when I was eating a vanilla ice cream cone (my idea! Hahaha!). To bad we didn’t film the car scene when I took out my contacts and witness the state of my eyes. After wearing them for 3 hours you would think that taking them off would reduce the pain but au contraire! The pain got worse and you could see red veins in the white of my eyes. The light was hurting me and my headache was getting worse. I was cold and I felt sick. Thank god the shoot was over!

Once at home, I dug out my last energy reserves and did a couple of shots in front of our studio’s white background. After all, when would be the next time that I would have opportunity to see my Queen? We did those shots without the contacts though. I forget just how many pictures we did but I was quite surprised to see the results. Not too bad for a girl almost in shock.

We took about 100 outdoor photos that day. The first time that I saw the photos, wet facecloth on my ever-bloating eyelids, I wasn’t sure if the white eyes were that appropriate. At first I even regretted putting them on. Looking at them a second time, the first shock overcome, I was charmed. It is poignant, mysterious and charming. Yes. I was quite proud of myself and the whole team! We finally did the shoot! The photos are superb and I can now get the image of the Queen out of my head. It was really worth getting chilli in my eyes! ;-)