Diane Orrett Photoshoot

As previously mentioned, yesterday I had a photo shoot with Diane Orrett for Kansai Scene magazine. I must have been more nervous than I thought because I woke around 4:30 and unable to fall asleep again. After an hour of tergiversation, I headed out the door for a run. And it did help me.

I got a call from her around 8:00 asking with we could push back the meeting time by 30 minutes to allow her neighbor, who is a kimono professional, to tie her obi, the sash of a kimono. It was fine with me, and it did give me time to relax a little more.

After getting lost a little, I arrived at her place, and as always, she was very friendly and courteous. Not long after, her neighbor came with his wife and another assistant, whom I believe is their daughter. It took them 10 minutes to set up, I took a few shots then, and then I started preparing for the shoot.

We spent some time indoors shooting, and then headed outside. It was cloudy most of the time, providing good light, and as she lives in an old neighborhood, it wasn't too difficult finding locations. I said "too" as the first spot we went to, a grumpy old woman interrupted, saying that for some unknown reason we weren't allowed to shoot in front of an anonymous brick wall. After leaving her behind us physically and psychologically, we had no problems finding other locations, whether it was in front of some of her favorite shops, in a shopping arcade or in small back alley.

All this time, people stopped her to compliment her on the dazzling kimono she was wearing, some recognizing her from her TV appearances. She also knew many of the shop owners, and she engaged them in friendly and lively conversations. One thing is for sure, she leaves no one indifferent, and save for that grumpy one, all the reactions were positive. We even had another obatchan (old lady) follow us as a groupie back to her place. Since we did not want her to learn where Diane lived, we dove into her neighbor's house to thank him and get rid of the groupie. The plan worked and we retreated to her place.

Even if there are 3 or 4 shots I wish I would have taken, this first 'real' photo shoot produced some good results. I will probably upload one or two in the future on www.terophoto.com in my portfolio section, but I'll wait at least until the magazine comes out. In the meantime, even if it is far from the best one of the day,  I leave you with the only shot I had time to take in front of the forbidden wall.