Lights, Camera, Action under the 'Modeling Spotlight'

Realising a Dream

Do you want to be a model?

Have you visions of following in the footsteps of Kate Moss or Naomi Campbell?

My 13 year old daughter Alyssa has had her heart set on being a model since she was an adorable little 6 year old, modeling my children's fancy dress range for our shop catalogue and dancewear for the website.

Birthday Treat

Having won a free photo shoot at Doubletake Studios in Manchester via the Casting Suite in London, I decided to use the experience as Alyssa's birthday treat, and set her date for 11am on Saturday 22^nd September 2007 the day before her 13th birthday.

Excitedly we arrived in Manchester on the Friday evening and stayed in a hotel close to the studios, unpacked our belongings and went in search of food. To the rear of the hotel we found the Great China Wall an area full of oriental restaurants serving a variety of Chinese, Peking, Cantonese, Hong Kong and International buffet style menus. We settled for the Chinese buffet in a restaurant on the corner close by the China Wall and finished off with their home made ice cream and fresh fruit.....delicious!!

Suitably stuffed we walked back to our hotel. Alyssa excitedly chatted about the photo shoot and quickly dove straight into bed back at the hotel, ready to wake up early and refreshed for her special day.

Doubletake Studios

Doubletake Studios based in London, have been established for over 10 years with branches in Southampton and Manchester City centre. The Manchester branch which opened at the end of January 2007, is situated just a short stroll from The Midland Hotel. Inside the tastfully decorated studio is a reception area and comfortable lounge with bar, serving complimentary drinks and nibbles throughout your visit, there is also a make up and hair studio and the impressive photo shoot studio which claims to be the only one of it's kind in the UK.

Realising the dream!

Doubletake clients range from babies to any age and cover

Children
Teens/Adults
Families
Couples
Friends
& the Performing Arts

Treat Time
As we entered the studio we were greeted downstairs on reception, registered in and then ushered into the tastefully decorated and cosy lounge to wait our turn. A choice of drinks and nibbles were offered as we waitied for the make up stylist to collect Alyssa. The modern trendy studios atmosphere is warm, relaxed & friendly. After signing consent forms and filling out a questionare re her make-up and hair style preferences Alyssa was swiftly taken through by her personal make up artist for her pamper session which consisted of

Facial massage
Hand and Arm massage
Make up
Hair Styling

Alyssa chose a funky glam look with a curly hair style. Being her mother I'm biased, but she did look absolutely stunning when they had finished with her. We hadn't long to wait before Jenny, her personal photographer collected her and took her through to the studio for 'the Shoot’.

The Unique Manchester studio offers a variety of pre-set scenes with light to dark backdrops allowing for quick and varied shots moving around the studio with ease.

The photo sessions are shot in succession between costume changes and although not exclusively shot, as other clients and photographers are wandering around the studio, this made the atmosphere more relaxed and casual, you are made to feel comfortable, totally at ease and the settings are brilliant allowing for a really enjoyable and fun experience. I must say Jenny was brilliant with Alyssa.

The Viewing

The culmination of the shoot is the viewing. We had a 45 min wait so decided to nip out for lunch at a nearby deli. We arrived back just in time to be called into the viewing room to take a look at Alyssa's photo's on a large plasma screen.

We were clearly delighted with all of them but could not decide which ones to choose from. Alyssa is so determined she wants to be a model that she offered to pay for the photos out of her own savings. We bought the copyright to her pictures which came on CD as well as a full set of 12" x 8" in colour and black and white these now have pride of place in her portfolio.

We were so impressed with the staff and their service, and the helpful tips and advice from Ruth our viewer were worth their weight in gold. Ruth herself is an accomplished actress and performer and had just recently returned from performing in Thailand so she knows the ropes so to speak.

Thank you to all at Manchester Doubletake Studio for a truly wonderful experience from the birthday girl who said " it was the best birthday present ever" and her proud mum.

Alyssa's profile has now been forwarded to a variety of modeling agencies and the latest Doubletake photo portfolio shoot can be viewed here

www.StarNow.co.uk/princesslilroxy

Allowing children to follow their dreams

All 4 Dance and drama is all about helping parents with talented children realise their dreams, with help advice and information here online. Where better to start than at home. By helping my daughter realise her dream I am one step along the road and heading in the right direction to helping others.

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