Campaign - Philpark clothing A/W

Back in October, I posted after a day in the studio with the boys from Philpark, telling you that we had previously shot the campaign out and about in Barcelona. I really like the collection that the boys have put together and proudly wear a lot of Philpark garments. OK, thats enough from me, Im going to let the pictures do the rest of the talking. 

Philpark Clothing

Merry Christmas y'all 

Peace and joy

x

Music Video - Oscar Martinez/Coolway

Being back in London has been a real change of pace. After an unbelievable 10 months in Barcelona, I am back in my hometown and looking forward to tackling the New Year. As good as Barcelona was, there are so many pros of being back home, not least of course seeing my family and friends. More than that though, London feels like a city of opportunity right now. I have signed up to a new agency, more to follow on that soon, and am auditioning, and getting cast, for various acting projects, which makes me especially happy. Looking ahead to 2014, acting is certainly the area where I am looking to make the most strides. 

All that being said, last week I was flown back to Spain, this time Madrid, to shoot a music video for Oscar Martinez a Spanish radio DJ, in a  production sponsored by Coolway. Some of you may remember that in June I shoot the Coolway F/W campaign, and I am grateful to them again for choosing me for this project. This is the first time (2013 really was a year of firsts) that I have been flown from one country to another specifically for a job, and I have to say I enjoyed the thrill of it all. Sad to say I didn't get a chance to see much of Madrid, but then again I was anticipating I would. I was the male lead for the shoot, of a cast of around 16 young people. We took over a little nightclub called Bora-Bora, and created the illusion of a busy party. The concept of the video revolved around "my girlfriend" and myself and two nights that we spent at the nightclub. One night we were together, and the other we were separated and I came across her with another guy. In the end, all was forgiven and the enjoyment of the night prevailed. I had so much fun shooting this project, and feel that we created a really enjoyable, happy atmosphere which I certainly think Oscar was looking for in terms of his track, and that I hope is clear for all to see in the final cut. 

That is the dark blue sky of a 6am start :)

I love watching the camera guys do there thing. They have such technical knowledge and can change the smallest things in order to create the biggest changes and make the end product that much better

 One of the guys dropping some moves...very cool (Though he may have almost kicked someone in the head!)

It was fun being the lead, I felt very loved and wanted!

 Action shot!

Oscar Martinez official twitter

Coolway

Photoshoot - Huw Jenkins

Huw and I were introduced through a mutual friend. One simple purpose, to get work for our portfolios. There are lots of stories of young girls and boys being scammed out of money for photos, whilst being fed dreams of grandeur. Thats not the way it should work. Photographers need to constantly update their portfolio just the same as models have too. In this way photoshoots are invariably to the benefit of both the photographer and the model.

I met Huw at his studio a couple of weeks ago. I say studio, he was working out of what I think is called an artist's commune. A big building with rooms for 8 artists, as well as big open spaces for studio work or whatever they may have in mind. There were numerous displays showcasing their work; all in all a very cool location. We tried to make the most of our surroundings and what was available to us, and manipulate it into the photos. I met up with Huw a few weeks before, setting a relaxed tone from the start. the fact he was English and I was able to actually converse with the photographer probably helped as well! Im extremely happy with the results.

Huw Jenkins

TV Spot - Oral-B Toothpaste

Every job usually has at least one stand out factor. In August I was cast as a drummer in an advert for Oral-B toothpaste. Now I've never played the drums and thank fully I wasn't required to here. I along with two others formed the band for the Oral-B Spokesperson...Shakira! I'm a twenty-five year old guy, I grew up watching Shakira's bum shake! Can you imagine my delight upon being cast in this advert! Filming consisted of a three scenes. Firstly we, the band were simply walking down a corridor behind Shakira, as if walking backstage in a stadium on our way to the main stage. Second scene was a copy of what we're told Shakira does every time before she goes on stage, a team huddle. Final scene was us on stage in the background with Shakira at the front. 

Th place was set up as if Shakira was actually performing of course, including 40 or so screaming fans, to add to the effect

I think I made quite a convincing drummer

Needless to say, this was one hella day! I actually had a chat with Shakira, brief but awesome! She asked what I was doing in Barcelona, I of course told her all my hopes and dreams! Just a really great day!

Thats the advert then. I know what you're thinking, I wasn't in it that much! well you would be right, a side from the first scene I didn't get any screen time really. Just another example of how you are constantly challenged in this industry, in this case mentally. For me, i'm just grateful I had any air time, and besides, being on screen at the same time as Shakira, even a split second...has got to be equal to pretty much everything else Ive done!

Making-of - Shakira Oral-B

Above is the link to, obviously, the making-of video, you can see just how much fun Shakira had :)

I mean, I think we look good together

Family Tales...

So here's a tale for you, one which Im going to tell to the best of my knowledge.

My Grandfather was one of ten children. Not all together that odd for families of the early 1900s. What made my Grandfathers family a bit special was that he was the youngest and all his elders females. Yep, nine sisters. Two of his sisters were twins, a trait that I actually share with them; I have a twin sister. Anyway, the elder twin, had a child, and for whatever reason was forced to give up said child. Only the eldest girls were aware of the situation, meaning my Grandad was none the wiser. The elder twin passed away maybe ten years later, but it was not for another thirty-forty that the lost child would have contact with the family again. She rang up one of the younger sisters proclaiming to be the elders' child. Obviously the younger had no idea and had to get confirmation from an older sibling. As a consequence my family tree grow a little arm. Also on that arm, is the child's  daughter and my third cousin Kate, and her son Oscar, who, by the pure coincidence of life happen to live a 15minute walk away from me in Barcelona.  

Kate, Oscar and I get together every week that I'm here. Its strange how quickly you can build ties to people because they're your family. I mean when I met the two of them, they were just strangers, but within a half hour I genuinely felt a connection to them both. You only have to look at photos of Oscar and I to know we're related. As for Kate and I, I think we were happy to have somebody we could talk freely and honestly too. As exciting as it is being out here in Barcelona, its inevitable that I go through serious bouts of loneliness. By finding family here, we have both found someone to remind us of home. 

Sent this photo home after our first meet, my family couldn't believe the similarities

We like Superheroes, but both agree that Batman is THE superhero!

 Practising our Spidey-webs just to show we like variety :)

 We're all kids, just some of us our bigger than others

A family of Superheroes!

The upside...

Today was a good day.

Quite simply leaving the clouds of Hamburg...

...for the blue skies of Barcelona 

Blanket of clouds to golden seas.

That's enough to put a smile on anyone's face

Ich bin ein Hamburger :D

Well, I've had two days in Hamburg, and I sit here with mixed emotion. If you read tuesdays post then you know my reasons for coming out here, and you would know that I arrived with very high spirits. Today, I have to be honest, I feel pretty deflated.

This is my first time in Germany, and I have to say on the whole I am extremely impressed with Hamburg. I landed around 4.30 local time, giving myself around 10 minutes before the sun went down. By the time I was off the train and into the heart of the city, it was five o'clock and Hamburg was on its way in to night-time. My hotel is very close to the main station, Hauptbahnhof, in the St Georg region. Im sure the majority of the world has a warped perception of the life of a model. Of course the boys and girls at the very top of the industry get extremely well looked after. Rightly so, if a client is spending maybe tens of thousands on a shoot then the model should be treated accordingly. Im not in that top bracket and as such have to take care of myself. That means all the money I earn, goes straight back into the progression of my career. Not wanting to shell out fortunes, I went for a pretty basic option. 

Hotel BeeFang - Private room

That's my room, in its entirety! The bathroom is on the floor below. Please don't take this for criticism by the way. Ive actually had a very comfortable stay here; I really am a man of simple pleasures. 

I ventured out on on that first night just hoping to get a feel for the city. Hamburg is extremely spacious. The roads are wide, the pedestrian streets are wide. The majority of the city appears to be no higher than six, maybe seven floors. With the river running through it and various little parks scattered around, Im often being reminded of English towns when walking around. 

A small canal in Nikolaifleet, a particularly tranquil spot

On my first night I went and found an Irish Pub, first point of call for any travelling Brit, in the hope of watching my footy team, Manchester United, on TV. I ended up at the Shamrock and quickly made friends with the owner, a lovely guy called Richie from England, and the barmaid Carolina, from Chile. I have to say, within 5 minutes I felt at home here, I really don't think I could have chosen a better first outing! Watched the footy and then slowly made my way back to the hotel and eagerly to sleep, in anticipation of the next days plans.

As I stated previously, I had two meetings on the first day. Numero uno - Modelwerk. This did not go exactly to plan. If you read my post about rejection the other day then you may see a similar pattern emerging here. I know my height is a hindrance, but I thought that the agencies I was seeing would be aware of my height and still wanted to see me. That was not the case, instead I had flown 500miles to be told that, despite my great look, I was simply 2cm too short. The meeting was over within minutes, and Im not embarrassed to say I had a real struggle to maintain my emotions once I was outside. 2cm! If i was turned away for my look, if I wasn't suitable to their market then I could deal with it; but to be shunted because of 2cm, having flown all this way and spend money that I really don't have to waste, well that was hard. And of course the worst part was that I had another meeting which I simply knew was going to go the same way as this. I started to sense that this trip was not going to go the way I wanted it too. However, I headed over to SPIN with as positive an attitude as I could muster (still pretty darn positive!) This one was a little better, by which I mean I was in there for more than 3minutes, and they even took some polaroids, but still the general consensus was that I am to short for the German market. I was not a happy weasel. I came here with real aspirations and excitement, and within an hour on my first day I felt ready to cut my losses and leave. I exchanged a few messages with my agent, and thankfully had my family and one friend in particular who cheered me up. I decided that i would enjoy the rest of my day in Hamburg and wake up the next day with a fresh mind and a list of other agencies in the city to go and visit. I was determined that if this was to be a wasted trip, I would have at least given it my all. So, I took a walk, I grabbed some food, and I headed back to Shamrock t watch Arsenal beat Borussia Dortmund. (By the way, if you ever wanted to know how to silence a German pub, just watch an English team beat a German team, you'll soon be the only one talking!)

Ok, so day number two. I fired my images around to five or six agencies on the previous day, in an attempt to arrange meetings. Three came back with an apologetic no, but thanks to my effort and that of my agent, I found myself with three agencies to see: Kult, Louisa Models and MGM. The first two ran along the same lines as the day before, but MGM felt slightly different. That isn't to say I was greeted with open arms and signed on the spot, far from that, but I did get to sit down with three agents and given the opportunity to sell myself, something I feel I've grown quite competent at doing. They didn't even mention my height until the very end of the meeting (that had to be better right?!?). I had some polaroids taken and then sent on my merry way. 

Hamburger Rathaus (Town Hall), seen on the left of the picture

Its been a tough few days here, but informative nonetheless. As the saying goes, "hindsight is a wonderful thing", and at the end of the day, as my father pointed out to me, if I hadn't come here to try, then I probably would have just been sat at home wondering. I might be sitting here now, feeling pretty down and literally cutting my losses (screw the ten days in Hamburg, Im going back to Barcelona tomorrow) but if I hadn't have tried then I wouldn't know what I know now. I imagine some people are reading this thinking, "when will he get the message that he is to short for this industry". Well what I have learnt is that whist I know I can work in the modelling world, I think my portfolio of jobs says as much, I have to look at where that work is going to come from and exactly what type of jobs they will be. In the last two days, since these agencies started going down the pot, I have spent serious hours researching acting opportunities in the UK. I have two weeks in Barcelona, before hitting London on the 21st November. Yes, I will be looking at modelling still, I haven't lost all my paths in that regard just yet, but I do aim on auditioning for anything and everything I can find, be it big or small, in an effort to get the ball rolling in that field too. The true tests in life are those that come out of adversity. I have had a lot of good fortune this year, and now I am being challenged. 

Just wait and see how I come out the other end.

Weasel out x