Eye of the Loner

By Mitali Parekh
Most models her age are in a transition phase. Choreography, acting, hosting, model management are the regular choices. Sheetal Mallar has found her calling as a photographer. “I was always interested in taking pictures,” says the winner of the Elite Look of the Year in 1994. It wasn’t a conscious choice. In a group of friends and while travelling, I would be the one taking pictures. Since I was around photographers, I’d show them my stuff.” In 2006, this casual interest began crystallising into a decisive step towards a viable professionalism. She bought a semi-pro camera, got a tutor to teach her the basics and started showing her work around. “I wanted to do something that let me have a good time while doing it, instead of focusing on the goal. Even if nothing fantastic happened, I wanted to enjoy the journey.” She bought “tons of books” on the subject and studied the work of other photographers. “While classical photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson have their place, I like the individualism of modern photographers such as Larry Clark.” Closer home, Farrokh Chotia and Bharat Sikka are among others who help make her techniques stronger. Glamour work has been trickling in. She recently did fashion assignments for a couple of prominent fashion magazines. “There, I am on familiar ground there,” she says. “I know how a set works, how to capture things, etc.” But her passion lies in the documentry style, captured in the series she is pursuing about loneliness in the city. “I am a loner myself,” she says. “And when I started spending extended time in Mumbai, I noticed the pace of the city. Everything is work driven. Everyone is running. When you ask people how they are doing, they say ‘Great!’ How can everyone be great all the time? There are so many people in the same boat. How do they feel when they pause? So I started hanging out with my friends at their homes, taking pictures. I felt I could see more of them when I was in their homes. It was a fantastic exercise for myself. It made me go out and interact with others.”
Going out and constantly pushing oneself is one of the things she realised she has to do when pursuing a career change. “As models, because we start so young, we get used to a certain lifestyle. Then there is a whole lifestyle change. You have to be proactive and push yourself.” By the end of the year, she hopes to show her series of photographs after she comes to a “tight, tight edit.”
Modelling is slowly petering out. “I only accept offers that are great. A couple of shows, some hosting, etc. Modelling is only about looks. You have to be constantly concerned about your physicality. After a point, you can’t do much. Your body is going to degenerate. With photography, it so much more involving and satisfying. Also with photography, you are responsible for the final product. That makes me nervous.” Her corporate lawyer father still asks the question: But how is it going to sustain you? ‘Parents are parents, you know. I tell him ‘it will work out, dad.’” Even if it doesn’t, she has had fun doing it.

The Pink Room is a picture from the photo essay Sheetal is working on. It is tentatively called Chimbai because it is shot in Chimbai village in Bandra.

New York Fashion Week

A creation from the Farah Angsana Spring/Summer 2011 collection. © Reuters

Models present creations from the Rag & Bone women’s Spring 2011 collection.

A creation from the Richie Rich Spring/Summer 2011 collection.

Models talk during a rehearsal before the Diane von Furstenberg Spring 2011 collection show.

A model presents fashion from the Jason Wu Spring 2011 collection.

A model is made up before the Diane von Furstenberg Spring 2011 collection.

A model presents a creation from the Jason Wu Spring 2011 collection.

Models listen to instructions, while one gives her best Zoolander impersonation, during a walkthrough before the Vivienne Tam Spring 2011 collection.

This is the runway for the Diesel Black Gold Spring 2011 collection.

A male model smokes before the Edun Spring 2011 collection show.

Models wait outside and pass time on the phones before a walkthrough for the Edun Spring 2011 collection show.

Beauty from the Orient

If you are going to have a shooting with a photographer who is not so experienced or who is not working with a make-up artist it is up to you to suggest a make-up. In this write-up we consider how you can apply eyeliner with some ideas on achieving good results. A beautiful impact that could be accomplished easily along with a favorite of this kind of well-known actresses from Marlene Dietrich and Marilyn Monroe to Gwyneth Paltrow, is rimming the eyes with either a white or beige eye pencil. This enlarges the white of the eye to create a seductive, alluring appear. To apply the eye pencil, pull your lid away through the eye extremely gently using one or two fingers and draw a series along the internal eye rims. Do the identical with each the higher and decrease lids. To make a sharpened pencil softer and simpler to apply, you are able to draw a couple of lines first on the back of your hand. This may soften the tip and get the colour flowing.

Kohl could be applied in the identical way with sensational impact. The utilization of kohl goes back to historic Egyptian times and is characteristic of eye make-up within the Middle and Far East. Apply your kohl pencil as described above to each the higher and decrease rims, from nook to nook. Then, using either a sponge-tipped applicator, eyeshadow brush, and even your fingertip, blend the colour by smudging it to create a smoky impact. As soon as you are happy with the look, you will have to set it by using a light application of loose powder. For an even stronger, more extreme impact, apply your favored colour around the eyes in either cream, fluid or powder kind. If you want to use fluid eyeliner, as soon as you’ve mastered the method of making use of it, this could be a quick technique of achieving a beautiful and sophisticated appear. But making use of fluid eyeliner can consider just a little apply. To begin, it is best to be in entrance of a good magnifying mirror, so that your eyes are magnified sufficiently to see extremely clearly what you are about to complete and ensure a smooth application of the fluid eyeliner. Then, using your free hand, start by pulling the eyelid taut. If you’re right-handed it is probably simplest for you personally to start making use of the fluid from left-to-right, as if you are writing, and vice versa if you are left-handed. Draw across inside a single steady fine series. If you want a thicker series then, at the finish of the run, merely retrace. A tip when making use of fluid eyeliner would be to apply it as close as possible towards the eyelashes, even running in to the eyelashes. This may avoid you obtaining that irritating white series impact between the lashes and the liner when the two don’t meet. Applying fluid eyeliner does consider some apply, so possess a bottle of make-up remover to hand till you are assured within the method. As they are saying: “practice helps make perfect”, and with just a little perseverance along with a steady hand you’ll soon be achieving some fantastic results.

99 Percent of People going into the Modeling Profession will not succeed

Internationally renowned photographer and America's Next Top Model judge Nigel Barker shared some of the harsh realities of the fashion industry as well as some inspiring thoughts Wednesday with about 100 people, almost exclusively young girls and women, at the Barnes and Nobel book store in Westport, Ct. The new season of supermodel Tyra Bank's "America's Next Top Model" premiered last week and Barker's local appearance coincided with the airing of the second episode, so many in the audience set their Tivos and DVD recorders before racing to the store for a chance to meet the former fashion model-turned fashion photographer. Barker's images have been published in numerous fashion magazines and he has many A-listers among clients for his portraiture. "We love `America's Next Top Model,' " said Helena Giaume, who attended the lecture and book-signing with friends Hannah Levin and Sophia Avitabile, also 13-year-old Westporters. "We're missing it to see him," said Hannah. "It was worth it," added Sophia. The London-born Barker, 38, was at the store to promote his newly released first book, "Nigel Barker's Beauty Equation: Revealing a Better and More Beautiful You" (Abrams Image, $19.95). In it, Barker conveys his definition of beauty and it has little to do with who is the prettiest or thinnest or tallest. Barker's equation includes 11 elements, among them confidence, compassion, honesty and energy, which he says add up to the sum of beauty.
"Everyone is beautiful; everyone has the potential to be beautiful. They have it within themselves. They just have to provoke it from themselves," Barker said, adding that he wants to inspire people around the world to talk about beauty from the inside out. He said there is a big difference between confidence and conceit, which some people confuse. Confidence is knowing that you are capable of doing something and doing it well, whereas conceit is thinking you are better than someone else, he said. Barker did not shy away from some of the unattractive sides of the fashion business, and tackled head-on the issues of models who are unrealistically thin, the retouching of photos to create unattainable beauty and the difficulty in entering the fashion field and sustaining a career. He also reminded the females in the audience that they are guilty of retouching too every time they bring a mascara wand to their eye lashes or lipstick to their lips.
"Make-up is a form of retouching," he said. Barker said it is an important subject, adding, "It's often unhealthy for young people to look at magazines." Pamela Kivi, 16, of Westport, said it was refreshing to have Barker speak candidly about the fashion world. "He gave me a new outlook on what really makes a beautiful person," she said. Lauren Jent, 18, of Westport, said teens feel a lot of pressure to fit a certain mold. She is not a size 2, but in the fashion industry would be considered a "Plus Size," even though she is not overweight. Rather, she is curvy. Lauren said to hear from someone in the industry that his version of beautiful differs from the industry standard was "powerful and resonates." One teen, who asked that her name not be used because she had suffered from an eating disorder, said she was pleased to learn about the message in Barker's book. "Hopefully at the end of it I'll look at myself differently," she said.
"I thought he was very inspiring. I really took in a lot of what he said. Hopefully I can use his advice," said Samantha Taylor, 16, of Fairfield, who plans a career in fashion merchandising.
"I'm not that confident a person so hearing that I've decided to be more confident so that I can succeed," Sophia said. Abby Suppan, 10, of Westport, was thrilled to meet Barker. "It was really cool and he was really nice," she said. "It's really important what he said about confidence," said Abby's sister Alex Suppan, 12, who was glad to hear Barker cares more about people's personalities and about people in general. "My passion is really people. It's not the clothes. It's the people in them," Barker said, admitting that his profession can be frivolous. He said his humanitarian work keeps his feet on the ground, and told the audience about his work in Haiti, for the Humane Society of the United States, the Make-a-Wish Foundation and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, often using his camera to capture someone's inner beauty and hope. Barker said 99 percent of people who go into the modeling profession will not succeed. He encouraged people to try it, but with the intent of having fun rather than a career. More important, he said, is being a model citizen. Confidence can come from compassion and being committed to a charitable cause through donations or volunteer work, he said.

Photographer who discovered Kate Moss dies aged 48

Corrine Day, the fashion photographer credited with discovering Croydon supermodel Kate Moss, has died aged 48 after a year-long battle with brain cancer. The photographer and her muse became inseperable after she first shot the 16-year-old for Face magazine in 1990. But she received a media backlash for a series of pictures of the model taken three years later for Vogue, which prompted the heroin-chic movement of fashion stars looking gaunt and skinny.The photographer, a former model herself, was diagnosed with a life-threatening brain tumour in August 2009, with Miss Moss and others raising more than £100,000 for special treatment by selling photographic prints.She had been gravely ill since returning to Britain in February after chemotherapy treatment in the USA, and died from complications related to the tumour on August 27.

Model's Digest for sale

You can buy this project to develop ist. More information at Sedo. If you have any question, just feel free to send an e-mail at mail (at) models-digest.com

Vogue showcases Karen Elson and her spouse, Jack White

Photos: Annie Leibovitz/Vogue

We hear a lot about Jack White and his wife, former model/musician Karen Elson -- especially since Elson's debut album, The Ghost Who Walks, was just released this week. However, we don't see many photos of the private couple. For the June issue of Vogue, Elson and White allowed Annie Leibovitz to photograph them in Nashville (where they live), and the results are mighty pleasing. Vogue.com has posted an interview with Elson along with some pics. "The early songs I wrote were very self-indulgent," she says. "Real woe-is-me. But living in Nashville, the songwriters I like here, they all manage to find a narrative; they use metaphors and stories to explain what they're feeling. ... I don't need to show everybody my diary." Take a peek at a few photos below. It's a shame that, according to Elson, Jack says "This is going to be the only time we are ever, ever, ever going to do this."