Last week I had a shooting in Guangzhou. At first I thought it would be a pajama shoot, but on the spot it turned out that I will (again) shoot for a brand of underwear. I didn’t know if this sudden news made me happy or not. Underwear photo shoots can be good to have, because you change wear easily and quickly, without spoiling your haircut or make up, unlike clothes, it is also more comfortable, but on the other hand, it requires more energy from the model, because you have to be concentrated all the time to make the body look as perfect as possible, because every little thing can be noticed on camera. The weather didn’t go my way, as from 20 degrees and more from a few days earlier, temperatures in Guangzhou dropped drastically, below 5 degrees, and this particular job also took place outside. But I survived, and I didn’t get sick later.
I have landed in Guangzhou late in the evening. At the airport, in the taxi area, I waited for the official taxi – in Guangzhou the city taxis are yellow and burgundy red. It was quickly my turn, I got one and I drove to a location 60 kilometers away somewhere in Guangzhou. The driver was young, just over 30 years old, father of two children, I managed to find out in a conversation with him. The kilometers ran fast and soon we were at my destination, where a friend from the agent was waiting for me to hand me over the key card and take me to the apartment, where I was set to stay for one night only. I asked for an invoice from a taxi driver, which he didn’t have, he only had a digital meter that showed a dizzying 400 Chinese Yuan. Right away, still sitting in a taxi, I called the agent, as she is local there, and asked her, what she thinks about the price. She replied that it is absolutely too high, since the price for the same distance, including all highway taxes, should be at least 2 times lower. She said I should pay and take the photo of the taxi license plate, so she can later complain against the driver. I stepped out, took out my bag, left the taxi door open, and tried to take a photo of the rear license plate, while, in a second, the driver pressed full gas and stormed away. The picture was blurry and useless. Bad luck, I guess. Interestingly, however, a similar thing with taxis happened to me for the second time in my three visits to this city. At that time, I was charged by the taxi driver far too much for the highway tax. It was already midnight and I was cold. I picked up the key card, ate dumplings in a spicy soup at a nearby restaurant to get warm a bit and then went to bed.
Shooting on the second day took place in a theme park especially designed for different kinds of filming projects. It was like a city in miniature, several of them actually, where you can find everything at one place – there is a miniature copy of Las Vegas, several buildings with historical European facades, bars, a hairdresser salon, American style laundry store, playgrounds for various sports, swimming pool, several differently equipped interior spaces,… streets with all the lighting, street banners, traffic signs and other street equipment, there were also an old Cadillac, vintage motorcycle, bicycles, and more and more. In short, everything your heart desires and you need in one place to make a video or picture you want – without going somewhere far or searching for it – was set there.
Despite the cold and me wearing only underwear, shooting went quickly. I really had fun. We shot at several locations in the theme park, with different ambiences – we were shooting in the living room, on the bed, on the balcony, by the pool, (fake) metro station, in the (fake) laundry room… and ended up on the basketball court, when it was already darkening. What I remember most from that day was playing badminton on the tennis court, which was located on the roof of one of the buildings, wearing only colorful underwear. Never before have I played badminton on a tennis court, wearing only underwear at 3 degrees Celsius. There is a first time for everything. Some of ”on the set” scenes can be seen in videos and pictures of this post.
That same evening, I had a flight back to Shanghai. I must say that a lot has happened in just one day. Another adventure with a happy ending was behind me. Thank you, Guangzhou!
