Tuesday 7 April 2015

Shooting in La Pause

I woke up in my princess bed to the sounds of the Call to Prayer, tropical birds tweeting and chickens clucking. Jumped up, opened my doors and was welcomed by the beautiful pool and breakfast awaiting! 


Every day we feasted on Yamina's Morrocan pancakes, pastries, omelettes, freshly made yoghurt and fruit. I ate copious amounts of the homemade orange marmalade, which was made from the oranges under which we ate! Yamina gave me a giant jar to bring home. 


Did I mention it was amazing?! 


I went into a mild food coma on the sun drenched rooftop whilst waiting for everyone to pack up..



and met this little dude! 


In Marrakech it is good luck to have a tortoise in your house. We encountered quite a few! Suddenly everyone was ready and we were making our way through the busy market to our bus. An hour later, we reached... the middle of nowhere





We were led down a little path, to a desert-paradise. We had arrived at La Pause, the rustic desert hotel which oozes beauty and culture. 







There's nothing around, except some ponies, a handful of people and two gorgeous dogs basking around in the sunshine. 



We were served an amazing Morroccan lunch - lamb tagine! I'd heard a lot about it and was not disappointed - slow cooked lamb with apricots, almonds, dates and spices. 

Avocado & Tomato starter


A beautiful lunch! I think it's difficult to find good food in Marrakech, just because of how much choice you have/how hard it is to find places (the old town is a literal maze) so this was the only authentic 'Morrocan' meal we had! It was one of the best meals I had out there (although... every meal was declared the best yet). 

After we got over our mild food comas, the wonderful Amiee set to work on my face. I needed to look sunburned - I'd already had my hair bleached and fake tan before coming out but that apparently wasn't enough! 

 

It was the first time I'd been made up in a fort!


The end result was what I look like after three months of heavy sunbathing and summery fun! This shoot was for New Look, to promote their new range based on Marrakech which I can confirm is need-everything-in-my-wardrobe-now beautiful. I fell totally in love with every single thing I wore and have a huge mental list of things I NEED to buy.

We then had I think my favourite shoot I've ever done. It sounds super cheesy, but I remembered why I love modeling - it can be so artistic and amazing (and take you to places like Marrakech!). The pictures came out brilliantly and I can't wait for them to be published! (31 May in Fabulous Magazine). Here were some of our locations.. 




My favourite memory is definitely standing on this hill overlooking the impossibly large stretches of hill and mountains, with nothing else around but a crackling log fire and a great team, watching the sun go down. We managed to catch the 'magic hour' of photography, where the sunset illuminates photographs beautifully.


After we were plunged into darkness, hundreds of candles appeared, tribal singing started up and the insane amount of stars showed up. 


The atmosphere completely changed - it was incredibly romantic and stunning! 


We hopped onto our bus and prayed that we got out of the desert safely, cavorting up and down hills in the pitch black! The roads weren't much better - the driving in Marrakech is definitely the worst I have ever seen, and I used to live in Cyprus! People drive on the wrong side of the road, like they are in a Mario Bros race. We made it back fine though, to this -



The old town is a lot different at night! More on that next time! xx 











2 comments:

  1. WOW! That place looks beautiful and so interesting. And the food does looks so tasty too. I hope you enjoyed much your time in Morocco, it must be gorgeous! With love,
    Vera

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  2. Beautiful photos, sounds like an interesting place. The food looks pretty good too!

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