Modeling

Modeling here is quite big.  In fact, many of the foreigners really get into it because the Japanese love to photograph kids that do not look like their own, especially blue-eyed and blonde headed ones.  I knew that it was not something I wanted to be spending all of our time on but something that might be fun to do every once in a while.  I also thought of it as a way to acquire some tips about photography and to save for the kids education.   We ended up signing the kids up with an agency called Sugar and Spice.  Since signing them up a couple of months ago we have taken three jobs for Emma. 

The first one was for Birkenstock.  We had kind of a rough start with the modeling world.  First there was the photo selection and then an audition.  Seeing as this was our first audition we didn't really know what to expect.  Both Peter and Emma passed the photo selection and made it to the audition and so we hopped on the train and headed into Tokyo one afternoon.  I must have taken the LONG way because it took us almost 2 hours to get to our designated train station.  We literally ran for 5 minutes to the meeting place and were still a couple of minutes late.  The most disappointing part about it was that all they had them do was try on one pair of shoes.  We were done in less than 5 minutes.  I was NOT HAPPY that we commuted so far for such a pointless audition.  Riding home in rush hour was not fun either and when we got home I vowed that I was never going to another audition.  It was settled....it was just too much time.  So you can imagine how vindicated I felt when Emma got the job.  She got to wear a couple of cute dresses with some cute birkenstock sandals and pose in a quaint little garden shop area.  It was a little chilly that day so they tried to keep her warm when they were not taking pictures of her.  She had a good time and they spoiled her with treats in between the little sessions.  I was the most interested to see that the photographer was using an OLD film cameras. I am not sure what kind of film he was using but it was a long roll with only 12 frames on it.  I was a little shocked but then realized that Birkenstock's image is that of an all natural look anyways.  So, our first experience ended up way better than it had started.

Emma's second photo shoot was with Senken Kids magazine.  This one only had the photo selection.  We were lucky that this photo shoot was on the same day that we were heading into Tokyo to stay at the New Sanno for the night.  Emma and I left early and Mike met me with the other kids later that day.  There were two other children at this photo shoot.  Again, there was a nice spread of food for the kids.  We snacked on the dried fruit and the chocolate bagels...yum!  The first outfit they put Emma in was hilarous but how they did her hair almost made me burst out laughing.  I did take a picture with my iPhone.  I later realized it was ok to use my real camera so I got some better pictures later on.  This modeling job was located in a small studio house and they had Emma sit outside on the second floor balcony area.  The sun was out and it was rather bright that day so it was kind of hard for her to keep her eyes open.  They eventually had to move her to a different, more shaded, location on the balcony.  The second outfit was a lot cuter and they curled her hair and put on a cute hat.  Observing Emma at home you would not think that she is shy but watching her during her photo shoot I could see her shyness make its surface.  Still, she said she liked getting her pictures taken so we will continue until she doesn't want to do it anymore. 

The last session we did was by far the funnest and most exciting.  Both Emma and I modeled for a store called Afternoon Tea.  The theme was "Lunchtime with Mom."  After taking the train into Tokyo and taking a cab from the station we finally made it to this really CUTE studio.  Inside the studio it was quaint and light with white walls and fun rooms to take pictures in.  There were even skylights with a cute sun room on the back of the studio house.  Lucky for us it was a gorgeous day because our photo shoot took place in the backyard.   They had set up this really fun picnic area with a delicious spread of real food.  There were balloons and even a party banner on the white picket fence behind our cute little picnic.  Emma and this really sweet little British girl were the center of the shoot.  They had the girls dressed in cute skirts with matching Converse shoes and bows in their hair to match their skirts.  My outift was a little less on the cute side as they had me wear leggings and a moo moo type linen dress.  We dragged Abby along this time because I didn't have anyone to watch her and it couldn't have gone any better.  There were so many nice people there that I had people watching her and keeping her happy the entire time.  After the photo shoot was over each of the girls got to eat one of their fabulous cupcakes from the picnic.  The almost looked fake but sure enough they were real.  I couldn't believe how easy going these people were with the kids.  It will be hard to top this photo shoot.