Khatleen | Portrait Photographer | Mauritius: mannequin

Last January while attending a party at Hennessy, I saw a guy sitting next to my table. He had such a beautiful face with striking features and I thought I'd be a fool not to seize such an opportunity. It took some time and after a few drinks with my buddies, I finally decided to try my luck. I got up, went to his table, pulled out a card of mine and handed it to him. I told him that I liked his face, found his features very interesting and that I would like to do a photoshoot with him if he'd be willing. And he replied that he'd be interested in trying.

The next day I received a mail. Davide said he would love to shoot with me. I already had a concept in mind for him. But the week during which we were supposed to shoot, a minor setback happened and I could not shoot the concept I had planned. But hey, improvisation has never been a problem.

The shooting day, we shot in Flic en Flac and thanks to a friend, I also got to shoot in a restaurant I particularly love, Twin's Garden. I got to thank my friend Nicholas for allowing us to do so. We had a blast and Davide proved a wonderful model.

Here are the pictures from our shoot. I hope you'll like them.

For the latest issue of Défi Life magazine, I was given the task of styling a model for the fashion section of the magazine. And the shop from which I had to choose clothing items and accessories was Global Desi. It's been a few months since that shop has been implanted in Bagatelle but I always walked pass by thinking it was typically Indian wear. Never have I been more wrong. Because up close, the style was vibrant and very ethnic. And I dived in the styling of that shoot with glee. I got to say the salesgirls there were really nice and helpful.

Choosing the model for the shoot was no easy thing, because from previous discussions over the assignment, it was expected that I carry out an "Indian" type shoot with the clothes from Global Desi, and an Indian-type girl was expected. But I went with Sandrine Hoffted, as I had recently worked with her and I knew she would excel at the job. That girl is fantastic, not only does she possess the height, a strong versatile face, and the most gorgeous skin I've ever seen, but she also possesses a great personality. At fittings, all went well and thanks to the big help of my friend and blogger Kelvin Suddason (his blog), we also managed to find and select the accessories that would match the 8 outfits we prepared at Global Desi. As for the accessories, you'll have no trouble guessing where we found them: Aldo, of course. And the shoes as well. It took us quite some time to be sure which would match what.

The shooting day came and we set out to Albion which I had selected for the dry-against-blue aspect of the land as I call it. It was December, it was hot and man, we were just bound to get a serious tan in that sun. I wish I had taken a picture of how we set up with our orange and black beach umbrella, our red beach chair, and the stacks of Aldo boxes and clothing items. It was quite a funny sight against the stunning sight of the Albion sea. I did the make up of Sandrine there while Kelvin sorted out the outfits which would start first. For his first stunt as assistant & stylist on a shoot, Kelvin did great and I'm just happy I had him to help me out.

Our day went by quickly, and from time to time, I would get excited over a bright idea we would have, or a great picture I would capture. No need to mention how we laughed (how I laughed because if you know my laugh, you know we were probably laughing because of how I laugh... If you've never heard me laugh, good for me!)

Here are a few pictures of the Behind-The-Scenes: