Pisces provides platform phor [] photographer's pictures!

 

 

 

 

This was something different:-''Could we please hire your lovely narrowboat, Pisces, for some location work for our models on Thursday 12 June?'' sehrish.iqbal@ENVYCLOTHING.CO.UK.

''Yes, you can,'' was the answer.  Envy Clothing are based in Uxbridge & the logical location to place Pisces  was in the environs of Uxbridge Lock. I set off from Coppermill in the company of Ashley Williams, another steerer for H.N.A. At around 10:30, aiming to arrive at our destination around 13:00. En route to Coppermill I'd driven through horrendous rain & hail & thought that I wouldn't want to be modelling clothes in this weather! However, we left H.Q. in warm sunshine & our fingers were well & truly crossed.

 

 I received a call from Sehrish [known to all as Sez] to say that the ''shoot'' was running late & it would be at least 14:30 before they would liaise with us at Uxbridge. In view of the rain that they'd had to endure at their first location in a local park, I wasn't too surprised. Neither was I too disappointed because this would give me time to have lunch at ''The Swan & Bottle'' downstream from Uxbridge Lock before work got under way.

               

Sez had stipulated that a background of trees was required so, we pulled in to the side immediately above the lock, the trees on the offside looking [to me] eminently suitable for Envy's needs. Below Uxbridge Lock the landscape takes on a far more industrial aspect.

Ashley had brought a packed lunch & was quite happy to remain aboard whilst I fed & watered the inner man in the pub.

                

Ian Maclachlan called in to the pub on his way back to Hounslow to check that we were suitably ''plotted up'' for the photo-shoot & that everything was O.K.

having indulged in a small tincture of lemonade he resumed his Hounslowian sojourn, promising to ring later & see how things were progressing.

 

Ashley & I were gongoozling from the bridge over the lock-tail when Sez & Ashley [yes, another Ashley!]  arrived from Envy. Introductions over, she surveyed the scene opposite Pisces' present mooring & decided that the old mill across the water was unsuitable background so she & her Ashley walked up the towpath towards the Western Avenue bridge to find something more suitable. On her return a couple of minutes later she announced the perfect spot about 500 yards back upstream. With the phone glued to her ear, she proceeded to call up the retinue of people needed to complete the day's task. Almost immediately it started to rain, but nothing like the downpours of earlier in the day. Stressed already, Sez was on the point of hyperventilating, but soon the rain ceased & people started to arrive, carrying all sorts of equipment & props. Having loaded up said items, I then backed up the boat to Willowbank Island, & turned her round, not without some difficulty I might add. It's Sod's Law that when there's an audience then any manoeuvre doesn't go smoothly--if no-one's around then it goes off without a hitch. Still, eventually we were again facing north & progressing slowly to Sez's ''ideal location.''  Having tied up, my Ashley commented that he'd counted sixteen people including the models, involved in the shoot. We'd both been expecting four but that was just the models. This motley crew consisted of the photographer, his assistant, a lighting engineer, chief buyers for the products, production assistants, make-up artists, the firm's owner etc.etc.

               

There were two lads & two girls draped over Pisces' front deck & roof along with various props--an old two-bell alarm clock,an old-fashioned Bakelite telephone, a wooden train & a dartboard being just some of them.  The two girls were certainly show-stoppers, I didn't think legs came that long! Various poses were struck with all four models 'vogueing' away for all that they were worth, at the same time taking instructions from the photographer & others on the towpath:- Move your arm, more skirt less leg, hair over your eyes, move in closer, turn this way & that---I'm sure you get the picture [OOoohh! What a great pun!!]

                

God took pity on the hard workers & arranged for some afternoon sun to backlight the boys & girls very effectively, complementing the incredible light-boxes that were flashing away in sympathy with the Hasselblad camera shutter.

               

Many years ago, my daughter Tammy was a child model & the equipment used then seemed [& indeed was] antiquated in comparison to that on display on the towpath.

With the good light speeding things up considerably, the shoot was soon concluded & everybody went home happy. Ashley had left a couple of hours earlier for another appointment, having declared that the day had been ''good fun.''  It just remained for yours truly to set off back to Coppermill, pulling the strangler on Pisces' engine at 21:00 after a long, but certainly different day.