Lara speaks out

Posted by Lara Masters at 11:39 on 30 Jul 2008

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I am still seething after watching last night’s Britain’s Missing Top Model where our three remaining disabled models went on a shoot on a council estate. The brief was 'London’s Calling' and it was supposed to be urban, edgy and cool. What actually happened was a travesty. The photographer, Amelia something, (Amelia Annoying?) spent the entire day working herself and the models into the ground by trying to make them look as able-bodied as possible. She achieved her goal as in all the photos of the girls, their disabilities had been white-washed out.

Do not get me wrong on this, I’m not saying that a disabled model’s disability should show in a photo if it is not congruent to the story for any reason, or does not suit the photo, as of course, getting a great picture is the aim on a fashion shoot and it is not the place to make a political point for the sake of it. But this particular photographer spent an entire day with three disabled models - one who uses a wheelchair, one with one arm and one who wears wrist splints - but then had Sophie carried out of her wheelchair and up three flights of stairs to lie on a concrete roof with her legs moved into such positions that she looked not only able-bodied, but positively athletic, and then shot Kelly from the side so you couldn’t see she had one arm and Jess was asked to remove her wrist splints.

The result was three very dull single shots of three able-bodied looking girls and a uninteresting group shot of them all looking like typical models. When interviewed, the photographer made the point that she was trying to hide any hint of disability and said jubilantly that it was quite easy to “cover-up” the fact that Kelly had a missing limb but it was “very difficult working with a girl who has no feeling in half of her body”. The girls’ mentor, model agent guru Jonathan Phang, even suggested to this woman that if she photographed Sophie in her chair, she would get much better body shapes out of her because she is confident and agile with the support of her well-fitting wheelchair, but no, the photographer insisted that Sophie sat in a hideous red plastic chair which made it harder for Sophie to balance and feel confident and beautiful. Sophie’s wheelchair was a lot more photogenic and mainly covered up by the oversized ball dress she was wearing on the day so there was really no reason to pull her out of her chair.

It was hard for the girls because we had instructed them to do exactly as they are told and whatever the photographer wants and that their disability was of no consequence on a modelling job; no allowances were going to be made. And they were not at fault at all on the shoot, they all worked really hard to achieve the photographer’s ideals, but part of my remit for the competition was that inevitably, a disabled model will be seen to be disabled on some jobs and I wanted to know that at these times, our winner could work her disability convincingly and have pride in its beauty which would enhance the picture. This is the way that perceptions of beauty are going to be changed and this is what the competition is about for me. On this shoot, unlike any other in the competition, none of the girls were given the chance to work their disability because the photographer did not have the creativity to see any of the girls’ disabilities as adding a positive and interesting dimension to her photos. She failed them because she lacked talent and vision.

In the ultimate nude shoot, however, photographer Oliver Pearce chose to celebrate the girls’ disabilities, which imbued the atmosphere with such positivity that the girls learnt on-set just how gorgeous they really are and that their disability is an enhancement of their overall beauty. The resulting photos were stunning - the best of the competition by far because the photographer worked with the girls and their disabilities and didn’t ask them to be something they’re not. Sophie and Kelly were, therefore, so confident and comfortable, despite the fact that they were completely naked and their photos were complete works of art that showed Kelly’s missing limb and Sophie's wheelchair as powerful and beautiful additions to these mesmerisingly stunning shots.

In next week’s show we see how winning model Kelly performs on her fashion shoot with celebrated photographer Rankin for a spread in Marie Claire.

CLICK HERE FOR A SNEAK PEEK AT THE RANKIN SHOOT

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