Behind the Scene’s Photos from “Bali Confidential” on Zivity.com
My month-long trip to Bali was beyond amazing (uh…duh!) and while I was there, not only did I learn how to surf (SO freakin’ FUN!) but I also had the utmost pleasure of doing six days of photo shoots for Zivity.com along with two other gorgeous models, Pearl and Heather West, and two photographers, Shaun Sharper and Sequoia Emmanuelle. Bali is filled with stunning and lush settings and locations for photo shoots, so we had no shortage of options and we took full advantage. One of the main locations we used was our beautiful villa “Villa Naga Maya” which I highly recommend anyone stay at if you’re going to Bali. Located in the Legian area, it’s just a few blocks from the beach and has everything you could want (www.villanagamaya.com).
This particular set, “Bali Confidential,” was shot by the swimming pool at our villa on the first day of shooting. The lovely Pearl was responsible for the concept and styling of this set and as always her creative vision and styling skills are impeccable…THANK YOU PEARL!! Before we left for Bali, Pearl found the vintage bathing cap at a yard sale and the ideas starting flying from there. We searched for a swimsuit and just couldn’t find the right thing but thanks to Pearl’s dear mother, who happens to have awesome taste in vintage swimsuits, that satin black one piece materialized just before our departure for Bali. Pearl added her own marabou slippers, Heather added her dazzling cocktail ring and I added the pearls…and voila! 
Shaun Sharper went out hunting for cigarettes while I did my makeup and he came back with these perfect skinny numbers…thank you Bali for always having what we needed to make these sets come alive!
Some “behind-the-scenes” funny moments on this set: When Pearl first showed me the vintage bathing cap, she said “the only person who could possibly fit into this tiny thing is Damanda” because I have a notoriously little head (I often fit into kids hats). Sure enough, I was barely able to get this bathing cap on…um, VERY tight! Another fun fact, I don’t smoke, so I had a heck of a time figuring out how to hold the cigarette correctly, light it and make it look like I was really dragging on this thing. Once I finally got it down and inhaled a little, I started feeling pretty light-headed…combine this with the tightness of the bathing cap and you’ve got a bit of a cuckoo Damanda! If you want to see video of me in this silly state, check out the Zivity Bali video at :52mins in.
I have to say that this was one of the most FUN sets I have done to date and I absolutely loved being in character for this! The whole crew laughed our butts off shooting this and especially looking at the pictures after the shoot. The original title for this set (and one we laughed over immensely) was “Le Cougre”…watch out boys, here comes Damanda…rrrRAWR! Thank you to Zivity photographer Libertine for giving us the new title “Bali Confidential”. A BIG thank you to Shaun Sharper for taking these beautiful photos and for giving them that “vintage” look and feel on the back-end…he is so talented and such a joy a work with!
Please let me know what you think - I love getting your feedback!
Stay tuned for LOTS more sets from Bali in the coming weeks on Zivity.com
XOX ~D~
