Gorgeous gus, Gorgeous Guys, Everyone LOVES Gorgeous guys...

I know you've been waiting for more pics from the Romantic Times conference. Manly, gorgeous guy pics like this











and this.

But I did one better this year, than just buying a great new digital camera that was so tiny I could take it with me everwhere... I conducted a little modelling experiment, because I wanted to know what these amazing men's lives were really like at one of these reader events. How hard could it be, right, to smile and have your picture taken... Kind of like, how hard could it be to write one of those romance novels... Yeah... Let's just say it was an eye-opening experience ;o)

First, let me introduce my partner's in crime. Really good friends.

First the photographer who agreed to snap another photo session, in the midst of a week of non-stop work for her. Rose, the "R" in A&R photography (her partner's her sexy husband Anthony ;o), who's responsible for such fabulous pics as this one of the 2008 Mr. Romance Winner, Chrish Winters!

Check Rose and Anthony out at: http://www.myspace.com/a_n_r_photography !!!

Chris is a great guy--one of the contestants I posed with in last year's contest. But, since he was so busy becoming this year's Mr. Romance (yay, Chris!!!), I was lucky that there was another friend to step and take his place.

A friend like Steve Rossi:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=301715902

I got to know Steve last year, when we realized our birthdays were close together--after talking for hours and wondering why it felt so natural. He's a successful business man, a wonderful friend, and takes pictures that should be all over book covers (rest assured, I'll be sharing that sentiment and Rose's pictures with some Harlequin/Silhouette editors I know well!).

So, that brings us up to speed with the final night of RT. Where everyone was exhausted (especially the people in the photoshoot) but still willing to give my little experiment a go. After all, how hard could it be???

Well first of all, some people (Steve) are blessed with bone structure that comes across like visual gold through the lense of a camera, while others (me) have the kind of moble features they can't control, resutling in something close to a perpetual grimace instead of the hundreds of other more appealing expressions that are available. That's right, yours truly seemed incapable of smiling...I couldn't remember how to smil! Shine the camera on me for anything but a candid, and I freeze.

It wasn't like public speaking (duh!) or even posing with the guys in last year's Mr. Romance Contest. All that was about motion, and I had something to wrap my head around besides the fact that my picture was being taking. Somewhere for my thoughts to go. I mean, I knew I didn't like to have my picture taken. Not really. But this was Rose. Steve. Great people doing everything they could to help me relax my mouth, my hands, my eyes...anything.

And that's when I got it, after looking at one digital proof after another. How much WORK goes into understanding your angles, and how your features look in each expression. And how much imagination it takes to fall in to a photographer's instructions and act like you're not posing at all.

I mean, look at Steve. He believes every pose he's making. He's coaching me and trying to put me at ease and work with Rose, even though the both of them were as tired as I was (and, btw, I have no makeup on in these photos...not that Steve does, either, but could I be any paler???). We changed locations eventually and got away from the crowd milling around outside the ballroom and the last night's dancing and revelling. And in a quite corner, with my other friend Patrice Michelle cheering me on, I finally started to let go of my ego and anxiety and just trust the process. Actually, the poses got easier, too, because Rose and Steve finally got the positions and proportions working better with my limitations as a VERY novice model (and when I say model, what I mean is hahahahaha).

Getting my body involved (leaning against a wall, one leg up and braced, my back arched), was challenging after a few minutes (or five or ten), and I hold yoga poses like nobody's business! And I didn't want to ruin the frame or disappoint Rose or Steve. Of course all that emotion went to work on the last of my energy reserves and made things even harder...

Models are masters of their bodies, not just how their bodies come across on film. The poses are often awkward-feeling, even though they're perfect for the lense, and when the photographer says, "hold that"...you hold...even if you don't think you can any longer. Notice, class, that Steve's body and face and features (and especially his eyes and that wicked-looking mouth) are always spot on in every shot. I learned as time went on, and he was still coaching to the very last photo, but just before every shutter snap, he turned back into a model and knew exactly what he was doing with his amazong assets ;o)

Did I mention the imagination he and Rose put into every frame... I love me some of that! Like I said, models and photographers are masters of their imagiantions, or they'd never be able to tell a story with their faces and body positioning and lighting and camera angles. And Rose and Steve are two of the bests around!

It was amazing to see Steve turn it on and off. He was my buddy one minute, laughing and trying to get me to losen up... and a H-O-T cover model the next... Always encouraging and supportive. Never frustrated with the novice. But never out of his element or off his game. Maybe if I did this for the next four years (about how long I've been writing fiction professionally), I might figure it out. But, then we'd always come back to genetics. And what can I say. Look at his cheekbones and his jawline and everything else about that amazing face and body and creative mind... The next time you're at one of these events, ladies, respect these guys while you're drooling over them. They're working harder than you know!

Me learning to relax and pose aside, it's crystal clear who belongs on the book covers and whose job it should be to write the stories inside ;o)

And getting back the photographer. No one could be more supportive or talanted than Rose. Just look at what she finally got out of me--and, no, I never figured out how to smile right, but Rose knew how to work aroud that. Don't forget, this was late the last night of the conference, after she'd spent the day shooting real models for her business? You go, girl. It's definitely clear who belongs behind the camera shooting hunky guys like Steve!!! She tells her own story, doesn't she ladies, one we'd all kill to be part of!

So, I learned that I dont' know how to smile on cue;o) And that my anxiety in front of the camera comes across crystal clear. I learned to trust my partner and photographer, and finally to fall into the shots (a little, at least) the way I fall into my characters when I write. I mean, who wouldn't smile in Steve's arms. Really!!! What was I thinking!

What do you think of my little experiment?

Remember, I'll be drawing for our first Snow White winner soon. Leave a comment (scroll back to the previous post for details). And come back next time for more great RT shots and an excerpt from Baby Steps (my Mother's of the Year novella). The excerpts are up on my website (annawrites.com) for those of you who can't wait, but I'll include some of the good stuff out here, have no dobut ;o)