So, being a glutton for punishment and pretty girls, I watched the two-hour version of Cycle 2 of Britain's Next Top Model last night. It *did* get exponenentially better, both in production values and model quality. The actual winner, while I didn't personally think she was a good fit for fashion modelling, was a stunner. (That green bikini looked freaking delicious on her.)

In any event, at one point, somebody commented during a beauty shoot (making pics somewhat similar to my avatar, although with more elaborate makeup and lighting) that "beauty work looks the simplest, but it's actually the hardest."

Now, this might or might not be true overall. A tight shot of anything has to be perfect, because there's no hiding the details.

But for a *model?*

It just don't seem so.

Makeup is more elaborate - that just means more chair time for the model. Lighting is persnicketier - that just means more chair time and more sitting and waiting for lighting for the model *if* the photographer has no assistants or hasn't got a lighting plan. But it's just sitting there and assuming expressions much the same as any other modeling, as far as I can tell. Not saying it's easy, saying I don't see what makes beauty work especially difficult.

Seems to me location editorial is WAY more work, and that artistic would be a lot more difficult in terms of posing, holding still, and making microscopic adjustments. (And we won't even mention, for instance, shibari/suspension or other types of fetish, since I doubt they were thinking of that sort of thing.) But I am willing to be convinced. What's the hardest, models? What sort of job makes you go, "Uck, I hate doing that?"

M