After talking to one of the students at uni about my project, she got me in touch with a friend who does drag shows.
Oliver lives in Sheffield, although originally comes from Derbyshire, Belper in fact. My mother and sister live there as do Oliver's! This meant we were practically related. I arranged with him to do a quick photo shoot at his mothers house.
As I walked up the drive of his house, I wasn't sure what to expect. T-Girls are different to Drag Queens as it turns out, and I didn't really know if I should handle Oliver aka 'Heidi' any differently.
All my fears subsided as the door opened and I was met with a heavily made up face but still in his 'civilian' clothing.
'Aye-up mate' was the welcome and after a quick introduction he said he'd be about twenty minutes to finish getting ready.
Oliver looks a little like the late 'Corey Haim'.
We kept on chatting from different rooms as he changed in to 'Heidi'.
Heidi: 'Have you ever zipped up a gay guy in drag?'
Me: 'Nope!'
Heidi: 'Well.......you're about too.'
It's not often that I'm speechless but this was definitely one of those occasions......as Heidi stepped out of her bedroom.
I was pretty astounded by the transformation. I don't know if it was because of the statuesque figure in high heels, or the fact that Heidi is only 22 years old, compared to the retired men that I have been photographing as T-Girls, but there was a different aura about her entirely!
I was happy with the reference photos, especially with the shadows we were able to get and I'm looking forward to working on the images.
It was also interesting to see the transformation of Heidi, back to Oliver. This is something that needs addressing in the project.
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