Emma's POV:
After years of struggling to make it as a professional fashion photographer, I'd finally made it. My work had been recognised by someone at Victoria's Secret and I had been given a three-year contract. My annual wage was now beyond my wildest dreams, and would be topped up by shoot fees which would exceed what I used to make in a year. I was told I should also expect a huge increase in attention from other outlets, allowing me to pursue vanity work.
There would be plenty of time for that later. For the time being, I was focused on preparing for my first shoot for VS. They were flying me out to the Bahamas to take photos of Candice Swanepoel, the South African Angel. I tried to think of creative ways that I could photograph Candice to best effect.
I arrived a couple of days before Candice and her team, who would help with her make-up and wardrobe. I made myself at home in the spacious beach house that VS owned just for occasions like this. I then set about scouting the local area, including the glorious private beach, for potential shooting locations.
The scenery really was utterly majestic. We wouldn't be able to do any shooting on the reef which was just about visible from the beach house, but I loved the way the waves broke serenely onto the flat beach. I could imagine shooting Candice in the wash.
The ends of the beach were bookended with cliffs, in which there were picturesque caves. Going inside the caves was another non-starter, because there just wouldn't be the light, but the entrances were very promising. A rustic jetty was another good shooting spot: I could get some great snaps of a model leaping off it, climbing back on, or just running along in a thong.
Of course, there was also the beach itself. The fine white sand sat in the hot sun. It was truly heavenly. There could surely be no better approximation of paradise than a supermodel on a perfect Caribbean beach. At the top of the beach, a dune was held together with Marram grass. On the face of it, this wasn't a particularly promising spot for the shoot, but I was sure I'd find some way to make it work given time.
Away from the beach, I found a beautiful waterfall with a pool. I didn't know whether this was entirely safe, so I decided not to use it for Candice's shoot, but I made a note to have its safety checked out so I could take another model there later. There were also some interesting looking plants, which were probably completely harmless, but not a risk worth taking - the last thing I wanted was Candice coming out in a terrible rash.
I decided that I had plenty of material for a three-hour shoot that would allow Candice plenty of opportunity to model everything Victoria's Secret sent out with her, so I spent a relaxing afternoon chilling by the pool and photographing the beach house inside and out.
Candice arrived the next morning, with a wardrobe team who brought two suitcases full of the latest Victoria's Secret underwear and swimwear. Candice casually modelled several pieces at the beach house, allowing me to get a feel for them. I couldn't help noticing that the bottoms - lacey panties and skimpy thongs - were much fancier than the bikinis and bras that had been sent. While Candice took one final run on the beach, I asked the wardrobe team about this.
"Oh, that's standard with Candice," explained Laura, who was a senior advertising executive with the underwear company. "She's got a way of arching her back which really emphasises her butt. She's the go-to if we want to show off some gorgeous new panties."
We got the shoot started in earnest. I started off by having Candice lie on her front across the beach as waves broke over her. I could see what Laura meant about the way Candice arched her back. She pressed her stomach forward and her shoulders back, emphasising her tight derrière. She'd obviously put a lot of work in at the gym to tone her butt.
