Made to Move by Kate Stanforth

January hasn’t quite been the start to the year we expected.  However, I’m lucky that one of my campaigns with George at ASDA has just launched, and in all honesty, it’s given me something to look forward to during this rather bleak time of year.  It certainly was a different experience than my usual accessible photoshoots as we worked through the pandemic, but I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to work with the brand again!

“You can imagine my excitement when I found out I had my first ever poster in a store!”

Travelling

My job with George took place back in October when restrictions had eased, but I still took extra precautions to keep myself safe.  Most of my modelling jobs are in London, and as we live in the North East, we usually travel down by train.  This time looked very different, however.  We were armed with high-grade filter masks, anti-bacterial wipes, and all the hand sanitiser you can imagine.  LNER managed their trains very well, with a ticket only policy meaning their trains were very quiet and I’ve never seen Kings Cross so near empty!  Once we arrived in London, we got a wheelchair accessible taxi straight to the hotel which was the only place we went to during our visit other than being on set.  No shopping trips, no meals out, just keeping safe.

On Set

I love being on set and I usually hang out (and eat food!) with the cast and crew when I’m not needed.  This time social distancing was in place so people didn’t tend to gather together.  Masks were another barrier for me.  Trying to hear what someone was asking me to do through theirs, coupled with the loud set music, was extremely difficult.  Something that not many people know is that I struggle with my hearing and tuning into conversations.  It’s not until masks became ‘the thing’ that I realised how much I use lip reading.  So, both on and off set was extra challenging having lots of people talking, music playing and not knowing which voice I needed to listen to!

Made to Move

Although the photoshoot felt rather different this time, it was still amazing to be on set and have a bit of ‘normality’ back after I’d spent the previous five months shielding at home.  Dancing always makes me feel free and I don’t think I’ve ever felt freer than to be able to get back to what I truly love doing.  I never know what content will make the final cut in the campaign, so you can imagine my excitement when I found out I had my first ever poster in a store!  Luckily enough we shop at ASDA, so I tagged along with my mum to do the food shop and saw my face in the supermarket!  It’s so nice to see such a diverse campaign.

I have a couple of other things coming out this year to look forward to in these unprecedented times and I hope you have too.

Don’t forget to follow Kate on her social media channels – Twitter, Instagram and Facebook!