A beautiful model skimpily dressed, a cold bottle of Peroni beer resting on her thigh, the sun beating down and a golden beach merging into a clear blue sea, what’s not to like? In the my pre Tenerife days that would just be a wild dream  broken by the shrill call of my alarm clock but now it’s just another day in this island paradise and another story for www.tenerifemagazine.com  The setting was the Gran Hotel Bahia del Duque a five star chocolate box with many layers of luxury. I always get lost when I go there but eventually found my way to the Beach Club where the Peroni girls were gathering for the first of 2 photo shoots for the 2011 limited (only 400) edition  calendar.
Regular readers will know that I’m a Dorada drinker, Especial rather than Pilsner please, but I have fond memories of supping too much Peroni in Sardinia for a 1990 World Cup game between England and Egypt. All roads now converged as Dorada’s parent company Compania Cervecera Canarias, part of SAB Miller also distribute Italy’s favourite bottled brew. The three local models for todays shoot, Vanesa Cabeza, Laura Martin, and Natalia Farina were slipping into something a little cooler for their moments before the lens of Alfonso Bravo from Santa Cruz. as if that wasn’t enough there was a troup of young Peroni promotion girls on hand-Ding Dong. It says a lot about the sort of clients that the hotel gets that the sun bathers around the many pools barely stirred from their waiter service cold drinks to see the bevy of beauties.
A small crowd of us followed Vanesa up to a rocky mound above the resort where the main work of the day started, how that bottle of Peroni didn’t pop its top is a mystery – well the weather was rather warm. As if to order, a luxury yacht sailed by in the background as I scrambled to get some decent pics without getting in the photo crews way. Further action followed on the beach, a nice extra tale to tell for many holiday makers.
The next day, even hotter, I headed early up to Santa Cruz to see the other three girls strut their stuff, Alicia Medina, Juliane Brandmayer and Leticia Sarda looked cool as the crew unloaded all the lights and clothes. The action took place at the old jet foil station just down from the main ferry port. Looking down that way the yellow funnel of the old steamship La Palma catches the eye, this grand old Middlesborough built vessel used to deliver post and supplies between the Canary Islands  and is now many years into a restoration programme. I met Damian from the La Palma foundation, he had given me a guided tour for an article about the ship earlier in the year. Alicia gazed into the camera from the deck and then wobbled down the gang plank on her high heels. Juliane was busy in the improvised make up and changing area and Leticia had already slipped into her sporty motoring gear complete with leather gloves.
Round the back of the main building a classic Alfa Romeo was the set for Leticia, stunning bodywork, sleek and very racy, the car was nice too. The luxury cruise liner Arcadia was docked across the water blissfully unaware of the artisitc endeavours going on under their highly pampered noses. It takes a lot to be a Peroni pin up and as I left I noticed down on the pocket sized grimey beach next door, one aspiring model whose calendar had long passed its sell by date. Don’t call us, we certainly wont call you .
More pictures and details from the shoots at www.tenerifemagazine.com