Woman shoots Widow

Third prestigious calendar commission announced

The third dramatic Scottish Widows calendar has been commissioned, and for the first time it will be shot by a female photographer.The limited edition calendar - which is rapidly growing in status, and has been featured in a variety of national publications - will be photographed by Elisabeth Hoff, who is best known for her Lipgloss series of art photographs, as well as high profile fashion, beauty and music photography.

The 2009 calendar, featuring the Scottish Widow Hayley Hunt, will be a prestigious addition to a CV that already involves a range of celebrity shots including Rhianna, The Sugababes, Girls Aloud and Danni Minogue.

Hoff, who was born in Norway and is now based in London, impressed the judges at Scottish Widows with what they describe as her 'quirky, fun and fashionable style'.

The brief, which was to celebrate the sponsorship of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in an inventive and creative way, gave Hoff the freedom to explore the concept of athletic displacement; taking the magic of a specialist sport and contrasting it with the outside world by showing budding athletes competing in the streets, countryside and seaside.

Hoff, who has also previously shot for Vogue, Tatler and Marie Claire, says, "I love a challenge, and the idea of taking a classic icon such as the Scottish Widow and giving it a stylised and contemporary edge really excites me.

The shoot will be a kind of romantic version of reality combined with the feel of a fashion shoot; something that hasn't really been done before.

This will be one of my biggest projects yet, as well as my most interesting." Mike Hoban, Customer and Brand Marketing Director at Scottish Widows, says, "We think that Elisabeth has a really strong style, and a fresh interpretation of the brief; she understands the quality of the Scottish Widow, and will hopefully bring something new to what is an iconic image.

We have high expectations of something really special this year: the calendar is rapidly becoming a status symbol in the financial and media industries, and this version will become another collector's item." The shoot, which will take place while Hayley Hunt is six months into her first pregnancy, is expected to be completed by the end of June.

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