Today I was looking forward to a photoshoot with a new model (a young dancer who wanted some portraits and a few (fully clothed) 'dancer in action' shots. I was just hanging a backdrop when the phone rang. It was the model's mother to tell me that Sally (name changed) had just suffered an acute anxiety attack and would be unable to attend the shoot. Naturally I was both disappointed and concerned - had I said something on the telephone to frighten and traumatise her? It turns out that last night Sally stood on the bathroom scales and discovered she had put on 3 pounds in weight (she has recently been on holiday) and this has completely destroyed her self-confidence. She is distraught and in no condition to be photographed at the moment.

Sally's mother asked if Sally could phone me when she is feeling better and re-book a photoshoot in a few weeks time. When she had lost the weight her self-confidence would hopefully return. I asked Sally's mother to give her my best, and of course she can re-book in due course. I put down the phone feeling rather sad.

What are we doing to women in general and young impressionable girls in particular? The cult of Size 0 (English size 4) is sick and should be banned - very, very few people are MEANT to be that weight. Those that are that size are generally short or have glandular imbalances. Then of course there are the High Fashion Models many of whom live on lettuce and cocaine.... Women are being told (subliminally if not overtly) that normal size equals fat equals ugly - THIS IS WRONG!!! (and it's also Rubbish!!). Women are meant to have curves and wobbly bits. The increase in serious eating disorders amongst teenagers is serious, and we photographers have a DUTY to combat it.

Images of size 0 models are almost inevitably Photoshopped, with faces and figures slimmed and elongated even more. The final madeover, retouched and remapped images show a shape that is utterly unattainable without seriously endangering your health and psychological wellbeing.

We photographers can use our skills with posing, lighting and post-processing to make our models look as slender and sexy as we like. It's not that difficult to do. Why can't fashion designers use their skills to start designing for real women (housewives and childbearers)? Is it because so many 'haute couture' designers are (how shall I say this) somewhat ambivalent in their sexuality - so that when they sit down and dream at their drawing boards they're really dreaming of young boys with no breasts rather than real women....?

I hope Sally recovers in due course and that we shall have a photoshoot in the future. But I fear for the future when women are so pressured to conform with an impossible and medically dangerous norm.

I sincerely believe that every person is unique. Every person has their own beauty, their own style. We should encourage our young people to be themselves, to express their own uniqueness - no matter what size or shape they are!