She may not be the famed mythical bird from the classic Filipino tale Ibong Adarna, but one quick glance at the stunning beauty and sylphlike physique of Ellen Adarna has the same effect as that of the hypnotic melody that could turn men into stone.

Just ask all those men who stood like frozen statues as Ellen walked down the ramp in her “slave Princess Leia” outfit during the FHM 100 sexiest party or those who treasure the January 2012 issue if FHM that featured her in two different covers.

Now, fans will get to see a different, more natural and even playful side of Ellen as she shares her dream weekend escapade in her first-ever Gravure photobook titled A Weekend with Ellen.

Published by Rawr Books, A Weekend with Ellen enthralls readers to a different kind of photography style. Taking its cues from the magazines photos done by Japanese models, gravure makes use of poses that are more playful and innocent than aggressive, with minimal lighting and production design. It is the second installment to ace photographer Jay Tablante’s series of gravure photobooks, the first of which was Jinri Park’s The Jinri Experience.

In between signing autographs for the hundreds of fans that lined up during the photobook launch, The Manila Times got to chat with Ellen as she shared her thoughts about this unique project.

“Never did I expect or think that I’d have my own photo book so its really a great honor for me. I consider this is my Christmas gift to all my avid fans as this photobook shows a different side of me that you will surely enjoy,” the pretty 24-year-old Cebuana began.

Ellen said that she was more comfortable with this pictorial compared to the previous ones she did for other magazines such as FHM. “FHM is still more daring, this one was more comfortable kasi its not that staged and more candid. I got to see what poses I wanted so, it was parang freestyle.”

Unlike other magazines, A Weekend with Ellen features 100 pages of photos of Ellen in her most relaxed state, posing as though there’s no camera in front of her.

As Jay Tablante said in an interview with FHM, “What makes a Japanese-inspired ‘gravure’ shoot unique is that in regular shoots, you sort of know there’s a crew working behind-the-scenes. In gravure, it’s all just very natural, very minimal lighting and production design. In other words: effortless dapat.”

And being effortlessly sexy is what Ellen does best, although she isn’t always aware of how sexy she truly is.

“There are times that I feel confident but most of the time, I can’t say that I’m 100 percent confident, and even though the shoots look very natural, its still sort of an act because you won’t see me posing like that.”

Still, she adds that she enjoyed doing the shoot because she didn’t have to put on a lot of makeup and is also proud to say that the photobook only has very minimal photoshop editing.

Has she been naughty or nice in the past year? “Overall I think I was nice, 2012 was a good year and hopefully next year would be even better.”

Her plans for 2013? “If given the chance I’d like to do a TV drama series with Dennis Trillo whom she considers a very talented actor.”

As for the next Gravure photobook, the publishers assured that it’s going to feature an even more surprising model—someone definitely rated “A.”

A Weekend With Ellen is available in newsstands, bookstores and supermarkets nationwide for only P195. For more details, visit www.facebook.com/EllenAdarnaOfficialPage.