An 18PLUS Valentine’s Wish or NIGHTMARE!!! Behind the Scene of my PLUS Model Mag Photoshoot!

Have you ever heard of the expression everything that can go wrong will? Well this must have been the theme of my editorial shoot for this month’s PLUS Model Magazine. I have never had a shoot where so many things kept going wrong over and over again, let me explain…

The photoshoot date was set for Tuesday January 19, 2010 in Long Beach. I woke up early that morning to shave, pack my model bag, stop at the grocery store, and for the 45 minute drive ahead…despite my procrastination and waiting until the morning to do everything thing, I made it to the location at my call time of 11:00am, on the dot! Things seemed to be off to a great start, until the cell phone ringed….

I was sitting at the table with my makeup and hair team Marlene G & Jo Williams, we were about to start getting ready for the shoot until Inez Lewis (the photographer) calls Marlene’s cell to tell us she was having car problems and at the auto repair shop, but they didn’t have the part she needed to fix the motor for her windshield wipers. That week in Los Angeles it had been raining everyday and we were having El Nino storms, that day was no exception. Since it hardly ever rains out here, a lot of us don’t keep up with our windshield wipers because we hardly ever use them. I was guilty of that as well and got new windshield wipers the day before! The shoot was in jeopardy of being cancelled because we had no photographer, so everyone looked at their calendars to see if we could reschedule, no other date worked for everyone, we had to shoot that day or it wasn’t happening. So after thinking of several ways to solve the problem, Reah Norman came to the rescue, my fabulous wardrobe stylist, and picked up Inez on her way to the shoot! Crisis solved, Inez and Reah were on the way and though we are off schedule by hours, we were still going to make it happen, and then the cell phone ringed….

We started hair and make-up, our goal was to be ready before Inez and Reah made it to the location so we wouldn’t have to waste anymore time. Jo’s cell phone ringed and it was one of her family members telling her to turn on the news because there was a TORANDO about to hit Long Beach!!! When does a Tornado ever come to Southern California???!!!! When I have a big photoshoot scheduled, that’s when! So we turned on the news, which was super dramatic like we were all about to die, the weather started to get really bad, and the rain came pouring down. Jo, was surprisingly excited by the bad weather and loved it, she was like a storm chaser anticipating its arrival. Marlene was extremely nervous and about to have a panic attack and planning escape routes, I had to keep telling her to calm down. I honestly don’t know whose reaction I found more disturbing…lol. The tornado came and went, luckily we weren’t in the area affected, but we were really close to those who were!

Finally Reah and Inez made it after they had been stuck on the freeway for hours trying to get there! We started the shoot and everything was going smoothly, then Marlene gets sick and starts to feel really bad. I thought we were going to have to stop the photoshoot and take her to the emergency room. She starts vomiting and you can literally see the pain and discomfort on her face. She told us not to worry about it she was ok, and if it kept up she would go to the doctor. I was hoping she didn’t fall out because obviously she was in severe pain. Despite all setbacks we all came together, worked hard, and the shoot turned out great! Luckily we didn’t let all of the stress affect our skills! So in the end everything turned out great, so I thought, until I got the e-mail…

Fast forward to this past weekend, it’s Saturday, January 30th, 2 days before the February issue of PLUS Model Magazine comes out and I’m e-mailing back and forth with Madeline (editor of PLUS Model Magazine) we were discussing multiple things through e-mail but the line that caught my attention the most was something like: I’m waiting for your pics from Inez…I’m about to e-mail her. I was in shock, I had assumed that everything had been turned in, did this photoshoot have a damn omen!! Turned out Inez had been shooting back to back and was actually on a photoshoot that day, her work is so great, she is in high demand! I called Inez to see what was going on and she apologized for being so last minute but assured me that she was going to get them to Madeline in time to put in the magazine 100%. Still nervous about the extreme last minute, I found comfort in her promise and was hoping for the best, seemed like all was well again, until I got the e-mail…..

Sunday morning, January 31st, a day before the release of the magazine Madeline and I get an e-mail from Inez, HER COMPUTER CRASHES. OH MY GOD, I can’t take it anymore, this was officially the most difficult photoshoot I have ever had in my life, it had given me a nervous breakdown, heart attack, and brain aneurysm (ok, not really) but I swear it felt like it!!!!! I felt sick to my stomach, the pics had to be in the February issue because it wouldn’t make sense to have a Valentine editorial in March!!!!!!!! Finally we got an e-mail from Inez Sunday afternoon, she was back up and running, and finally working on the pictures. Literally hours before the February issue was released my editorial was being uploaded to the PLUS Model Magazine website, barely making it in!

This experience has truly been a roller coaster ride. I don’t know why everything seemed to go wrong, my theory is that when everything goes wrong the results turn out great, and it’s true the pictures did turn out great! I don’t know who is going to see these picture or what opportunities are going to come my way as a result, but it has to be something because this was way too stressful…lol

So if you haven’t already PLEASE checkout my Valentine’s Day editorial in the February edition of PLUS Model Magazine entitled: An 18PLUS Valentine’s Wish because after all of that I may never shoot again! Yeah right, not even believable right?!