Progress

Today, after designing more mobile banners and applying to gigs on craigslist, I mailed two disks of retouched images and dropped off a third. So, that's something. Then I went to see Stepbrothers and Hellboy 2.

Not Quite the Same

We went to the IMAX to see the Hannah Montana concert in 3-D, but somehow it was still a big deal to sit down and watch it again on TV at home.

Back to Designing

After two days of retouching skin texture, I'm suddenly back to designing mobile banners and comps of websites. I guess it's a welcome break. When the paycheck from this assignment arrives in three months, that'll be a welcome break.

Reeeeeetouching

I don't like retouching... But it must be done!

Top Secret

I did a paid shoot today, but signed a non-disclosure agreement. So I can't really say anything. Especially because my subject declared he hates bloggers and I'm hoping to work with him again in September. Maybe I'll blog about it September when all is public.

For Sale

As though the cats don't make the home office exciting enough, the home office is for sale.

The family that owns the house where we live decided to put the house on the market (where their $1.9 million home is fetching offers of $450,000). There was supposed to be an open house this day, but the real estate agent canceled it. Still, there were loads of people hanging out on our sidewalk and walking around the backyard. Some guy was handing out cards and showing people what he could. We didn't know who he was, and I was tired of all the people outside, so I decided to go ahead and confront them all.

I happened to catch him and his "clients" in the backyard, which gave me a whole lot more ground to stand on when I said I was going to call the cops about trespassing if he didn't leave. Technically, I'm sure they could have congregated on the sidewalk to their hearts' content. That wasn't really this yahoo's concern, though. He was from the same broker's office as our landlord's broker and *knew* the open house was canceled but still felt we should honor the advertisement that ran in a local paper.

LV had followed me outside. He yelled a lot. The people went away.

Retouching

This reminds me of that time I bought a denim tube dress in Newark...

My days have been filled with editing, building web albums, retouching, revising web designs, illustrating for pet food labels, illustrating story boards, researching moral philosophy for a story, and setting up my next shoot.

Road Trip: Part 4

My mom used to be very vocal about how silly it was for me to drive long distances after dark. She was not a fan of me driving back to school after the sun had set. (I didn't feel like driving into the setting sun for hours. There's not a lot for the sun to drop behind on the Illinois horizon, you know?)

She said nothing about me driving 15 hours straight overnight with LV. Am I safer because he's there? I'm going to guess that's her logic. However, "safe" was not something LV was feeling at 4 a.m. at this rest stop when the attendant greeted him at the urinal.

When we finally arrived home, there were a few things out of place. It appears the cats climbed to a few shelves they hadn't visited before and hung out in the bathtub for a while. Strange. We returned the car. Then I slept for the rest of the day.

Road Trip: Part 3

After talking my mom out of ordering cheesecake filled pancakes at IHOP, LV and I set off to drive back to New York. Well, sort of. First we hit the Walmart across the street for school supplies and Hannah Montana 3-D glasses. Then we went to visit my grandfather. Then I think we went all the way back to my parents' house to really say good-bye to my mom. Then I started driving back. LV wanted to take more pictures from the car. This is his picture of Chicago.

This is my picture of the sunset at a rest stop.

This is his picture of the sunset from the car.

Road Trip: Part 2

You could say this is how we felt about the Christening:

But that wouldn't be right... This time the process seemed more formal than the previous Christening we'd been to at that church. Although, this time we also thought the cleric was going to die from a heat stroke.

The proud parents with LV's goddaughter. (read: reason to drive halfway across the country for a Christening) Me and my goddaughter... because it's nice to have your photo taken after you drive halfway across the country in one night and get three hours of sleep.

We lucked into being in town to celebrate my grandmother's birthday as well as the Christening. My grandmother's birthday was on Friday and I hadn't sent a bouquet of flowers like usual, so I thought we would at least drop by to say hello. Well, lucky us, my dad's family was there to cut a cake with her. So, I got to see my own godmother that day, too. She joked about how I was able to take the cake photo upside and backwards with no problem. I just call it being too lazy to walk around the table to get a proper angle.

Road Trip: Part 1

The cheapest way for two people to get from New York to Chicago, I decided, was to drive. Supposing that LV had to be in an office on Friday, we would have to drive overnight and hope to get there in time for the Christening at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

Traffic sucks, to say the least, when you are traveling at 16 mph or less in a 60 mph zone.

In picture on the left, you can see the entire construction zone. That concrete slab on the right slowed traffic to a standstill for miles and miles... (I slowed it down some more to stop and get the picture.) At least the delay gave us plenty time to take pictures of LV's reflection.

More Swimwear

The model who arranged the beauty shoot from June was so happy with the results, she wanted to do another shoot to update the rest of her portfolio. Swimwear, lingerie, dresses... More retouching to add to my list. :0)

Swimwear

These are three of the looks from the swimwear shoot. I had wanted to set up a beauty shoot, but the model I was able to get comes from an agency that prefers to send models to fashion test shoots. So I brought in a wardrobe stylist to make it a fashion shoot.

But I still spent plenty of time getting my beauty shots.

This is the picture LV took of me taking the previous picture.

Our dining room gets really great light. I hate to waste it, so I shot a few without the flash. This look is courtesy of LV saying I needed one with her hair pulled back and my last-minute bikini purchase.

The swimsuits didn't immediately get packed up. I left them out for my shoot the following day. This meant lots of yelling at the cats to stay away from all the dangling strings.

Prep Work

Yesterday I went to buy more swimsuits and a C-stand (to be sure I'd have the kind of lighting I wanted). Today I washed all the swimwear to be sure they were clean. And then cleaned the apartment. And, in between all that, I kept up the search for hair and makeup stylists who want to work weekdays in exchange for pictures.

Designing

I decided to finally start designing the site I said I'd build a month ago. Kind of uninspired. Unpaid tends to equal uninspired...

For clarification, click here

Happy Fourth

A better picture would have been the banner at the local McDonald's that reads "Happy Fourth Off July." We're not sure what that means...

This the view from under the Brooklyn Bridge, facing North. If you look under the dinosaur watermark, you can see the waterfalls that were installed along the river this summer. That blue streak.

Despair

That's all it says on my day calendar for July 3.

Prepping for Shoots

This is Streaky helping me spread out the bathing suits so I can send a picture of them to the wardrobe stylist. We had a box of suits leftover after a promo shoot a few years ago. I don't know how that happened...

Then I spent the rest of the day continuing to wrangle stylists who are looking to build their books and willing to travel.

Still Searching

As though finding stylists for one TFP shoot weren't enough, I have a second shoot coming up quickly that also needs stylists willing to work in exchange for pictures. Between the two, there are requests for models from bigger agencies. So I contacted bigger agencies today. I don't really like the cover email I sent them. Blech. Today is an annoying day.