Well, thanks to my friend Jaime, I had a real adventure yesterday.  I was just stepping out of the shower, about to go get quarters to do my laundry, when I saw a text in all CAPS from Jaime saying “CALL ME!!!!  NEED YOUR PHOTO HELP!!!”.  I called her right away – she needed me to hop in a cab IMMEDIATELY and head over to her offices at 7 for all mankind (jeans company), where they were having their quarterly meeting.  They had 10 male models and 10 female models, all dressed in new looks and they didn’t have a photographer!  Nell to the rescue!!!

Now, I have to say, in a perfect world, I would have loved to have studied up a bit first… known what I was getting into.  But I didn’t have time.  I didn’t even have time to be nervous, except for the 15 minutes it took to get to midtown in a cab.  On the cab ride, I called my dear husband frantically asking him for advice and then I arrived, ready to shoot.

The conditions for this project were definitely challenging.  There was not a lot of light in the offices and I had to find a white background to shoot against.  We  ended up moving an extremely heavy bookcase to shoot against the wall you see in the above photo.  There was also no one really giving me direction or giving the models direction for that matter AND the models were needed for the presentation, so I had to really rush my way through each one.  Because of the lack of light, I had a really high ISO setting the entire time (6400), which definitely made the photos grainier.  But, I had to make it work somehow and in the end… I’m really happy with the shots I got!

This brings to mind a saying that my husband said to me recently… “fake it until you make it”.  See, I’m a bit of a ‘nervous nellie’ at times when it comes to selling myself and my skills.  I don’t want to give the impression that I can do something until I am 100% sure that I can knock it out of the park.  What if I say I am capable of something and then I am asked to do it and I fail??  I would feel like a fraud.  But this thinking can often stop you in your tracks before you even get started!  Yesterday was a prime example of that.  Jaime was bringing me around to everyone and introducing me as the photographer – and I felt like a fake!!  But then I did my job and it was a great experience and now I’m even more ready for the next opportunity that comes around the corner.  AND now I’ve shot real models!!  Not bad for what was supposed to be laundry day.

The other lesson, is that this opportunity came to me because I started the 365 photo project and started putting my work out there.  If I hadn’t done that, then I wouldn’t have been top of mind with Jaime when she desperately needed to find a photographer!   This proves… that once you start actually doing something and putting it out there, it sets things into motion.  It’s really cool and exciting.

Here are a few more pictures from the photo shoot…

Male model butt… gotta love that.

Woeful male model showing off his cool 7 for all mankind buttons

Doesn’t this guy look like Rufio from Hook?

and finally…  dude pimping his 7 for all mankind jacket

Now… on to my laundry.