all shot out

i am so exhausted today. but to fully understand that, you need to know what happened yesterday.
yesterday was a milestone in my professional career. it was the first time that i took care of a major pictorial for a major project alone. no PAs, no co-editors. just me and my art director handling photographers, stylists, makeup artist, and models. i could hardly sleep the night before. i was just lying on my bed, while different ideas ran through my head. i was thinking of work at 1 am! also, it was a mixture of anxiety, anticipation, and excitement, i think.

first setup


i left home at 7:45 am (was supposed to be out of there by 7:30!), because my sister had to finish her "beauty-fying" routine. so, to give the day a jumpstart, we passed by gonuts donuts to buy breakfast for the crew. they're truly the best donuts ever. my art director, who grew up in the US, says they're even better than krispy kremes!

YUMMY!!!


when i got to pan pacific hotel, my art director and the makeup artist were already there. but we still had to wait for the photographer and stylist. and they were running late because of traffic.
call time was 8:30 am, but we finally got started a little before 10am. when everyone concerned was finally there, including the food stylist, we set to work, while munching on great donuts!!! the shoot was a bit slow-starting, but soon, we were on our way to the poolside to take photos there.

pretty pool


*oh, i have to say that pan pacific has some cute butlers. one was there at the poolside. nice pa.:)
so after we did our pictorial at poolside, we proceeded to the top floor of the hotel which has THE BEST 360-degree view, great food, and a nice garden-and-mini-waterfall area and gazebo.

creative geniuses at work.--hmm?!:)


we started shooting there, but by this time it was about 11:30 already, and the sun was beating down on us. good thing passing clouds would intermittently cover it. i was concerned that our photographer, THE toto labrador (woohoo!) would find the sun too harsh for taking photos. but not to worry, we not only made the best of the situation, but got really amazing photos. that is, until 1 pm rolled around.

kid model at poolside


we had several layouts/setups to go. but the kid in our mommy-and-kid model tandem, ay sinumpong. so we had to stop and have lunch first so she could take a nap.
we had a quick lunch of fried chicken with rice (walang kamatayang KFC). or, i should say, they did. food was short, so i snacked on chocolate chip cookies and milk (yummy!) left over from the food shoot. hehe!

rose, getting all made up


after lunch, we started shooting with another model, rose, who i've known since grade school. we brought out some clothes for her to wear, and photographed amazing relaxation-related photos. it helped that the view from our hotel room was wonderful: great view of manila bay, great view of the makati and ortigas skyline (and beyond those, even greater views of mountains), and an amazing view of the clear blue sky. thank you, thank you God for no rain and cooperative weather all day and night!
after that, more models started coming in. and i was hit by the density of human traffic in that quiet suite on the 16th floor. by then, everything felt like clockwork: take model to stylist, stylist choose clothes for model, model has hair and makeup done, model changes into clothes, photographer asks "what's the story here?", make up story for particular layout, figure out angle, photographer shoots, check out shots, approve or disapprove, on to the next model! whew!

what to wear, what to wear...?


cute enzo, our other kid model, and ivy, his pretty mom (and my friend from grade school!)


another cutie, nina, our third kid model


around 7pm, i went out to buy dinner for the crew. when i got back, my friend laddie, who's the hardworking marketing manager of the hotel, called and asked if i wanted to meet up. we had a sandwich at the pacific lounge. and i was so happy with her news, that i didn't feel so exhausted about the day. then, i went back to the room to resume my post.

my sister/PA-for-the-day: conked out long before we were done


i had hoped that we would finish by 7:30 pm. but that 8:30 am to 7:30 pm sked only looked good on paper. we ended with the last setup and model around 11 pm.
i went home, half asleep, in a kind of limbo between sleeping and waking. but i finally crawled into bed. sadly, it wasn't as comfortable as if i had stayed overnight at the hotel, because 1) i didn't have airconditioning 2) i didn't have butler service, and 3) my room had been repainted, so it was a bit of a mess. but i managed to close my eyes and get a semblance of sleep for the next day. my last memory is seeing the display on my cellphone: 01:05am.