The Photo Shoot

Monday, the fifth of July: Earlier that day, Kae and her husband Dima, arrived at our house with Starbucks in hand. We quickly piled up our mound of props into the car and started heading up to Seattle. Bad timing for us. We timed it just right to hit the beginning of rush hour. After a near car accident, some sudden stops, and a seasick couple in the back seat, my driving rights were taken from me. I do not like Seattle/Tacoma traffic. And whew. We finally arrived. Met up with our awesome awesome awesome photographer, Daniel Usenko, at Starbucks. Great thanks to this guy. He pulled this whole shoot together on top of all his other projects and performed marvelously.

We arrived at Discovery Park {after our lovely in-home shoot} for our outdoor shoot and even though I have yet to preview any pictures from this event, just watching the models and photographer in action is thrilling enough. I know the pictures turned out great. Daniel can't have anything but. We did a lot of walking and running and quick thinking. Our great crew was forced to lug our mound of props from location to location. Thanks crew. I know you all broke a sweat when it came to that. And thanks for being so helpful and supportive. You were eager to be useful and I got to say, that's rare. So thanks again.

So yes, the long-awaited day has come and gone. Not everything went according to plan, but needless to say, it was a blast. My awesome stylist Kae and I lost our planning guide {somewhere in the field perhaps} so we had to remember from the top of heads what set-up scenes we had planned. And when the sun is fading fast, there's a bit of pressure for you to remember faster.

Here's a picture of our crew and props: {the rest will come later}

  Special thanks to:

My husband, Jimmy, nothing would ever happen without you. I love you.

Kae Yelchaninov and her hubby Dima, for helping me generate ideas and being my right hand on-scene styling and fluffing models, cutting flowers, setting up tea cups, and offering moral support. Kae, you're the best. I think we burned a million calories yesterday.

Eleanor Petry, for the use of her home for our in-home shots and all her great help styling our models.

Annabelle Lea Petry, for hair and make up.

Our models: Julia Lukomskiy, Yuriy Manchik, Marina Gad, Kerry Rowe, Bogdan Natkha, and Eva Gurmeza. Thank you for all coming down and being a part of this. Special thanks to Bogdan, who waited patiently for hours until the very end of the shoot to finally model for us.

Yana Krikov, Galina Yelchaninov, Max Lopatin, and Sasha Leahovcenco for moral support and entertainment. It was super great having you all there. Yana, thanks for supporting Daniel and guiding the models. Thanks Galina and Max for making a special trip up to Seattle just to be at the shoot. Thanks Sasha for keeping our "bored" people entertained. :)

And once again, very very special thanks to Daniel Usenko for being the great photographer that he is.