The $51.000 Shoot

This was my last fashion shoot, shot in London, December 2007.
After the London shoot I had sworn to myself to never shoot fashion ever again.

Part of it was perhaps because 50K worth equipment amongst other things were stolen out of my rental car in Chiswick the morning of the shoot, which I didn't notice until I got to the studio in Camden Town (incredibly cold London morning) and the studio , that a makeup artist I knew had arranged for me, in fact had actually failed doing so.

For a moment I was drawing a blank - with the first freezing model, makeup artist and stylist in tow, and nowhere to shoot.
Shooting outdoors was "out of the question" for the stylist, so I had to book 2 awfully small rooms in a hotel a few streets over, which cost me around $1000 or so, but that was not really so much of my concern right then, cause that's pretty much small change after having run up a 50K bill that very morning, don't you think?

So there I was, in this tiny awfully furnished hotel room (that I had to myself with the model I was shooting, 6 altogether throughout the day), with the overly caffeinated stylist pacing back and forth in the room next to mine, pinching the 12 tops and 6 pairs of pants over and over, as if additional racks of clothes would miraculously appear that he didn't pull.

Anyone who knows me just a little, can tell you how much of a control freak I am.
Something like this could never happen to me -not even in theory.
Everything stolen? No studio? Stylist barely pulling anything? No assistant?

Since part of the equipment was stored in the front part of the car , there was still enough gear left enough to take pictures with. And so I did.

And as I quietly sat by myself for a few minutes ,expecting disappointed and confused models arriving at my lousy hotel room door shortly , I started laughing.
I felt like crying actually, but all I could do was laugh.

When Eliza walked in the room with that warm smile and those sparkling blue eyes of hers, she was only to be out sparkled by an extremely shiny metallic jacket and black hot pants, graced by a matching gold metallic cobra head - on said hot pants.

And then I knew : if I won't commit suicide at the end of this day, I will never shoot fashion ever again.

Surprisingly, these lovely beings greeted me with so much gratitude and excitement that I really didn't know if I was dreaming or if some hidden cameras will pop out of the walls and someone announcing the grand price I just had won.

Most of them came from as far as 5 hrs away and yet they all took the strange fashion they wore with a sense of humor .

All 6 of them did the same, independently from each other; winked or nodded once they've noticed my despair, and went on and said "So let's shoot!".

These kids, probably between 15 and 18, actually ended up teaching ME a valuable lesson about life that day, and a fashion shoot was the last scenario where I would have expected this.

I don't know if words can possibly describe the way I felt after the shoot was done. Having been robbed just a few hours prior to that, and jet lagged, I may as well could have jumped from any given bridge.

Instead, I felt incredibly happy having met these amazing kids. Some talked more than others but they were all very special and it was like a little gift -which sounds cheesy because I'm a tough chick and stuff - but these kids have turned the world upside down for me.

So who cares what they wore ?
I had met 6 amazing people that day and I have pictures of it.

And that truly is priceless.