post-photoshoot word vomit:1

I always get this feeling after a photoshoot. This overwhelming feeling. This body-aches, mind-is-hazy, but I’m-feeling-really-good-inside feeling.

But I started this week with a heavy heart, knowing I had a lot on my plate and a lot to cross off my list. I was pulling together my winter collection, finishing up new products, handling new consignment and wholesale accounts, playing catch up with online orders, and somehow planning and organizing a photoshoot. The week consisted of very little sleep, 14-hour workdays… and my calendar was stacked with a photoshoot on Friday, a show on Saturday, a week-long show that following Monday through Friday, and then another show that Saturday. The thought of it all overwhelmed me; fatigued me before I even began… and before I knew it, my alarm clock was buzzing, and it was the morning of the photoshoot.

It’s often very apparent to me that I’m in this alone. This whole turning-my-passion-into-my-paycheck is my journey: my successes and my fails… and while I have people that come in and out to help and listen, I’m the one who can’t sleep at night because I’m adding more to my “things I need to get done” list. I’m the one figuring out how to get that list a little shorter, and fishing up ideas on what new “big” things I can do to fill that list back up. That list was overwhelming this week, and while venting about it made me feel a little better, I knew I just had to suck it up and get it done.

But after a week of feeling physically and emotionally exhausted, I found myself on a late Friday afternoon celebrating with a plate of curry and Beard Papa’s for dessert after a very successful photoshoot. Thing is, I wasn’t alone. I was sitting at a table surrounded by friends… people I call my ‘photographer’ or my ‘models,’ but really people who have become my support group. While this is my business, my passion, my dream… I’m standing in an alley with nine other people who sacrificed their day to be apart of mine. They called in sick for work, dropped whatever plans they might have had before, and drove an hour to meet me (and drove another two hours back in traffic). One of them even made it part of her birthday agenda to be there. They helped collaborate with styling, they came up with their own ideas on shoot, and even helped me move dirty trash bins just to get a good shot in. It seemed like we were a team, and it wasn’t my photoshoot but our photoshoot. And this is what I mean by this overwhelming feeling. This body-aches, mind-is-hazy, but I’m-feeling-really-good-inside feeling.

When I started on this journey over two years ago, I really never imagined that I’d be putting together photoshoots, let alone clothing people. I never imagined I’d be designing clothes, styling models, and creating a vision for a brand. But today I did, and I did because I have amazing friends. So, to my photographer, my videographer, my assistant, and my six models… thank you for taking time out of your day to be apart of mine. It might’ve just been a few hours for you, but it means a whole lot more to me. So, thank you. :)

And for the rest of you, the collection will be launching online very soon, but for those in the area, you can sneak peek the collection debut at tomorrow’s Maxt Out. Hope to see you there!

P.S. If you’re in the Orange County, pick up a copy of the OC Weekly! You might see a familiar face in there… ;) teehee. 

Related posts:

1. upcoming photoshoot!
2. holiday collection ’10 teaser:
3. 48-hour sale:
4. fap 2.0, this saturday:
5. WOD mania: