WeWillExplore

Every so often I feel guilty about not posting here more often but realistically it’s a trip blog.  If you are looking for our microstock blog it’s at NiltoMil.com  That is what I update on a regular basis during the year.

Between trips we are busy - editing images from the first trip, writing some reviews for Pro Photo Rental who was awesome, working on client images, uploading stock to the agencies we work with.  AND planning the next trip.  We aren’t sure if that will be in March, April or May at this point but what we do know is that we will be hitting up the southwest and shooting in southern California, Phoenix and hopefully some national parks.   Everything else is sort of up in the air.  We’d also like to hit the east coast again this fall - Charleston down through Florida, sort of a Trip 1, the extended version.

I’m loving our images from the first trip.  We ended up very happy with just over 4000 keeper images!  I figure that is about 2000-2500 submits/accepts.  Not a bad start!

Anyhoo - I’m working on some great posts for NiltoMil so don’t forget to check that.  Always working on new projects!

We’ve been planning our March/April trip to the Southwest of the US.  We’re still in the idea phase - gather info, make a plan, set an itinerary.  We have a bit of a plan.  But realistically have no idea how ludicrous this one will be.  The last was … immense! but we did it.

The images from the first trip are starting to go online now.  They are doing well and seem to have found a good home. :)  Check out Sarah’s writing about the trip as well at http://www.syracusemodeling.com

Hope the winter finds you all well & warm.  I’ll be updating again soon - we need to start putting together a real idea of what we’re doing!

You may have noticed that the bulk of our site has been restored. I still have a lot of non-trip posts to repost but as of right now EVERY SINGLE trip post has been restored. I used Google cache, grabbed the code and pasted it right in a new entry - everything INCLUDING PHOTOS - came back!!! I couldn’t be happier about this!!

Lessons from the Road - I thought was gone.
All the trip entries - destroyed.

Now all are back where they belong AND I have a backup copy of everything now.

Thank you GOOGLE!!

We were hacked & wiped out.  All backups were deleted, all files, all posts, everything.  We’ve gotta start from where we are.   It’s awful but I’m slowly getting things back up now.  Bear with me please. 

So our trip is done.  We’ve done what we set out to do - 14 cities in 19 days, shot 25,500 photos (half of which I haven’t even looked at yet!), and pushed WeWillExplore forward.  Where do we go from here?

Our calendar is starting to fill out and while nothing is “settled” yet, we do have some thoughts.

Sometime around February we will be taking a 5-day trip to somewhere warm, beautiful and fun.  We’re thinking Cancun/Carmen Del Playa/Cozumel but we could end up on a Caribbean island, Hawaii or Ecuador.

Mid-March we leave for our next major 19 day trip.  That is a fairly set trip.  We will be starting in either Tucson or Phoenix, Arizona.  We’re going to travel up through the major parks - Sonoran Desert National Monument,  Lake Havasu, Lake Mead, onto Las Vegas, Mojave National Preserve, Death Valley, Kings Canyon, Yosemite, then over to San Francisco and Oakland.  Depending on timeline and driveline, we’d like to visit friends in more Southern Cal but we’ll see how that goes.   Temecula, LA, San Diego, TJ are all on the list.

One that trip is done, we’re going to NYC for 5 days in May.  That’s set - we’re going to be going with our friend Todd and hopefully some other photographers.

Our mid-summer July/August trip will be just a short 5-day to somewhere that’s normally in the cold.  We’re thinking the Adirondack Mountains, Boston, Montreal or Toronto.  Somewhere we’d avoid like the plague in December.

Late fall we’ll be doing another long 19 day trip.  This will be a partial repeat of our recently completed first trip, starting in Myrtle Beach, Charleston but then detouring further south to Hilton Head, Savannah, Jacksonville, Orlando, Palm Beach and possibly Miami/Key West, etc. depending on time.

That’s IT.  IF all goes according to plan and we take every one of those trips and do well on them, we’ll be looking at starting 2010 with closer to 15,000 stock images online. 2010 is also setting up to be a HUGE year and we hope to add many more images in the next two years.

We started this post on Day 2 in Assateague and we are tracking our lessons learned on this first trip.

- schedule 2-3x models needed. Half will flake.

- plan days “off” especially after hard days or early in the trip.

- when your car is valet parked grab EVERYTHING you need first.

- add 30 mins+ to all drives on trip to account for traffic jams, gas and potty stops etc.

- arrive earlier than models.

- more models than photographers makes happy photographers.

- bring snacks and water for everyone.

- plan solid meeting spots.

- little offshoots are sometimes the best parts of the trip (assateague) so schedule enough exploration time to enjoy them

- staying with others slows your departures because you want to keep talking and sharing.

- bring sunscreen even in october.

- Don’t schedule every night to end at 10pm and start at 8am. It’s insane.

- Pack your cardreader. Really.

- schedule models closer to leave time to keep them excited about it.

- get models ph # and have a very easy, very specific meeting spot.

- try to find a photographer in each city to host for directions, spots and contacts.

- schedule reliable MUAs first

- book actors and actresses as much as models or more.

- preplan all shoot info to copy & paste to models.

- connect with local businesses for locations, props and models

- be serious and professional to get models - save fun for the actual shoot.

- have serious nonmodel and rain plans.

- clear your non trip schedule earlier than the day you are leaving - the earlier the better

- we definitely need an ad asst to help with office and model stuff and tracking

- make sure every hotel has wifi

- pay at least one model per block to ensure they show

- budget $40 per day for food per person. We are averaging $30 after 5 days…

- budget your mpg at 60% and gas at your local price x 1.3 to account for regional differences.

- if the GPS is a phone, carry it ALWAYS.

- nothing is 100% - don’t freak out when plans change at THE last minute.

- fish doesn’t fit the food budget.

- dinner with friends does not fit the food budget.

- if you are shooting your location (ie hotel room or beachside villa) don’t put it off because you arrive tired. Do it first when things are clean and packed.

- if you have a fridge, get groceries - it saves time AND money.

- charge batteies at every available moment.

- download and backup once a day, every day.

- pack plenty of ibuprofen - if you work all day every day you WILL hurt.

- remind models to bring multiple outfits and no white or logos/photos.

- find a way to carry props on location.

- bring plain clothes in multiple sizes just in case.

- schedule in all mealtimes

- days cannot start at 9:30am everyday. That’s early getting out of a hotel.

- our ideas last about 3 hrs per location

- schedule in 3 hour blocks.

- make sure everyone is on the same page for wakeup times so you aren’t late getting out

- you can shoot a lot more places than you think without being harassed.

- rent an suv everytime. 4×4 too.

- try to work with agencies first, free internet models last

- plan several days when you are counting on weather or animals.

- buy tall lightstands and umbrella brackets

- fall in the northeast comes WAY before fall in the south

- getting images right in camera is harder than it seems and more important than you know.

- practice in diverse situations - you don’t know what’s coming

- be energetic about every moment of shooting - that’s why you are there.

- use every trick in your bag as well as every prop.

- workouts before the trip are vital to health, stamina, energy, pain, daily fatigue, sore muscles and everything physical.

- you don’t “get used to it” after 10 days. It is still tiring and painful.

- open the props and let models choose - you never know what they’ll enjoy and want to shoot.

- tell all models to bring modely friends as escorts and more models.

- ask park/nature models about pets

- ways to get models: casting calls, businesses, theater companies, modeling groups, model sites, acting sites, actor listings, Craigslist, myspace, agencies, friends, friends of models, friends of photographers, on loc asking

- book business class rooms when the price is similar.

- find out what freebies come with your room (internet, food, etc) so you know what you’re actually paying for.

- estimate your necessary harddrive space x3.

- Use sites like http://www.gasbuddy.com to preplan gas stops to save money.

- Pack a wide variety of clothes if your climates will change dramatically.

- Bring an empty bag/suitcase for laundry dirties.

- Pack a swimsuit.

- Use the foliage map on weather.com

- Fishing boats aren’t shooting boats.  Splurge for the pontoon.

- Once a week plan in 2 hours to clean the car you’re traveling in and repacking.

- Don’t JUST schedule your time - schedule your energy as well.  Will you be awake?

- Check with your rental spaces re: glass, windows, lighting, etc.

- Consider non-model plans and rain plans ALONG your route, not just in the final destination city.

- Buy wine before Sundays.  Liquor stores aren’t generally open Sundays.

The Grand Finale! Well, it wasn’t supposed to be. We were scheduled to finish our trip in Erie, PA. We ended up in Erie just as the SNOW did. Snow? Seriously? It was flying very hard and white so we took a quick jaunt and came back. Before that though was our greatest day of model shooting, largest group and most furious schedule!

Our Pittsburgh shoot was mainly shooting with one modeling agency, AM Pittsburgh. We scheduled a few of our own models but for the most part shot with Dawn’s models at her new (unfinished!) office.

When we arrived for our shoot at 9:30am, we were surprised to find the door locked, nobody around, and we weren’t sitting in what seemed to be the nicest neighborhood ever. Our shoots started at 10 so we really wanted to get setup. When nobody was there at 9:50 we decided to quickly run to McDonalds and back. We came back to 3 models who had arrived sitting in their car also waiting for the doors to open. One informed us that Dawn had called and had a flat tire. YIKES!

We quickly revamped the plan. Let’s start outside and get started. Hopefully she’ll be right behind us. Our first shoot was from 10-12 so by 10:15 we were shooting and trying to make the most of not having the office/conference room available. The models who had already arrived worked with us outside for most of that first time slot. Eventually one of the co-tenants of the building came by and let us in so we could get setup. We took more images, some business, games, closeups and such. Then noon hit and it was time to head to West Park.

Unfortunately Dawn hadn’t made it by noon either. We waited for a few late models until 12:30 and then took off to shoot at West Park with the 2 we still had. Unfortunately there was an NFL game (Pittsburgh and the “World Champion” NY Giants!) so parking was not only scarce but absolutely unavailable. We drove around for a bit but ended up going back to the agency without having shot in West Park. We were pretty disappointed in not shooting there but we would have had to park 8-10 blocks away and carry gear, props, etc. just to shoot for 45 mins or so and pack it all back up to do lunch before our 3-5 block shoot. It didn’t seem worth it.

When we arrived back at the agency Dawn was still not there. We ended up going to get some lunch. When we came back YAY Dawn had arrived! She also had a PACK of models waiting for us. We ended up shooting another EIGHT models in the afternoon. We shot business, headshots, we shot indoors, outdoors. We had to be OUT at 5pm and at 4:45 we were still shooting! I finished the last headshot for one of the models and we packed up in record time. Shortly after that we were on the road back to our hotel for the evening. Whirlpool hottub. Love it. It was a relaxing night and we talked a lot about our trip and how we were feeling.

Anyhoo - enjoy images from the last official day of shooting!

Day 17 - Ah, a travel day. What else can you say? We left Chicago (Oakbrook Terrace!) around 11am and made Toledo after lunch and one wrong turn around 5pm. Ordered pizza, checked up on PIttsburgh’s weather and relaxed. Only three more shooting days left!

Day 18 - Ok, make that two shooting days. It was VERY cold and rainy so our Trash the Dress photo shoot in Pittsburgh was canceled. We couldn’t take our bride out in 40 degree rain. That’s torture! So we got into Pittsburgh, readied for the final day, and again, relaxed. By this time we were looking forward to our final two days. This was a great day to repack our ThinkTank bags and just catch up on what we had planned.

Sorry these two days of entries are boring but so was this section of the trip. I want to cover it so you know what happened but in all honesty we drove from Chicago to Pittsburgh, spent a couple days resting and recovering, and preparing for the last two days in Pittsburgh and Erie, PA.

Chicago - or not!

Ok, when Sarah and I planned our trip we planned a trip to “Chicago” and wrote casting calls to that affect. Apparently the location we ended up booking was not “Chicago” because 3/4 of our models who canceled and bothered to call us told us that we weren’t “really in Chicago.”

Really!?

Looks like Chicago to me…outer Chicago but definitely not like Indianapolis! But what do I know? Apparently anything inside that I-294 line is Chicago enough, anything outside of it is not. *shrug*

The way we found our rental space in Chicago is actually interesting in a “It’s a Small World aaaafter all” sort of way. We were talking with a fellow photographer, Sarah Brown, and I told her we’d be in Chicago shooting and let’s meet for dinner. She said “that’s cool - where are you shooting in Chicago?” I informed her we were looking for office space to rent in the Chicago area so we could shoot for the day. She WORKS for a company who rents office space. Small world. After a bit of “no WAY” back and forth, we booked the room and worked the entire day 10 feet from a friend we’d met online months before.

We ended up with 4 models - Anna, Jillian, Spike and Chris - and all four did an AMAZING job at portraying what we were looking for. I hope the other Chicago models get a chance to read this, see the images, and feel really bad that they didn’t come 3 blocks past the loop! ha!

Leaving Carol and Bloomington was difficult. We only see Carol at Christmas/Hanukkah so leaving is always difficult. We hugged it out and headed toward Indy. We were originally not going to visit Indy but we had so many models interested (around 8 or 9) that I thought it would work out. By the day of, I thought we had 4 or 5 models coming total.

We arrived at Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis around noon. After a few minutes two models joined us. There would be no more. At this point we expected it so we moved on. The idea was to shoot around the Circle for a bit and then find some alleys, corners, urban fashion type images to create. One of the difficulties in planning these trips from out of town is we have no idea what areas are fantastic and what areas completely suck. So we sometimes plan, sometimes use a local photographer’s help and sometimes eh, just wing it. Because of the last minute planning Indy got, we just winged it.

Monument Circle is a great place to shoot - the plaza itself is MUCH larger than I thought it would be. I thought it was a few 20-30 foot high things. According to Wikipedia it’s 284 feet high!!! Incredible. I was amazed at the sheer size of this large phallic symbol.

The two models who did come out - Kyissa and DiVoye - were absolutely GREAT! They were cold but walked with us the 20 minute walk down toward “the green” on the GPS. When we were done at Monument Circle I turned on my “Follow Me” GPS and we found a green spot - green is a park. It had a river flowing through it so we went. Twenty minutes of walking later, we arrived at the Canal. I’m SO glad we took that walk and chance. We never would have found that spot just walking around. The canal locks had overpass bridges, graffiti, paintings, water, brick, stone, fountains - just a great amount of variety in a small space.

Once we left the canal, Sarah and I hit Borders downtown for some needed hot chocolate and mocha. We waited for the last model but she never came so we decided to head to Chicago. Once in the hotel room Sarah and I shot images of each other doing work/laptop stuff. But first, some Indy photos!

This entry was posted on Friday, October 31st, 2008 at 11:19 am