New Pics!

I just got some new photos back and am so excited to share!!!

Jessica is my savior!

I am always early for shoots. I would rather be way early than 3 minutes late. When I have a shoot outside of NYC that I am driving to, I usually allow myself an extra hour for travel time. I have had people ask why I allow so much extra time. Well....that extra time saved me this week.
On Wed. I had a shoot in upstate NYC and allowed myself an extra hour and a half to get there. Good thing.
I woke up bright and early and headed to my car AND it wouldn't start. No apparent reason. The ticking sound lead me to believe it was either my battery or my starter or a combo of both (which is odd as I just had a new battery put in back in November.) So there I was sitting in my car on that cold morning wondering what I would do.
I called my friend Jessica, one of the few people that I know that also has a car here in the city. She actually answered the phone at that horrible hour and very graciously agreed to let me borrow her car. I grabbed my stuff and called a car service and headed to Queens to meet her.
Her car got me to the shoot with 20 minutes to spare! I had called the agent right away to let her know what what happening and I kept updating her during the drive, I thought I would be 15 minutes late.
and (ha ha) no I was not speeding.
Jessica - you are a life saver. Thank you so much for trusting me with your vehicle. I really appreciate it and hope you found the present I left for you.

The shoot went great and the clients never knew the panic I felt that morning.

coming to a mailbox near you!!

I just got the mailer for Appearex!! That was fun to find in my mailbox when I got home tonight all bundled up against the nYc freeze.
HELLO WINTER!!!! :)

I cannot say enough wonderful things about the appearex supplements. They are fantastic and I am so proud to be a part of their campaign.
you may find me smiling from your mailbox soon..

Axe Bodyspray & Entity Beauty

I had a delectable audition for Axe Bodyspray earlier in the week. The studio just smelled so inviting, the appeal of the scent. I walked in and started wondering why I was finding myself looking around for my best friend when I know he is down in VA. He seemed to be everywhere and then I stepped onset and realized with the first spray of the can that he must be an Axe man.
The audition was fairly easy...simply spray the bottle with the left hand. Sounds easy enough, doesn't it. Well, it wasn't. It was so hard that I got a text later in the day from another hand model asking if I had as much trouble as she did. And I did. It was hard to do. Odd how small daily things that we do without even thinking about it can be so difficult to do for film. It had to be a smooth action with no shaking or looking like there was any strain.
I wasn't completely pleased with my performance but I smiled and laughed and kept on going with what the director wanted me to do. and then I went home and got ready for the shoot that I had the next day.
Tuesday I shot the new campaign for Entity Beauty. It was a great challenging shoot. The art director wasn't sure what the final layouts would look like so they just wanted to capture a lot of different hand positions. and we did 700 different shots. One hand, two hand, this way and that. It was fun to be given the freedom to be creative instead of just pointing to the on/off switch or holding the coffee cup.


The client for Entity Beauty is also a very famous manicurist and nail art specialist. He has won the World's Nail Art Championships 8 times. & he is an incredibly hyterical and wonderful person. I really enjoyed his company and loved the interaction between the photographer, myself & him. He would say wonderful things like 'grrr baby be the lion' to inspire a position or suddenly - 'delicate, delicate, catch the waterdrops'
It was fantastic AND the nails. oh yes. I loved them.
Silver tips on a clear french.


I was sad that I would have to take these off to replace with the natural color that I always wear. Then I got booked on the Axe commercial halfway through the shoot and stopped caring about having to remove the cool polish.
I was a little nervous heading to the commercial shoot on Thursday, remembering how hard it had been to push the spray button down. I was in luck as they had one of my favorite prop riggers on set. Peter makes things so manageable and doable. I am always more relaxed when I see him. The shot would be me twisting the top of the bottle and spraying with my left hand while holding the bottem of the can with my right. And we would be doing that with 12 different types of the bodyspray.
12!!!! 12!!!!! 12 different commercials.
I went to set thinking I was only shooting one commercial. I called my agent to confirm and yes it was 12 different spots. and the new spots for the Axe Bodyspray products are hilarious. I got a sneak peek before we started filming. I can't wait till they are on the air.

NEW PICS!!!

a peek at some photos that were shot last month.
I love this series... I call it the 'don't Mess with ME boy' series

Work - 11/2006

11/3/06 – HB – Abe   3.5 hrs.  Inv# 77

8-12:30am   blenders one plastic/one glass and an iron

11/6/06 – Appearex – Bouvier Kelly – Inv#78BK

11/9/06 – GS – Lucky – Arcieri   - 

wore:  jeans, tank – had to pull up tank so she  could take pics of my love handles.  Said she didn’t think I would be big enough.

See Bridgett Buckley – straight blond hair, really nice.  Went on a foot go-see for her before.  She remembered me.  

11/10/06 – Test – Willie Nash

the manicurist was Huhsigh – she used to work at Jin Soon on W 4rth Street.  Japanese, her hair has a reddish tint to it.  Really nice.  

We did some cool shots with a noose around a ripped up photo of a guy – green nails.  Also in a black dress with me ripping the pic..nails were red with a white tip.  Gorgeous.

11/13/2006 -  GS - Pediacare – Parts -  Jim Huibregtse

im huibregtse

55 greene st @broome

#4B

Jim – tall, broad, ponytail, light brown hair, has a 10 year old son who was sick (bad tummy) and at the go-see, I gave him a magnet.

Asst – Maryanne – shorter than me, cute, short brown hair, hip  .

Took 4 photos of me holding an eyedropper and a hand comp and a magnet.

Looked through my book, liked the water pic.  Showed me a shot he did of his asst Maryanne grabbing one his his large goldfish.  Really cool shot!   2 fishtanks in his studio.  Shares with a woman – Julie.

One other hand model there – Melissa Jackson, she says she is the harry Winston hands.

Dark hair, nice, says she plays baseball and all sort of things.. ?

ye

11/19/06 –  Test – Koji Yano – through Michina Koide

Koji studio over on Kent.  Really convient.  Japanese.  Hip, tall, works out, hair is past ears, long black and straight.  Smiles a lot.  

mail@kojiyano.com     I wanted to reach out to you because my friend Koji Yano he is photogrfer    (www.kojiyano.com )  and we will work on a spec shoot for either Surface or  Zink Magazines.

We shot some amazing stuff.  Hand and foot.  With the nails all painted cool.  

11/21/06 – GS  - first magazine – CESD – prianka and danielle

wore:  dark ann taylor jeans, rose cashmere twin set (should have looked hipper and worn my 7 jeans)

3 of us studios  see denise..  before jeans.  Took a pic of my face and then one of me turned around and just my butt. 

11/28/06 – Entity – Parts – Davies & Starr  - photo by bill - $2100

wore:  jeans, black tank, cranberry oversweater

Bill – photographer – long hair in ponytail, dark blond, really nice.  We chatted a lot about how digital has changed the industry.  

Chalkie Davis – owner of the studio.  Has shot lots of famous people, knows elvis Costello.  Has books of his rockers from the 60’s published.  From England.  Said he would never ask someone what they do for a living but that is the british way.  Quiet but gets chatty when he gets to know you.

art director – Kathy  Baker-  short dark blond hair w/bangs, nice flipstyle.  Glasses, 40’s.     

kathyebaker@gmail.com

client – Tom Holcomb –bald, earings, little close shaven go-tee, rugged gay- redoing a house in LA, has a dog named Jack Black getting his sister Lilly White for 1/07.   has 2 kids, one 19 one 17.  one is going to go to Harvard and is dating a rocker.  His xwife sounds crazy.  Dates people that are bad for him.  One of his boyfriends stabbed him.   his ‘hands’ are Lisa Boone a hand model out of Chicago.  He has won the worlds nails competititon 8 times.  

 tomst66@yahoo.com   818-388-6858  

11/29/06 – GS -                     - FFT

wore:  jeans, rose cashmere twin set

epileptic mom

11/30/06 – GS – Pharmacy – Parts - @ NoHo Studios

wore:  jeans, orange short sleeve shirt, hair back

11/30/06 – Axe – Arcieri – Celcius Films – director Greg Ramsey  - scale X 12

Production:  BBH   Axe Neutron tv spot   for unilever

wore:  jeans, black tank, cranberry sweater

dave nelson – contact person – bout my height, thinning short light brown hair (bald spot in the back), good smile, brown eyes, light go-tee, married

jeff – pa – long light brown (almost auburn) hair pulled back in a ponytail, 

chad – pa – dark brown short hair, 5’8” a little rounder but not much sorta like a levy shape, late 20’s-30’s

peter weiss – props – long reddish curly hair, kind eyes, glasses, 5’7” thin, works a lot at Arf – really like him.  He helps me out a lot.  

HB & Appearex

I headed out of NYC last week for a go-see in Philly on Thursday. The casting was really quick, just in - snap a pic - and out! and I was on my way south. I had a shoot for Hamilton Beach on Friday and was excited to get to Virginia at a decent hour so that I could stop in and surprise some friends.
We were shooting a bunch of blenders and an iron on Friday and they also had another box on hand for me to check out! I had not seen this one in the stores yet...keep an eye out!!



The following Monday, I continued south to Winston Salem to shoot the latest campaign for Appearex. I am really excited about this shoot because this time they have decided to use more than just my hands!!! They used all of me for the shoot and the pictures look great. I can't wait to get copies.

Lola getting me all purtiefied


The last shot of the day was of me being a tourist taking photos. They really liked my camera and wanted to use it for the shoot. No problem..makes it easier for me to 'pretend' that I am taking pics :P

Work always cancels out Vacations

I was all set on Oct 26th for my trip to LA. My flight was to leave at 8am on Friday...as usual, I got a call about a job. I had gotten a few calls for editorial type shoots for the week that I was to be in LA and my agent and I agreed that they were not worth canceling the trip....now, though, ... this job.. this job was worth it! Another TV spot for Degree! :) I love this client and adore the production studio where they always shoot. So it was an easy decision to cancel the flight. Turned out to be a good thing as I also booked two other jobs during the week that I would have been gone.

The shoot for Degree went GREAT! There were 3 other hand models there to be the forearm gals. I was the deoderant roller :) The shoot went really well, we got all the rolling done before lunch and then the other gals had the dream hand model job..the job that most people think the job is always like (it NEVER is) They climbed up into this 'bed' and just laid there listening to their ipods with their arm stretched out over a green screen. They had to lay there for long periods as it was a time elapsed shot. I think those models can go down on record for having the easiest day on set EVER.

October 2006

 10/3/06 – GS – feet – parts

Joshua Sheldon studio

10/5/06 – GS & drops

GS – Dixie Cups – at Mike Lemons – Michael at MPE

Drop – Heery

Drop – Reinhart – 1^st droop

Drop – Greer Lange

An audition in Philly  ☺  a chance to sneak out of the city for a day of lovely driving and an audition and a chance to pop my head in the door of my philly agents.  My audition at Mike Lemon Casting for Dixie Cups was at 11:30am, a very agreeable time.  I left at 8:30am and just made it.  Traffic was smooth sailing up until the last 10 miles and then there was an accident.  So while I thought I would be an hour early, there I sat with cars surrounding me doing my makeup as I waited and prayed to make it.  I called in and told them about the traffic and said that I expected to be 15 minutes late.  The people at Mike Lemon’s were very understandable and said not to worry about it and to take my time.  THANK YOU.  I actually ended up walking through their door at 11:30am on the dot.

The on-camera go-see went well.  I held a plate in a few variations and moved it about a bit.  Sandy was running the auditions and we had a nice chat afterwards as there was no one waiting to go at the moment we finished.  She told me all about their casting website and I have decided to try it out for a year.  I would like to get more active in the acting side of things and it might be a bit easier to find a way in the door to those auditions outside of NYC.  The agents in Philly cast principles for national commercials and a lot of day-player parts in feature films.  So I am going to try out the websites and really work on that market for the next year.  I’ve been so focused on print lately.  

Afterwards I headed over to Heery Casting which I found has moved!  I called them up and they gave me walking directions to their new place, which is just lovely.  Very spacious and gives out a great vibe.  That of course has to do with the fabulous people working inside.  Most everyone was out to lunch already though I did enjoy chatting with Marianne and she was happy to take more work materials for their files.  

From there I continued on to an agency that I am not listed with and I want to be listed with.  They have a strict no-walk in policy as they do open calls on certain days of the week….but I was gonna try.   I had an envelope with my materials on the inside along with a note of introduction on my hand paper.  I sat out front and called their front desk ‘Hi, My name is Ashly Covington and I am a hand model from NYC.  My friend, Handyman (one of my male hand model friends who is w/this agency) was shocked that I am not listed with your agency.  Since I am in your area on a go-see today  Handyman, said I must call and get my materials into the fabulous folks at your agency.’   The girl said that ‘yes, I could, but that I would have to be quick about it as they were very busy.’  I went on in with a big smile and the package in one hand and one of my hand magnets in the other.  The girl hardly looked up and just gestured towards a pile of unopened packages.  I said “thank so much and I’d really like to give your fridge some decoration in appreciation of you letting me sneak in on a ‘closed’ day.  I handed her the magnet and suddenly she looked up and made eye contact and had a nice smile and said ‘oh wait, here, give me the package, I’ll take care of it”  

We then chatted awhile about their amazing roof deck and how lovely it was to be able to eat lunches outside on beautiful days.  I ended up staying for about 10 minutes longer than the planned 60 seconds. 

I’ve been sending them stuff for a few years now so hopefully taking that extra step will get my hands in their doors.  

I headed north from the city to stop at Greer Lange.  Greer is back to work there again and I was really excited to see her again.  She founded and ran the agency for longer than I know and I loved working with her, such a nice lady, but then she sold the company and left and the work through the new Greer Lang & assoc. sort of pittered out for me.  I just didn’t know nor have the time to go down and meet all the new agents.  Now, though, Now Greer is back and I wanted to stop in and see her smile.  She is such a warm person and really took a lot of time checking out my new photos.  She gave me a password to update my online portfolio with them and is going to let me try it out for 2 months to see if I want to continue paying for it.  I like having the test run.  We chatted for nearly ½ hour and then I hit the road to visit the Didden’s in northern PA.  I love looking at where I am on a map and realizing that I am close to good friends.  Yeah for drive by visits ☺  I had an amazing time meeting little kyle and seeing what the proud parents are up too.  All that and I got back to nYc before Midnight.    

10/16/06  -GS

Intercom Hotel – CESD

Went full on business for a gosee for Intercom Hotel through Danielle over at CESD.  I really appreciate her trust in sending me out for so many face go-sees.  I’ve booked one and hope to book another to keep her trust firm.  The last face booking was back in August, so I’m hoping another one happens soon through her.  

The go-see was a quick 20 minute wait and everyone was really nice.  This would be a cool job to get as it would involve a 4 day shoot in Boston and the pay was a cool 2 grand.  I still think I look a bit young for the proper businesswoman.  A look that hopefully I will grow into right now though I still look too 20’s.  I’ve started working on this though and am testing reactions to different hairs and makeup looks.  I’ve gotten pretty good at straightening it and think that gives me more of a polished look.  Recently I’ve changed up my eye makeup and that is starting to get me more attention.  I think I am starting to look more sellable to the clients.  And that is what it is all about.  

10/17/06 – GS

Merc Pharm at noho through - fft – casey

Weight watchers at 28 W 15ths st, Jennifer )girl at sign in long wavy strawberry blond hair) – fft – casey

Shoot – Jordan Kleinman

Had two go-sees today through Casey over at FFT.  I like him a lot.  He is really nice and took the time to go through all of my photos to help me pic out the best for a comp card. I like it when the agents really care and take their valuable time to help fine tune my craft.  I am so blessed to have such a great group of agents helping me and looking out for me.  

I was called for one of the go-sees by another well liked agent who understands my practice of always going for whoever calls me first.  I will not play favorites.  Hand Models are not required to sign exclusive contracts in nYc at the moment.  

The first was business casual for Merc Pharmaceuitcals and at NoHo Studios.  I love going there, it is just so easy to get to and I’ve been there so many times that I don’t have to think about it anymore.  Just have to remember the floor and particular studio number.  I wore my dark grey slacks and a fitted button down top and looked quite the professional.  They snapped a few shots and took my comp card and I headed on to the Weight Watchers which was another easy subway ride away.  I didn’t pass a Starbucks (my changing room) on the walk to the studio and was happy to find they had an accessible bathroom (sometimes they don’t) so I could change into my short sleeve casual top.  They shot a few pics and off I went.  They day was great.  One of those great no wait days.  In and Out.  Nice and Clean.  

And home to change for the shoot with Joran…

10/18/06 – B – book cover – gilla roos, david

st. martin publishing, “Saturday girl” by Naomi ragan

bill miles – photo   ken scott – asst

steve – client    erin fiscus – asst

10/19/06

Cuisinart – Parts – non – union tv

Director – Andy Praskai – owner of Walnut Park Productions – late 40’s, early 50’s.  thinning light brown hair, mustache, big smile, rounder, really nice.  Very relaxed set.

Producer – Vicki Stoiber   -- said she would send me a copy of the voucher.  Dark hair

AD – Juan Reinoso – 5’7” Hispanic, really nice

DP – Mateo Londono – taller than me, slender, dark hair with a touch of grey, good looking.  gotee

1^st AC – Jim Hair

2^nd AC – Dave Flannigan

Prop Master – Sally Bonython – from Australia?  Short, pregnant.  Husband works in film.

Asst. Props – Charles Dellafiore

Gaffer – Gary Haspeal

Electric – Chris B

Genny – Tommy Sestare

Key Grip – Sal Carolie

PA – Tory Clark  -- tall, chunkier AA, nice smile though crooked teeth.  From Atlanta. Lives in bushwich.  Really nice.  

Home ec. Asst – bill hogdon – curly hair

Clients:???  Can’t remember..

Mary – dark blond hair to shoulders w/bangs, glasses?  Chunkier, 5’7”

Makeup – angela  Buono  973-985-5859   isisvixen71@yahoo.com  lives in Nutley, lived in alberquerque for a year or so

Place called Alcone on 49^th tween 8^th and broadway

RCMA Olive Beige 1

Mac studio fix N5

Teaching company cd

Guns, Germs and steel – book

Today was a lot of fun, I didn’t even mind getting up at 4:30am to ensure that I made it to set on time.  I always hate the ‘trying to fall asleep the night before’ worrying that one of the three alarms might fail.  Somehow though, every time the beep-beep-beeping starts in those dark hours, I am up and rearing to go.  Maybe it’s cuz I know that I am going to get to be on set that day.  I love getting to be on set.  The shoot was down the Garden State Parkway in southern Jersey.  Happy dance, I get to drive my car further than just changing the side of the street for street sweeping.  I love driving my car and I miss the opportunity to drive it daily.  Though I know I will miss the convenience of the subway should I ever move to LA.  There I would probably begin a dislike with my car.  

Today, oh Today was great on the fairly empty streets of Brooklyn, loving the eerie pre-dawn light that falls from neon and streetlamps in patches over the dirty streets.  A plastic bag fills with a wind gust and whips up and about darting in and out of the light.  Here a moment, gone a moment.  And I’m in my own bit of a movie.  

There was no traffic and I made it to the opulent neighborhood where we would be shooting dead on the map quest time of 6:50am.  My call was at 8am.  I’d always rather be an hour early than 5 minutes late.  That stems from two things – the obvious work ethic thing pounded home by having worked the other side, really seeing how one late person can harm a shoot’s success and then because of my mother.  Thanks to my mother I am rarely late.  I feel 95% confident in saying that statement.   My mother while a wonderful, well liked, giving woman is always late and as a child I was always late since she was the one getting me wherever I was going.  And that panicky feeling of wondering if I would just catch the yellow bus as it pulled out for the 3^rd grade trip to the rock quarry and hoping & praying that if I did just make it that my bestfriendforever Amy would still be saving the seat next to her.  And I didn’t like the way my stomach felt as we stood in the darkened foyer of the church listening to the starting hymns of Christmas Eve services, planning how we would try to open the door just this much (cuz that much farther and it made looootttssss of noise as we had proven many times) and squeeze through to sneak on the back row of seats, which were hopefully not full and if so then plan b was to just find a space wherever and enjoy the service with some other family, a family that knew how to get there on time so they could sit together.   

So I hate those feelings and I do get a little wide eyed if I think I am going to be late for a work function.  And generally I am an hour early.  Always an enjoyable hour early.   This morn, I had disc one of Hero’s of History – a friend’s gift for the road.  

I drove by the set – a large  sprawling mansion home in one of those ritzy neighborhoods.  Beautiful house but…  well, perhaps it is just the country girl in me, but I would rather have a small place with a lot of land.. than a luxury home that overlooks another luxury home which over looks another luxury home and another and…  I drove past and around the corner and hunkered down to do my makeup and give Hero’s a listen.  

I realized later that I must have given those matching pink  sweats wearing house wives quite a scare.  There I sat in my car looking all stalkerish while neighborhood kids waited with their parents for the big yellows.  & since I was quite intent, sitting there quite still and staring out the window,  trying to absorb some of the lessons from our past, I’m sure I looked a bit threatening.  I'm up to India though I think I need to pound in more of the kindness to unkindness and sincerity to insincerity in a 3^rd listen before I move on to Gandhi.

Around 7:40 I headed over to location and went on it to meet a lot of fabulously talented people starting with the caterers.  One of the finest BLT’s I have ever had the pleasure of eating.  It was perfection down the amount of browning of the bread.  Perfectly crunchy.  I got it on the advice of the VTR and boy was he right on the money with that!  Delicious.  I went on in the house to chow down and settled in at the kitchen table that could easily sit 14.  Easily 4 ½ times the size of the kitchen table my father built for our family.  

After brekkies the makeup artist and I headed down into the ‘basement’ to get my hands camera ready.  Twas no ‘basement’ really, I shall call it Funment, cuz that was what it was, Funment land.  We wanted to move in, we wondered if the family would notice…  the center room where the steps lead down to was the playroom for the family’s 3 children.  At one end there stood a air hockey table (with overstuffed cushy chairs where someone normally would stand to play, cuz why stand when you can lounge in comfort) next to a carnival style basketball game next to the classic wooden dartboard then a large screen tv with 3 different video game systems and hundreds upon hundreds of video games lying carelessly thrown about next to books and books of what I can only imagine stores even more of the same.  The boy’s side.  

And then the girls of the family not to be neglected had a ballet area with a raised wooden stage area, ceiling to floor mirrors and a full on ballet bar that looked out over to a shelving unit that held more toys and games that Wal-Mart at Christmas.  And yes, that room alone is easily 2 ½ times the size of my apt.  If you went right  there was the gym and the sauna – the playground for the adults.  Off to the left  was a sitting room, the nanny’s room, a spare room AND AND AND a full on movie theatre, complete with plushy red chairs (most comfy movie theatre chairs I’ve ever sat in,) a concession stand & Now Showing posters to make your really get the feel of the theatre….but his theatre went on step further in rocking out – it had a bean bag section, oh yes.  The bean bag section.  Brilliant.  

The makeup artist found a perfect match for my color and she readied both my hands and then we left Funment and headed upstairs to see what the first shot would be.  The set smelled delectable.  Mmmm mmmmm..   salmon and crab cakes were grilling on the fantabulous Cuisinart Grill.  And the salmon was all seasoned and the juicy cooking sounds were going and well…my mouth fills and I drool now in remembrance.  

I liked the director on first site.  He had a big easy smile and a laid back presence.   He patted the chair next to him and we watched the monitor for the big zoom in shot of the salmon sizzling.  Oh god, it looked good.  The camera went from pulled out showing the whole grill with the salmon on one side and the crab cakes in the back and smoothly glided into a tight shot of one juicily sizzling corner of salmon, the hero*, was shown on the grill.  The juices were popping and running and well, I just wanted to take a huge bite.  

For my shot I would be squeezing a bit of lemon over the salmon, one of those beauty close-up shots of the thumb and the forefinger on a sliver of lemon with the spray arcing up and over the hero.  This would be my first time squeezing a lemon for camera.  The food stylist had a tray ready to go and said if I had any trouble to get someone to score the backside of the slice.  She could not stay for the shot as she had pork chops to prepare.  I climbed into set, there were a fair amount of flags and reflectors and got to meet the great people I would be very close with for the next 9 hours.  They had already gotten the first shot down in great time and everyone was smiling and happy.  Ideal.  They turned the grill off to let it cool down a bit as my hand would be hovering just above the hero and very very close to the grill.  The director said he had faith in me and that we would just go ahead and shoot the first full practice with the squeeze and the grill on.   They were shooting on film, so this is rare as film is so expensive.  I knelt down and we got the positioning down in a few pre-roll practices, there is not a lot of room for movement in such a tight spot and just moving 1/8^th of an inch can change the whole shot.  I have a monitor though find it easier when I can see my hands in the shot**  to just watch them and memorize the spacial relations.  I would have to make sure that I did not let my hand drift when the time to squeeze came…my fingers could move in on the lemon but nothing else could.  then we hunkered down to nail it!  

Camera Speed.  Camera Roll.  Action.  Squeeze.

And hell yeah, that squirt arced beautifully down over the hero, landing in glistening drops on the salmon’s sizzling skin.  Shot like this for 3 takes and then switched to a view that had my fingers coming in from the side with the lemon.  This position was made possible because of the observant prop master. The position was a bit dangerous in that it had me needing to be able to press the side of my hand up against the grill which was very very hot so that my fingers could be squirting from the bottom front corner of the salmon.   I was already dodging grease poppings and spurtings and was trying to figure out another position when he came to the rescue with a kitchen sponge.  He placed the sponge on the grill and then my hand could press right up against the whole side of the sponge.  The shot was such a close-up that none of that could be seen.  And yes, the sponge was quite burnt and pretty warm itself by the 3^rd take in that series.  We got the shot quickly and it looked great.    

The rest of the day was a nice shot of my hand reaching in and opening the top of the grill.  I sat perched on the kitchen counter next to the grill opening it for each new thing you can make on the wonderful machine.  This took the majority of the rest of the day.  The food propping was the hardest.  It takes a lot of time to get each piece of meat perfect in its proportioning and  to lock in on the symmetry of the situation on the grill.  Lining up the grill marks, getting the perfect amount of grease, selecting the true hero.  And it was touch conditions – the lights to create the bright daylight made us all sweat like we had been hiking through the Sahara and the fact that the grill needed to be on and at full blast for all of the shooting and a lot of the prepping made it a hot and dangerous (2 people got burned) situation that became bearable and even fun because of the people.  I love watching the prop masters.  Their attention to perfection in the details is amazing. 

The last shot of the day was the pancake pour.  The camera rolled back over the most perfect pieces of bacon you have ever seen to 3 bubbling blueberry pancakes and handy pouring batter out of a glass pitcher.  Gorgeous shot.  Delicious shot.  Ahh, the bacon.  Again, the smells on this set were ridiculous.  The food stylist helped me practice getting down the perfect pour.  She gave me some tips and was pleased with the look.  I hopped back up on the counter.  A few clumpy pours lead to a better mixture to pour and then we got the shot rather quickly.    

And then I was gone back on the road and very surprised to find myself not in traffic.  All the traffic was coming the other way and I made it home in record time.  

*hero is a term used to describe the product that is the featured one.  While there were 6 salmon cakes on the grill – one was picked to be the best by the food stylist and director.  The one with the best shape, best coloring, most sizzle – and this one became the hero and was the star of the shot.  

** I once did this shoot (awesome shoot) where I had to click a razor head onto a razor and twirl it up and out of the shot.  I was using my right hand and only holding onto the base of the razor.  The base needed to click in with a smooth motion and then lift and twirl.  I practiced and practiced.  Sometimes it was smooth, sometimes it was not.  

Then the camera position was figured out and I realized that now I had to practice from another angle, with my hand bringing the base towards me and into razor head.  The camera would be shooting over my shoulder watching the base come straight to camera towards the razor head.  So now I would not be able to see the point where the base should click in as I was doing the action.  Now I would have to guess based on the center.  I practiced this way a lot a lot a lot of times.  And sometimes I got it.  And more than that, I didn’t.  

I kept practicing until the moment they called me to the set.  I was sweating a bit.  

The good nature and my comfortable reipor with the director would be imperative now.   I’ve heard tales of hand models crying in the corner because a shot was just impossible to get.  I know it happens, I’ve been there….but that’s another story…and I should finish 2 before I start on a 3^rd….

So I get to the set and realize wow..they have added an awful lot of flags and reflectors.  HA – all my old fears quickly jumped off the bridge and disappeared.  What was I so worried about not being able to see the backside of the razor. HA.  That was a small thing really.  Ha.  I had to take a moment to laugh at myself for spending so much time fretting about such a trivial little obstacle.   Here, HERE!  Right here in front of me what an obstacle to truly be afraid of.  Oh yes, this..this was a real reason to know fear.  There was to be a black flag directly in front my face.  And the camera would be moving in so I would have to sit facing the camera with my right arm coming out from my side and going under the flag to glide the base home.  The only place a monitor could be placed was directly above me on a stand.  

<the position --  sit on a chair, hold your right arm out straight from your side at a 90%angle, and lean your head backwards to look at the ceiling, yep that’s it.>

Oh and everything in the monitor is backwards.   We did get enough good takes to leave us still smiling through the stress of the situation though phew… point of story is that I do appreciate a shoot where I can SEE my actual hand.

10/24/06

was having one of those organizing work days while my landlord pounded on my floor tiles that were poking up.  He had discovered them the night before when I needed to call him to come save me from the ceiling leak*  and not feeling at all good.  I had been mostly down for the count with one of those icky tummy things.  The only reason I was upright was because of the landlord.  And then the call, I needed to go show my forearms for Degree.  It was one of the pull myself together moments.  Go from feeling/looking like ass to just feeling like ass while looking healthy and happy and completely fine.  My only worry was that I would sit around chatting for too long as I adore the people at this particular production company and that my tummy troubles would return.  I was lucky in that I had not eaten anything, so I was banking on that.  Power to positive thinking because by the time the next 4 hours were up, I felt as good as I was pretending to be.  I got to chat with the director for awhile and then I laid down on the floor and he took a few photos of my forearm.  Everything went great  and then turned even better when one of my favorite other hands, The Actress walked in. We had a good time chatting and catching up while we waited for the deodorant to dry on our forearms, they had to test to see if we would be allergic to it.  We shared a taxi and rode the Path back together.  I am very happy to report that both The Actress and I booked the spot so we are going to get to hang out together all Friday  ☺  I am very excited.  

*

I'M SO PSYCHED.  FUCK YEAH.   my apt and i have gotta be entering some sort of truce.  the apt shower has been fixed. though i have at times wished for a second showerhead in my roomy (kickass cherry ontop goddamn reason i rented this place) shower, that is not where i had imagined it would be.  Not covering my ceiling inching fearfully close to my work area, sending out fingers along the seams and just beginning to reach the corners of all that is work precious to me.  the light fixtures served as a rain type showerhead.  it was lovely. 

disaster averted only because of that whole 'you are where you are supposed to be' theory that i try oh so try to keep forefront in my mind.  i had been dissapointed because i had turned down 2 shoots in VA for this week.  they both came up at seperate times and neither alone could give me the $$ to make the fun drive worth it...and by the time the second offer came, the first job had allready been booked.  and so i was able to do neither and so i was here to deter the damage.  happy dance. 

the apt and i are on a road to happy.  because isn't #3 lucky?  first the noisy neighbors, then the rat attack & now the spitting ceiling. 
so there, 3 times should make a charm.  oh wait.  fuck i forgot about adventure with Flies.   and i don't have heat.  pshaw, who needs heat in nyc.  my landlord suggested i turn on the electric oven when it gets to be wintertime.  

oh wait WAIT..  i might just be okay....   ....  there might be 2 set of 3's!!!  oh yes, i might be on to something....
living 3's - flies, KKKKKrazy Kouple, rat
apt 3's - ceiling, no heat & floor tiles sticking up to stub toes on (was fixed today - yeah)

I had to be tested and i can accept that.  so i should be all good now.  i know how to conquor the plague of flies next spring, the screaming/stomping duo from upstairs broke up and moved back to some midweastern state & i've found a way to deal with the rat in my own little mcgyver way (+ my mom gave me some scary rat trap thing that no way in hell am i ever going to use) and i was here to stop the great flood of 2006, my landlord pays my electric bill so he can pay for my spaceheaters & he fixed the floor today - woo hoo. 

i get a little weepy looking around and seeing what would have been destroyed.  i could get obsessive about thinking on buying a tarp to lay over my work prerreeeecccciousessssss. 

i've got the best li'le apt in all of brooklyn and i'm gonna appreciate that.  oh wait - was that a drip?   naw, all good.   my apartment is ideal.

10/25/06

back to my work organizing day.  It is 3:30pm and looking like I am actually going to get a full day in with no interruptions.  Trying to round up some more work.  I’m not in the obvious red anymore.  I have almost covered the achingly slow month of September.  I aim to always get a certain amount in and that month..that month fell way short.  I only had one booking the entire month and it did not come close to being enough money to make my bare minimum (which is not that much as it is.)  It is nice to feel busy with bookings again.  A few more tv spots and I could maybe inch above even and get to pay off a chunk of my 0% interest (till june) credit card that I don’t like to think about.  Expenses to keep a business running add up quickly.  I just spent $350 for 100 more of my hand comps to tide me over until I can decide on a version of my new comp.  and that will be about $1200 for both the new hand comp and the new body parts cards.  And I just realized I have about 30 headshots left, so I will need to do a re-order on those..so that will probably be another $500.  All that will go on my 0%, gotta love them, in anticipation that the work will come and I will be able to pay down that balance before summer.  In this business you have to spend in order to make.  I’m 3/4’s of the way to having my next 3 month rent installment in the bank.  As soon as I have the 3 grand in there for that and the full amount for my day to day credit card then anything else that goes in the account goes straight to 0%.  And since my rent isn’t due until Dec. 1^st, I’ve got some time to make that AND hopefully get some additional gravy and take care of some bills.  I’m feeling good that it will happen.  I’m already owed the rest to make rent + my normal cc bill, it just depends on when I get paid.   and with Degree shooting on Friday, I might be climbing up over the bare minimum mark.

Okay – back to work..  I’m organizing my contact list into an exel form so that I can see what I’ve sent out to my clients and start organizing for my Halloween mailing.  This year I will be hand delivering two agents Halloween treats (I could only find two cool hand bowls,) mailing some Halloween treats to a few others, cards to 10 people and a holiday email to a great number.  I’ve got to get my pumpkin picture from Jordan to make into a holiday email card.  

10/27/06

I was already awake long before my alarm went off at 5:45am.  In fact, I left them on after I got up just to do another test…make sure both alarms are working properly for that random night when I might actually all asleep.  I walked out of my door around 6:45am and got on the crowded subway train.  Not as crowded as it would be at 7:45 but a hell of a lot more crowded than I was expecting.  This was the first morning that I noticed the sticky factor of the subway in the winter months.  Everyone is so bundled against the biting winds of the city and then all pressed together in a small little box with no ventilation.  It is simply delicious.  You can feel the sweat trickling and the irritation rises because there is no room to take your jacket off once you step in a crowded train.  Now you could take it off on the platform…the problem there is that the platforms are often almost as cold as outside and some are outside.  

Made it to set around 7:30 and went on it to say good mornings.  I love working at Arf.  The people there are just so warm and interesting and funny and it’s just an awesome atmosphere.  They had created a new ‘talent’ holding area where I set up my little station for the day.  They have wireless and there is a lot of sitting around waiting for deodorants to dry for the degree commercials that there is a lot of down time and it is nice being able to check email and work on computer projects.  I was the first set of hands to arrive with Melina (The Actress) and Kara (Rocker Girl) having a call of 10am.  The reason for the time diff is that I was the chosen hand to be the deodorant roller.  So I would be making all the swipes with Degree and the compitiion deodorant sticks.  Instead of swiping down a black board as with the previous commercials, I would be swiping down one a forearm.  The forearm gals would lay on their backs in this really comfy bed on a platform with their arm stretched out to the right on top of clear plexy with a green card underneath.  I stood on the other side of the plexy with their arm reaching out towards me.  I reached in and rolled the deodorant from the top of their forearm to a little above their wrist and lifted the product up and out of the shot.  The producer was the stand in forearm for setting the shot.   They created a bit of film of her arm just laying there and then we got to my business.  She got out of the bed and now I had just a foot and a half section of clear plexy with the green underneath in front of me.  Both sides of the plexy had been blacked off…  so imagine a bowling lane…  that is what I had with the non existent arm starting where the pins would be and stretching down the center of the lane towards me.  

About a foot away from the ghost arm, on the black, there were little green marks so I could know where I needed to start and stop the swipe.  This had to be exact.  This would be the length of the swipe on the forearm gals.  And they were going to put those two images together in editing.  

Now to know where the ghost arm was they put a monitor up across from  me with the image of the ghost arm playing and then faded it out a little and added live playback so I could see my hand in the shot as well.  

The Metronome was started so that I could make sure each swipe was exactly the same length of time.  One an two an one an two an…..   and I steadied myself  on the plexy with my left hand, leaned out of the line of camera, bent over and across the side of the plexy while stretching my right hand in.  I was staring at the video monitor at this point to line up the start position on the ghost arm.  Once in position the cameras started to roll and I could go at any point.  

At this point I needed to look away from the monitors and down at my hand.  I had to work on watching for the marks out of the corner of my eye while making sure my arm moved in a perfectly straight line down the center of the plexy.  I held my breath*  listened to the mentronome.  One an two an one an two an…  swipe and swipe and swipe and swipe and swipe.  Over and over and over again.  I kept going till the director yelled cut.    And then we did the same thing for the next couple of hours with all sorts of different types of deodorants.  To show how much the competition sucks of course.

We got the shots pretty quickly.  I was surprised by how fast we finished.  

They thought they might use me for a forearm gal as well and we had a forearm off.  Ha ha.  The Actress, Rockergirl and I stood around with our arms stretched out on a table for everyone to see.  They liked Rockergirl’s arm the best as she had used some self tanner and was a little darker.  The stripes of deodorant would show up on her arm better.  The Actress and I were a little shocked by the fact that Rockergirl admitted to putting on self tanner after the go-see because the whole reason for the go-see was to make sure all of our arms could be interchangeable.  Why would she change her skin tone after being booked?   We all went to hang out and chat while The Actress and I were spray tanned.  My first experience in spray tanning.  And well…I don’t know.  I guess it worked a little. So we hung out for a few hours, they shot some with Rockergirl and then called in a backup in The Hands.  She showed up and our holding area turned into a soritity house, the gossip and talking started in tensely.  You see there is a girl on the hand scene, D Russian…  and D Russian is after The Hands clients.  D Russian is approaching them herself and somehow stealing long loyal clients of The Hands.  Now this happens..sometimes you are in tight with someone and then  you just aren’t anymore.  No real reason.  It has happened to everyone.  But D Russian is specifically targeting The Hands.  She is asking all the manicurists about The Hands clients and for specifics and is not asking about the rest of us.  We are not considered a threat, apparently.  Good, I’d rather be under the radar.  The Hands very animatedly talked about her connections and how she was gonna have to put a stop to the goings on.  

I have had a few experiences with D Russian and each left an unpleasant taste in my mouth.  She asks the questions you don’t ask.  Always picking for information in a very direct way and at one audition she asked #1 and me to put our hand next to each other and then proceeded to go on and on about how are hands are identical and how we must always be up against each other for jobs.  You don’t pit people against each other like that.  Admttedly #1 was less than warm when she first met me at an audition 3 years ago.  In the time since we have seen each other many many times and I have remembered to ask her about things like her daughter and her home upstate and she and I are quite friendly now.  Distantly friendly which is sometimes an easier way of doing it in this business as it can get akward…case in point..

Rockergirl had worked steadily for client A for 4 years, shooting with them 2 times a week…..this past summer she stopped getting those calls…   The Actress is now shooting with them very regularly.  The Actress felt bad when that was realized during our hangings out but neither could think of a reason or something that happened to make that change occur.  It just happens.  One minute you, then next someone else…

And as it goes client B who The Actress used to work with quite regularly has been using me since a shoot we were both on together 1 ½ years ago and they haven’t used her since.  They are using me sporadically when Rockergirl isn’t available.  So everything goes in cycles.  I just want a cycle where I am the main one used.  

So we sat around and waited for the spray tans to work.  They didn’t really appear to have much effect on The Actress or me.  I was really still there only as a backup at this point my contribution having been the rolling.  Everyone else got the really cushy job of just laying there for 30 minute time intervals.  They were filming their arm while they lied there still and then will time elapse it for the commercial.

The Actress and I were wrapped at a really decent time with the clients deciding to keep the two darker forearms.  And off we headed to the path train and our trip home.  I really like The Actress, she is a sweet girl and very fun to spend 8 hours hanging with on set.