In Today's Update...
— My First Photo Shoot
— Words of Wisdom from an Elder Peer
— Why does Richard's stomach and appetite feel so off?

My First Photo Shoot

Well it would be last Wednesday that Mr. Baptiste would ask me if i would like to come a photo shoot he was doing on Saturday. Of course i jumped at the chance, and didn't even bother to ask what he was shooting.

So, yesterday after a late night at a friend's bday joint at the Ludlow Bar the night before, i woke up early (8 am on a Saturday man) and headed out to midtown Manhattan. As i got off the train and walked through the Madison Square Garden area, it smelled like a thousands of people had done number two on the street. Thankfully, that lasted for only one long block.

At the studio, which is deep on the West side, i met one of Baptiste's assistants, who seemed pretty much in my age group — he told me he has been doing this for like three years. The studio was extremely large, with several different areas:




Anyway, Marc was a little late, but his asst. introduced me to the other photo asst and some of the people involved in the shooot &mdash sadly i can't remember the name of anyone i met. The shoot was a regular fashion shoot, which i think began the day before, and typical went on from 10 am to 6 pm, give or take a hour.

After taking in the catered breakfast and a fridge filled with lots of beverage choices, i waited with the others — stylists, makeup artists, etc. — for the model and Baptiste to arrive.

When all was good and ready this is how things went:

Baptiste uses three camera bodies, and one 165 mm lense. His assts. would refill each camera with a roll of 120 film to keep things moving. One camera was relegated for the Polaroids he would take to see how the pictures would look. records were kept and each film was numbered by the shot he was doing. So he would take about 4-5 rolls for each outfit change or variation the model made. Baptiste also had CDs playing to help with the mood. It went from Jill Scott, R. Kelly, Sade, and so on.

The lights that were in synch with the camera had to always be checked to see if they were popping, since they all served as a super flash.

At around 2pm, a lunch break was taken as everyone took in some catered Jamaican food. At this point, it was my cue to leave, and i bid everyone adieu, and promptly remembered the name of the makeup dude — only because it was Dickie.

Words of Wisdom from an Elder Peer

At the end of my last writing workshop session, i was discussing some things (relationships to be exact) with a woman in her early 30's. She basically put it like this: relationships come and go, but friendships tend to last much longer. i mean i mean i have heard this time and time again, but i guess i needed to hear it again, especially from someone who has no real knowledge of my personal life. She also opinioned (sic) that at my age it's really not conducive to really get into a "relationship," only because it's really hard to have one when u are still trying to figure out yourself and what u want to do. And i guess i concur with it because so many of my friends, peers, and i are going through our mid-twenties crisises. And i have been in enough situations where the person was not sure of things, and so i ended up with the short end of the stick and vice versa.

So i have to wonder though if could really be in a relationship or like the idea of being "everyone's" friend. Cause i really would like to be with whomever i connect with, which is quite rare, but want it to be in a way where both of us are 100% about our feelings. But the person who might read this knows this may be aimed at them. I don't who or how many people i will end up being with — but i hope u are one of them — if not, c’est la vie, i guess.

Why does Richard's stomach and appetite feel so off?

After all my mulling and sulking these past few weeks, i am still doing it but with less frequency. However, my appetite has been really off. Some days i won't eat dinner, or if i do, i won't eat all of it, cause my stomach feels funny. This has also gone down during breakfast. I don't know what it is, but i know it's not physical. But at the same time i think i know what it is. Confused — well i know i am.