Friday, April 20, 2012

When Opportunity Knocks... You Have to Answer! My day with The BUCCANEERS

It's not every day that you get a voice mail like I got yesterday. While I was away on a photo shoot in Captiva Island Monday and Tuesday (that's why I have not blogged in two days) I had no internet and VERY spotty cell coverage. I was lucky to find a place to get one bar on my phone so I could at least update my Facebook status (I sound like an addict... hmmm, maybe I am, but that's not the topic here) Okay, moving on... I retrieved my voice mail messages and had one from a talent agency that I have worked with in the past saying they had a client who needed a makeup artist and wardrobe stylist for a shoot today and tomorrow, and to please call them if I was available.

Now yesterday was a HECTIC day from hell... it was my first day home after two days of being out of town, I was exhausted and woke up a bit late. My poor son told me his tummy hurt but quite honestly I thought it might be an attention seeking tactic since he had missed me. I fed into it a bit  by hugging him etc. but that was the extent of it. We got it the car to drive Baleigh to school and because of the tardiness I had to go in to sign her in late. All of a sudden my son said "mommy, my tummy hurts bad!" and he proceeded to throw up in the lobby of my daughters school. A half hour later, Corey (my boyfriend) frantically calls saying he was headed to the ER. I had not even had a cup of coffee yet! (ha)  Luckily they are both okay now but they certainly gave me a welcome home that wore me out!

Despite all the craziness, I finally managed to call the agency back and the agent proceeds to tell me that if available, I was needed for a promo shoot for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Immediately assuming it was the cheerleaders I was semi-psyched and welcomed the opportunity but as the agent continued I realized it was a shoot with the players and the coach! Holy YAY! I was STOKED! I explained that with some slight rearranging I could be available no doubt, and of course I rearranged things. I was told that I had to call the Ad Agency to go over details, so I did. The contact at the agency (who had already seen my website) asked me if I was experienced in working with athletes... of course I said, yes, (although the athletes I had worked with were not Pro, and a few of them had been "pretend athletes" aka paid actors) Point being, an opportunity was knocking and I was not only answering but I had  hors d'oeuvres in hand. The producer asked me to send a few photos of my work on athletes and as long as they looked good... I was hired. (sweat began to drip from my forehead) I had JUST moved and all my photo CD's were still in boxes and the photos I needed were not on my hard drive. CRAP! There are two photographers that I have done this type of work with and those are Scott Kelby, and Joe McNally... two WORLD known guys who are ALWAYS out of the country doing seminars, conventions, classes... etc etc.

What was I going to do? Well... I contacted both of  their assistants and as luck would have it they were able to get me the shots I needed! Scott was actually in town and wished me luck. ( I love that guy!) WHEW! I emailed them over and landed the gig. A half an hour after the email I was on the crew sheet and my itinerary was sent over. Here was my "talent" lineup...

Davin Joseph
Carl Nicks
Josh Freeman
Vincent Jackson
Ronde Barber
Coach Schiano

I nearly peed my pants when I saw Ronde's name... he is my favorite Buccaneer! I could barely sleep and my nerves were in high gear this morning. I was going to 1 Buc Place to make some NFL players look great for promo stuff ( tickets, calendars, billboards etc.) for the upcoming season. How COOL was THAT! I needed to be pinched but nobody was around to do it! (boo) Dreams really do come true, my first REAL celebrity shoot was today, and I must say that ALL of these players were AMAZINGLY friendly. Ronde was SO funny, I love him even more now! I had a LONG but amazing day rubbing down players with silicone and spraying them with water to make them look sweaty, meeting our new Coach and making him look super handsome for his shots and I steamed about 30 Bucs flags for tomorrows shoot. I will be back at 1 Buc Place tomorrow and when I leave I will smile just as I did today realizing that if you stay on the road long enough you will eventually get to exactly where you wanted to be!

xoxo
~Shells~

"If you give up now, you will never know what is waiting for you at the finish line!" ©2012ShelleyGiard

Ronde Barber and me after his photo session


 Inside 1 Buc Place

 Me and Ty Law... retired NFL player


 As I was leaving tonight...

The autograph  I got from my favorite Buccaneer!

LIFE IS GOOD!

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