Ailana’s Diary — 2025-12-13 (Patreon)

Part of this post is "continued" from Instagram, so it is FREE for everyone!

Some posts and sections of some posts are reserved for Supporters.

AGI Stories content almost always appears on Patreon first, in advance of all other platforms. You get it first!

GOOD MORNING

I’m just going to stop pretending that I’m going to do something besides a blanket for the good morning post on this trip. I mean, I worked in a bathrobe at least once! That’s plenty for hotel life, right?

Jasmine is in the bathroom getting ready. She’s heading out the door dressed for the first shot. Then, we’ll do the blanket thing I talked about yesterday for her wardrobe changes.

All in all, I’m pretty pleased with this whole trip. Jason’s work has been brilliant. Jasmine has not only managed transportation and lodging but has leaned into modeling as well. I’ve tapped into what I saw art directors do over the years and am growing into that role. It’s all a work in progress, but this has gone a lot better than our first outing for the lotion shoot in the desert.

So, I guess that’s about it for now. I’ll check in once we get going and share some pictures.

See you soon!

The Storylines are the heart of Ailana Geven Imagines, and they are found in the Collections section of the site.

Support AGI with:• one-time contribution through TipTopJar.• one-time contribution through Throne.• Patreon Membership.

All characters in this story are fictional characters, their images generated with AI for AGI Stories. They do not represent any real person, nor is their appearance based on any real human.

SWEATER WEATHER

I’ve got the shot requests on my iPad, but to be honest, Jasmine has it more or less memorized. Jason has it on his phone, but just for the sake of convenience, I’m tracking things and marking them off.

In total, there have been four sweaters already, with six more to go. I’m going to share a few.

After this, there are a few shots for some equipment. There’s a backpack that needs to be featured. And then, the last shot a little later will be the most challenging.

The wardrobe is sports shorts and a sports tank top meant to demonstrate sunglasses. It’s supposed to get to near 60°F (15°C), but it’s sort of windy. I found a patch of fall asters still blooming, that almost matches the shoes and top. That’s where we’ll try to capture the shot. I think it will work really well.

So, that’s your progress update for now. All is well, and things are looking good. I’ll be back in a little while to let you know how the backpack and sunglasses shot came out.

See you then!

MAYBE TOO CLOSE

So, the pictures with this post pretty much go with this first paragraph. We got the shots and I really think they came out great. We covered the products and I believe the client will be happy. There’s no pictures to go with the rest of the story.

We wanted a long, telephoto shot of the sunglasses (somewhat like the one I shared below). As Jason had just finished, a man walked into frame from the parking lot, and it was clear he was approaching Jasmine. Jasmine kept walking toward us as we walked toward her. He was maybe 100 yards away when she noticed him.

When he was maybe 20 yards away, he called out, “Hi! What are you doing up here?”

Jasmine stopped and turned around. “Taking photos for a client.”

“What? Are you like a model?”

Jason and I had reached Jasmine by then as she answered. “Kinda like a model. Is there a problem?”

Jason moved to her side as the man answered. “Just asking. Why are you up here modeling?”

Jason answered. “Our client wanted shots on a mountain trail. Why do you ask?”

Now, I got a bad vibe so I got my pepper spray out of my pocket. My self-defense training says flight before fight, but he was between us and the parking lot. Jasmine noticed me get it out, but the man was busy asking strange questions.

“Is all that gear expensive? Can I look at it?”

Jason handed Jasmine his camera. “No, really, we don’t have time for show and tell. We’re on a schedule and we need to get back to the car now.”

The man sort of flexed on Jason. “What’s your problem, dude? I’m just interested in what you’re doing.”

“Sorry,” Jason replied. “We need to get going.”

“I just want to see your stuff. What’s your problem?”

Jasmine moved forward a step, the tone of her voice intense and direct. “You’ve got about three seconds to get off the trail before you spend the next two hours trying to wipe pepper spray out of your eyes!”

The man yielded and we hurried to the car.

The rest of this Chapter is exclusive to Patreon.

We got to the car, put the equipment inside, got in, locked the doors and started driving. We got out of the parking lot and onto the road back to the hotel.

Then Jason said, “When we were planning this shoot, I felt like being out there by ourselves was a slight risk. I waved it off, thinking we weren’t that far from the car. Five-hundred yards… But… I guess we got lucky.”

“Having pepper spray wasn’t luck,” Jasmine replied.

“I always carry it. You never know.”

Jason shook his head. “I shouldn’t have ignored my instincts.”

“Well, we can be glad nothing really happened,” I said.

“Yeah, but it could have. And he could have been armed, you know.”

“Well, gear can be replaced,” I said. “But he might not have stopped there.”

“Okay… no need to dwell. Lesson learned. Next time we do anything like this, we have one of the other guys come with us. Not to be sexist, but… guys are stronger so it would give anyone not armed pause before they’d try something. And just another set of eyes and hands… I wish we’d have brought Micah on this trip.”

“Well,” I replied, “in our defense, we didn’t know about this mountain trail thing. In the ski resort we were never this alone…”

“Vulnerable,” Jason added. “Yeah, that’s true, but still…”

I added, “I’m not disagreeing. Just trying to rationalize why we got into this situation.”

“If you two had been here alone,” Jason added, “he might have been braver.”

“And blinded by pepper spray,” Jasmine added.

“You should carry some,” I added. “Both of you. I checked mine through in my luggage, but we could have picked some up at a gas station.”

“Bottom line,” Jason added, “we weren’t prepared for this. Next time, I say we enlist Micah to be on the trip if Clay and Josh are both gone.”

Jasmine shook her head. “I sort of think if Clay had been here, that guy would have been rolled down the slope about the time he started smarting off!”

Jason laughed. “It crossed my mind when I handed you my camera, but I’m glad it worked out like it did.”

“So am I,” I said. “And I think maybe we just add in fees for security for future jobs and plan on figuring out how Micah can do it. Or we hire someone from a service for the day, if he can’t.”

Jasmine smiled. “I think he’d do it, if he can get off work. And I’d like it a lot.”

“Well,” Jason said, wrapping up the discussion, “we can talk about it when we all get to St. Croix. We’ll have time to work out all the details.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” I said.

As we pulled into the hotel parking lot, I finally felt my shoulders relax. We’d gotten lucky today—lucky that it ended with a warning and not anything worse. Sometimes this job feels glamorous, but the truth is that most of our best moments happen because we’re careful and prepared.

Back in the hotel room, Jasmine sat on the edge of the bed, quiet for a moment. Then she said, “It’s been a long time since I had to stand up to someone like that. I wish I could say I never had to do anything like that, and I hope I don’t have to do it again.”

I nodded. “You did exactly what you should’ve done. Could be you changed the outcome completely.”

She nodded and forced a smile.

We started getting ready for dinner, but I kept replaying the moment in my head. Not the danger itself, but the reminder that life asks us to stay both brave and prepared. I’m grateful we walked away with nothing worse than a story we’ll remember and a lesson we’ll carry into the future.

Moments like these stay with you. They sharpen your awareness and remind you who you can depend on.

I am reminded that even in beautiful places, we need to take care of each other. One of the best parts of AGI is that none of us really do this alone—not when we travel, not when we create, not when things get a little uncertain.

Tomorrow will be another day, another chapter, another chance to do this work a little wiser than before. And, St. Croix will give us a chance to regroup as a team and figure out how to move forward safely.

That’s more than enough for this post, but I’ll be back later with a—hopefully lighter—goodnight post.

See you then!

GOOD NIGHT

Saturday has come to an end. Aside from our little moment on the trail, everything unfolded according to plan. Except for dinner.

I did not plan to order the five-layer chocolate fudge cake topped with vanilla ice cream. No regrets, though!

Jasmine had me set up the camera and let her take the picture for tonight. No regrets there either.

Going back to ninth grade and Mr. Schnider’s photography club, I’ve come to believe most people know a good picture when they see it. I told Jasmine to look at the display and push the button when she liked what she saw.

I liked it, too.

“When you set up the camera and the lighting, I guess the hard work is done,” she replied.

I think that’s partly true. But, time and experience is a great teacher, if you stick with it and apply yourself. And if you don’t believe that, I’ll cite Geoni, who started her serious photography journey back in July, 2024 when we were in Cairo.

As the AGI team has grown, we’ve divided work some, but we all do multiple things. For now, Jason, Geoni, and I do the bulk of the photography. But in this day and age, the cameras are pretty smart, and I think being interested and willing to learn is the key to getting great results.

I said this in that Cairo post when Sasha, Geoni, and I first set out together: “I told Geoni that it’s going to be great having her on our adventures. I’m sure an extra person running the camera will help capture more things for me to write about.”

That’s even more true now. Everyone who can collect images creates options for content that AGI can put out to market.

So, I’m all in when it comes to sharing what I know about cameras and light! And knowledge is power, for Jasmine, to share moments of her own life with Micah. Likewise for Sasha, Clay, and everyone else!

So, along those lines, let me say…

May you never stop learning, never stop trying, and always grow into new, exciting things.

Good night.

Be your best you!

Become a Patreon Member (Click Here)

"Thank You" Message to Paying Supporters:

Thank you very much for your help underwriting the cost of producing AGI Stories content. You can be sure that your paid membership is valued greatly! At the time of this post, not counting hardware, AGI Stories racks up expenses of just at $100 per month.

Patreon members… You are covering a nice portion of that.

I believe most of you who help with the costs are doing so because you want to support the production process and show your encouragement. That means so much to me! I am honored and greatly moved.

While most of the content on AGI Stories is free and much of it is public, the hope is that reserving a few pictures and small sections of the post for you is a modest indication of gratitude!

Again, thank you very, very much.

~AGI Original Stories & AI Images