Ailana’s Journal—2026-04-28 (Patreon)

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GOOD MORNING

First call in St. Louis, and we’re already moving fast. Geoni is on set with Jason shooting.

I’m wearing a dress for my quick-change strategy. I’ve mentioned this before. I can pull off the dress quickly—zipper in back—and get started changing when it’s my turn in wardrobe. Half the time, I’ll go barefoot between outfits. Literally every second counts.

My trip to wardrobe is coming soon.

I’ve been coaching Jasmine and Kaylee on things like this. Modeling for the camera is, arguably, as much about getting on set as what you do when you get there.

They both understand what I’m getting at. Today’s sessions are mostly here in the hotel meeting room, so it’s a good bet there will be a lot of barefoot traipsing from here across the hall to the room we rented to be a dressing room.

While I wait for my call, I’m in photographer mode. Jason said he and Geoni drew names, and fate says that I get to shoot all of the imprinted SWAG products. I’m working hard at being creative about how to shoot keychains

This company even has a thing like a koozie but for a tube of lotion! Cover your tube with your favorite sports team—no one will know what you’re rubbing onto your hands!

I’m not judging. I’m just taking pictures.

I’ll be back midday with some examples of actual images we’ll deliver to the customers, so don’t go too far! I think you’ll be interested in what we come up with.

In the meantime, I hope you have a great Tuesday morning. See you soon!

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MAKING IT WORK

Midday of our first day in St. Louis and we are pretty much on schedule. We’ve shuffled a few of the boxes of SWAG to tonight, but we’re ready to move on to some locations for other products.

If you look at a lot of fashion modeling, you might notice that the model sometimes looks off camera. This is very strategic and intentional.

Lack of eye contact tends to soften the viewer's connection with the model. That means they connect more strongly with the product. When you’re trying to sell an outfit, you don’t want your potential buyer gazing into the eyes of the woman wearing it.

Kaylee saved the day on her shot. The orders were for about fifty jewelry shots. Rings. Bracelets. Earrings. And…

“Who wants to pierce their nose for this?” Sasha held up the nose chain.

After a lot of hesitation, Kaylee said, “Gimme it. I’ll break off the nose stud and glue it on. I got some eyelash glue in my makeup bag.”

Problem? Not a problem for creative minds. There’s a lesson there about thinking outside the box.

Jasmine’s shot is actually done on set. It’s a backdrop and floor covering. The wardrobe company brought it down. This thing was not cheap.

We all modeled rain gear, but Jasmine’s moved me, so I picked it to share.

Full disclosure: There was a little Photoshop work to blend where the floor panel meets the vertical panel. Jason came through with some elite Adobe skills on that.

While most of us have been here, Geoni and Izzy are out elsewhere. One of the clients is a tourism company. They shot on several locations highlighting some of St. Louis’s popular attractions.

After lunch, they are coming back and will use one of the hotel rooms to do some pajama shots. Kaylee and Jasmine will be in on that, too.

Also, after lunch, there will be more jewelry, more business apparel, and everyone comes back to model a huge line of jeans, leggings, and yoga pants.

Bottom line: We’ve got a busy afternoon!

At some point, I’ll be back to check in, so see you then!

TUNING THE SYSTEM by Micah Banks

Today at the factory, we hit some bumps. Nothing bad. Nothing broken. We just wasted a lot of time moving stock more than once.

Sofia and I paused on the way to our cars and I said, “We need to take a big look at how we’re handling the incoming supplies. It worked fine when we were only cutting and sewing one pattern.”

Sofia nodded. “Moving the pieces around more than once is definitely not what we want to do.”

“It wasn’t awful,” I said, “but it wastes time. We can look at things and come up with something.”

Sofia nodded, then said, “Do you want to grab a notepad and we can sketch out ideas over a burger or something? You said Jasmine is out of town.”

I shook my head. “So is my friend’s wife. They clean rentals as a team. I promised that I’d help him stay caught up.”

“What’s his name?”

“Isaac. His wife is Kaylee, and they’ve got a cute two-year-old. Remember, I told you about the cop on the beach?”

“Oh, yeah… Isaac… Kaylee… What was the kid’s name?”

“Hudson… I’ll get here a little early tomorrow, so when you get here, we can look at how we have the tables set up and all that sort of thing.”

“Okay… see you tomorrow,” Sofia replied. “But really, it was a good day. We can make it better, but today wasn’t bad.”

I nodded as I started to my car. “You’re right about that. And we will.”

LIKE OLD TIMES by Izzy Duffy

Some friendships transcend time and distance. I’m realizing what I have with Ailana is like that.

We passed each other a few times today, but we didn’t really work on any of the same sets until the very end. Still, it felt like we were part of something together.

She joined Geoni in the room we were using as the set for the pajama shoot. Almost immediately, she had ideas to add, and she coached Jasmine and Kaylee into some beautiful, cute poses.

I can tell she’s expanded her skills far beyond just looking beautiful. She’s helping other models look their best and—to be honest—she’s helping photographers capture those looks.

We got to the end of the day before we got to the end of the shot list, but Sasha and Jason declared we were close enough for today. We all loaded up in the rented van and came out for sandwiches, baked potatoes, and iced tea.

And, of course, there were some high-fives, just like it was 2016 again.

GOOD NIGHT

Day one in St. Louis is over and done. At least mostly done. I swear the SWAG boxes are multiplying.

After dinner, Jason and I cranked out another hour’s worth. One more push, and that part of the week’s work will be done.

Wednesday—tomorrow—calls for a mix of fashion shots and location shots. The tourist company has quite a few locations they have on their tour route, and we need to get some fairly specific images for them.

We’ll give up a lot of time to travel, but that’s normal for this kind of campaign.

After tomorrow, we have Thursday to wrap up. The call sheet for that day is detailed, but I think we can get it all in and make it to the airport in time to get home.

I’ve talked to Kaylee and Jasmine about letting Naomi book them outside AGI projects. I told them jobs might mean flying out one night, shooting all day the next day—after sleeping on the plane—and flying home—or to a second location—at the end of that day.

They were open to the idea. I told them that I often strung together shoots for six days in a row. Sometimes seven. I said I’d forget where I was and would have to look at my airline ticket to find out.

I believe they understood. And I know Jasmine, at least, did the math! $3,000 a week for six days’ work, zero expenses—it adds up pretty fast.

They made sure that, for a few of the shoots, I’d go with them. I assured them that was the plan, so there you have it… Maybe I’m helping them build up a little savings.

That’s it for today.

May your experiences be rich and meaningful so that you can share what you know with others to, in turn, enrich their lives as well.

Good night.

Be your best you!

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