I suppose the biggest cliffhanger from my last post (at least if you haven't been kept up to date on Facebook) is whether or not I got the job at Shameless. Sadly, I did not. I got a very nice email from one of the women who own the company, saying that they were hugely impressed with my poise and professionalism, as well as my portfolio, but that when it came down to it, they had to choose someone with more experience than I had.
Disappointing, yes, but I think there was always a part of me that knew I wouldn't get it. Even though I'm sure I could have done well (and I think they probably thought that too), it would have been hard for either of us feel totally confident about it given my lack of experience, so hiring me would have been a risk for them. Also, from what I gather, I would have basically been the entirety of the New York branch, so it would have been a lot of responsibility and very little accountability. Again, I think I could have handled it, but I can see how it might have seemed like a bad idea to put that much responsibility into the hands of a 22-year-old. Or well, 23 now... weird. (my birthday was last Tuesday)
Frankly, in retrospect, I'm not sure I would have been the ideal candidate anyway. As much as I fully support their mission, and as much as I love their style and 50s pinup photography and all of that... I'm not sure it would have totally fulfilled me creatively. I got into photography because I wanted to create art, and within the realm of art, I have a very specific aesthetic--I like art that is dark and edgy and dynamic. I like art with sharp angles and high contrast and drama. And 50s pinup photography is, well... none of that. There's a reason I decided to go in a high fashion/editorial direction, and although I think the job at Shameless would have been very fulfilling in other respects, I'm not the kind of person that can so easily turn away from what I'm most passionate about.
Of course, if I had gotten the job, I would have been thrilled and I would have found a way to make it all work, so maybe this is partly a sour grapes sort of thing... but in the end, I'm not nearly as devastated about the situation as I thought I'd be because I'm still counting it as a win. No, I didn't get the job, but you know what? I was one of five final candidates to be considered for a job in my field out of over 600 applicants... I had just come straight out of college, I was the youngest candidate, and I got as far as I did completely on my own merit. That's not something I can put on a résumé, but it does definitely give me a major boost in self confidence.
So that was scary at first because as usual, I had put all my eggs in one basket, and suddenly I found myself still unemployed, and without a plan B. For a while, it looked as if the worst case scenario (that I would wind up going back home to California having exhausted all my funds) would actually come to pass... but then I got lucky. My friend Ricky hosted a party a few weeks ago because some of his work went up for sale on fab.com, and there I chatted with a friend of his who had also been at another party he'd hosted a few months ago. We remembered each other from meeting before and so we were catching up, when she mentioned that she was looking for someone to hire at her job. I immediately perked up and asked her about the position, and after hearing her out, I told her I was very interested, so she told me to send her a résumé and cover letter. By that Monday, I had an interview, and this week I did three trial shifts.
The job is as a receptionist/manager at a nail salon in TriBeCa. It's not exactly my thing (I'd never even gotten a mani/pedi before until about a year ago when my best friend practically dragged me in with her), but as far as my current situation is concerned, I couldn't ask for much better. For one thing, it pays $17 an hour (which is more than an elementary school teacher makes... let that sink in), it'll give me managerial and receptionist experience which will definitely be helpful to me in the future, and it's part time which means that I can work enough hours to be able to afford my living expenses, but I'll still have enough time to do other things (like photoshoots). Also, even if I'm not totally passionate about nail polish, I have to give them credit because they're not just a regular salon. They only carry products that are all-natural and toxin-free. They also don't do gel polish, which I admire because gels are a huge fad right now since they dry fast and last a long time... but they're not worth it because the stuff is seriously bad for your nails (you dry it under a UV light for god's sake).
So anyway, it's not totally official yet I guess, but I just finished my trial period, and I'll start training next week. The job mostly entails booking clients through walk-ins and phone calls, taking care of clients when they come in, organizing schedules, and other things. Pretty simple stuff for the most part, it only gets complicated when it gets busy and you have to deal with multiple people and tasks at once so you have to prioritize and remember things that you don't have time to deal with immediately.
On a different topic, I had a pretty wild night a few weeks ago when Dana invited me to accompany her to a fashion week party hosted by Major Model Management. I wasn't sure what to expect; I knew it would be at some rooftop lounge in Manhattan but somehow I'd thought it was going to be sort of a casual affair. When I showed up, I almost didn't believe I was in the right place for a moment; they had a list that you had to be on to get in, and the place was very ritzy. Monarch Lounge is on the 18th floor of a glass high-rise on 35th right by Herald Square, and it has an incredible view of the Empire State Building and the rest of the city. Select drinks were on the house, including a delicious grapefruit mixed drink, there was a DJ playing mashups and remixes of popular songs, and I was surrounded by beautiful people who were dancing and mingling on the deck. For a brief moment, I sort of panicked because I'd never been to such a glamorous affair before and I felt utterly out of place, but good ol' Dana pushed me to get out there and be social ("stop crossing your arms!"), and finally I was able to let loose and meet people. I made some connections there, including a few models, another fashion photographer, a hair stylist (who I almost worked with for my most recent shoot), and a couple of bookers.
Once the party started to die down, a group of the guys from Major invited Dana and I to go clubbing with them (which I'd never done before, but I was down because I was in a good mood and they were gorgeous), but we wound up going to a different party instead. I was sort of bummed at first... until I got there and discovered that we'd just walked into an app release party hosted by Johnny Wujek. In case you don't know who that is, he's Katy Perry's stylist, among other things, and he's become a recognizable face partly because he's on America's Next Top Model. It was a very laid back party, and at some point Johnny actually came over to where we were and sat with us, so we chatted for a bit. Later, once most of the people had left, he, Dana, one of Dana's friends from Major, and I went out and got fries at a diner at 2am.
So yeah. That happened.
In other news, I did that shoot that I was talking about in my last post, and it went great! I got the models through Major (Donia, one of the bookers, and I talked extensively at the fashion week party and she was able to get me a couple of new faces), and they were both wonderful. One of them, as it turned out, actually went to my high school haha (what are the odds!), but 5 years apart so we didn't really know many of the same people. Everyone on the team really brought their A-game, especially Angelina, the wardrobe stylist, who really had an amazing eye for putting things together. Every one of the pieces she brought was amazing, and was exactly what I had in mind, and she had like 3 gallon bags of accessories which she found ways to layer in interesting ways. The shoot did go waaaayy longer than I'd anticipated, partly because I'd expected to only have to deal with 1 or 2 wardrobe changes and Angelina brought 10... and the initial prep work also took way too long, but even though everyone was tired and hungry and sick of it by the end of the day, I came out with some great shots, and over all I'm very happy with how the shoot turned out.
So yeah! That's pretty much all I've got to say for right now... I wasn't really in a writing mood to begin with but I figured I should get all this out while it's still fresh.
Til next time!
