Credit: Joseph Anthony Baker for the Summer 2012 Cordova by Ron Rosen campaign

Am I in Spain??? Madrid??? What do you think??? Maybe I’m in Nashville with a great photographer and technical skills to make us look like we are anywhere in the world??? (Hint: The last guess is your best guess!) This advertisement was emailed to me by my booker Misty from Advantage Model and Talent in Nashville. This is a advertisement for Cordova – a wonderful jewelry company. The shoot took place in Nashville with a crew that was just as talented as they were hospitable. The makeup artist and studio location was familiar from shooting the Taylor Swift Comcast TV Segment for Covergirl advertising. This should have paid off while driving to the casting – but due to my lack of directional abilities…. I still managed to get lost! However, once I was confirmed for the job, I got to hear stories from the other model in the photo about his new lifestyle in LA was also interesting – he is Ashton Kutcher’s stand in for the show Two and a Half Men – so you could imagine the humorous stories! These stories, great food, and the kind crew made the day very fun! Plus…The jewelry was stunning!! No technical skills needed in that department! They sparkled and shinned naturally! If only I got to keep them as my payment!!!

I thankfully now have time to post a bit more since I have my first year of grad school behind me. It was truly the hardest semester EVER!!!! I honestly don’t know how I will make it through the fall semester with the same amount of credit hours, externships, and traveling for work…whew! Traveling and online grad school classes was enough to handle! It will take a miracle! But, this semester ended with a miracle… All A’s!!! That rounds off my current 4.0 so far for my first year of grad school… I expect you guys to keep me accountable to maintain these grades as my schedule only gets more busy in the next little bit!

Now that finals are behind me, another new chapter of my life is starting! Many of you may remember reading of my adventures in Miami with one of my best friends – Ashley Durham – as we both work for FORD Models. We decided to make our next short stay be in Chicago! I spent a month here last year and this is overall where I am based out of, so this stay is more familiar for me as I know what more to expect. But this time is a little different, and more fun, having Ashley here. It is crazy looking back to where I was this time last year with my stay – just trying to build clients after having graduated with my undergraduate degree in Early May. I was so excited to finally have the time to model after putting it on the back burner for a year of school (FORD signed me on Aug. 2010 right at the beginning of my last year of college. I am so grateful they were patient with me only being able to take a few jobs here and there during that year so that I can be where I am today!!). It is hard to imagine it has almost been 2 years that I’ve signed with FORD Models. Time really flies!

These short stays near where the agencies have offices are often requested in order to gain new clients, go on castings, and simply stay current with your portfolio and etc. Thankfully we have my cousin’s home open and welcome for us to stay in during our stay – You’re the best Peggy!!!! Having this home is really very comforting and keeps us feeling like we’re at home. The area is perfect -  the right mixture of farm land with various outlet mall distributed throughout Best of both worlds! The consistent homemade wheat bread is obviously an even better bonus!

Our schedules have so far seemed packed to the max, but we’ve only been here 2 full days! It has consisted of driving the 7 hour trip from KY on Monday and then going in the office to introduce Ashley to everyone on Tuesday (this was the first time she met them as she was with the Miami office prior to signing with the Chicago office). I have to admit I really like showing Ashley around Chicago. She was the one familiar with the agency the Miami area before I got there. So this time our positions have switched!

I can already tell it isn’t going to be a boring trip. Today is a perfect example – I stopped in the office today to do ‘Polaroids’ which arephotos taken by the agents without special lighting or backdrops to have in my file to show clients what you look like on a typical bases. During the shoot (which was surprisingly in the stairway – which actually turned out to have great lighting – great job calling that location Steph ) another one of the bookers (David – one great guy who always keeps me laughing as we work together to manage bookings) poked his head around the corner to ask if I could work for Carsons Pirie Scott today. So of course I said yes! To my benefit, a girl from NYC missed her flight to the studio so they needed someone to fill in last minute. It wasn’t that big of a deal as they are a consistent client of mine which you may recognize from my posts with their commercials and print ads that I do. Therefore, it wasn’t like learning what  a new client is like and etc. Before you knew it, Ashley and I were headed North to Milwaukee for a minor road trip to shoot for the day. It was a quick day with only three outfit changes as they were simply testing new backdrop and lighting ideas they may use for back to school ads. I was grateful and more than willing to take the opportunity.

Ashley, Mary, and I at Carsons Pirie Scott / Bon-Ton / Elder-Beerman Studio

I’ll keep you updated as I continue my stay in Chicago by various blogs on here – but the most up to the minute posts are on Twitter under MariaKY09 or on the FB Fan Page- ModeledByMaria. I would expect new recipes on here as well since whenever Ashley and I get together, a lot of cooking and good eating goes on!! I thought I’d share how my updated comp cards that FORD selected and ordered for me upon my arrival. These have been updated which was needed since my old ones still had photos from my very first shoot with Ford back in Fall 2010! These are like model’s business cards to pass out to clients on castings. On the front side you have one large photo, and the back are a few small photos  and you stats to make sure the client knows your measurements in order to have the right clothing sizes selected. I’m grateful for attending the shoot very last minute in Miami which is where the front photo came from. You may remember my early EARLY tweets about this shoot – I didn’t mind one bit to be at the beach that early… I wouldn’t trad watching that sunrise over South Beach for anything!

New Comp Cards - Photo by Jose Amigo

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