Thursday, April 04, 2013

One New Everyday Girl - Lakeisha

Fans...this is one everyday girl who I'd been trying to shoot for over two months! President Calvin Coolidge had a quotation titled "Persistence". Make sure to look it up before or after you read this entry. Persistence made it possible for you to have the honor to see our newest everyday girl, Lakeisha.

I first saw Lakeisha at her place of work. She was a chameleon, and looked different each time I saw her. One day, I actually had to stop her to ask if it was her. That was the day I told her about the shoot, and she was down for it. Every few weeks, I would happen upon her, but she said she was occupied away from work. My disbelief grew because I figured she may have been on the fence about it, but didn't want to tell me. One time, a coworker/friend of hers was there, and I playfully called her about about it in front of Lakeisha. I told her coworker/friend about the shoot before I met Lakeisha, but she hadn't called me yet either after she said she would.

One day, when I told her I wanted her to be the spokesperson for the shoot because her coworker/friend still hadn't called. That was when Lakeisha blew me away by saying she, her coworker/friend, and another friend were coming to shoot...but they had to have their toes done first. I knew her friend had unpolished toes, but went along with it. To prove she was told the truth, she slipped off one of her shoes to show me her toes. My disbelief took a back seat...for the time being.

More weeks passed. I saw her again, and talked with her. I had my camera handy to show her images from the shoot. That day, she wore boots, so I showed her two recent shoots with girls who wore boots too. That time, I asked her how her feet felt after a long day at work. Her exact words were, "They feel like s--t!" I told her that was all the more reason to do the shoot. And with it being so short, she'd be in and out before she knew it, plus it would be fun, so that would make time fly. She asked about what type of shoes to wear to the shoot, but was still occupied away from work. It sounded good, but my disbelief made a comeback.

The last time I saw Lakeisha, I tapped her shoulder with an empty water bottle, and kept going. I'd thrown in the towel at that point. Later, she saw me, and told me she was about to call me one day, but didn't know if I shot on Sundays. I told her I was not a store or bank...I was just me. Unfortunately, the card I gave her got trashed by a relative, so I gave her another. This one time, I had the opportunity to show Lakeisha was she could expect if she did the shoot. I guess it convinced her because exactly one week later, she and both her friends wanted to shoot.

Unfortunately, with all that good news, there was some bad news. First, Lakeisha has lots of shoes. I wasn't specific enough with her about which ones to bring. She brought three pairs of shoes, but only one of the pairs was right. Next time, I will be more specific. Second, one of Lakeisha's friends had to pick up someone, so she had to leave. That meant all of them had to leave. Lakeisha had a fun time, and her friends enjoyed her shoot. They want to come back...it will just be a question of when.