A Day Gone Very Wrong Right!

Behind the scenes of or Urban Picnic shoot, in which everything could have gone wrong, but nothing actually did. Phew!

You know those days when you wake up and just have a feeling that something is going to go wrong? Well, the day of our Urban Picnic photoshoot, I woke up feeling just like that.

It wasn’t just standard issue anxiety, either. There were REASONS. Katy, the star of our shoot, had been out the day prior, so I woke up knowing I might have to fill in for her last minute. Matthew had been out sick the day before, so I also might be on my own to direct the cooking scenes (would I have to direct myself?????). Ryan had been out on vacation, so he was relying on my prep work to make sure the shoot went smoothly. Oh, and did I mention we had rain in the forecast?

I tried to ignore my early morning nerves and went about my morning- took a shower, brushed my teeth, got dressed. Since there was a chance I’d be in the shoot I needed to select my outfit carefully- something summery that I could work in, but still look nice in for photos. No stripes that would look funny on video, and no crazy patterns that would conflict with the picnic blanket. I found the perfect dress.

Well, the dress WAS perfect, until I leaned over to grab my lunch out of the refrigerator and the zipper split wide open, right down the back of the dress. Sigh. I was already running late, so I changed as fast as humanly possible, skipped breakfast, and ran out the door, catching my bus by the skin of my teeth.

As luck would have it, my morning was the only part of the day that went awry. I made it to work right on time and found that Matthew and Katy were both in AND Matthew had already packed up the food Kim had prepped for the shoot! Once we packed up the car, Katy, Matthew, Matt, and I headed out to begin the shoot.

The day could not have gone more smoothly. The recipes Katy was finishing on camera came together in no time, so we ended up with nearly an hour to hang out and shoot the breeze before heading to our next location.

We arrived at Kerry Park to its gorgeous view of the Space Needle and downtown Seattle, as well as Seattle’s signature overcast sky. Not as summery as we had hoped, but there was no rain in sight, so we were happy!

As we settled into the shoot and began take photos and video of the picnic scene, a HUGE tour bus pulled up the park. I began to panic as the bus unloaded like it was a clown car and person, after person, after person set upon the tiny park where we were holding our shoot. It could have been a disaster, but as with the rest of our shoot, the day was going our way! With minimal intervention, the group steered clear of our picnic scene and we got plenty of great, tourist-free shots.

Not moments after we finished shooting and began to dig into the leftovers, I heard Ryan say “I think I felt a rain drop.” I felt one, and then another, and another. Then, one drop later, the sky opened up and it began to pour like it hadn’t poured in months! We hurriedly packed up our food, props, and photo gear, and bee-lined it back to the office, pleased that Mother Nature had timed her day so perfectly around our shoot. Broken zipper aside, the day was a success!

Becca Lee wrangles our social media accounts, blogger contests, and general marketing work as the Marketing Coordinator for Marx Foods. You can check out one of her many hair colors and read more about her (and her ridiculous sweet tooth) here.

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