cattle call

Today I became one of those mothers who stands in line with their baby for 2 hours trying to get them an ad campaign. Baby Gap was holding a casting call at the mall right down the street so I figured what the hell, take a chance! Tonight the pictures were ready to be downloaded. The "photographer" didn't wait for one smile from Sean, and cut his head off at the hairline in every shot! I can only assume that this is what he was going for, maybe to show what Sean would look like in a winter hat?!

I got there 1 hour and 15 minutes before the action began. At least I wasn't the first one there; I was 8th. It was actually kind of fun chatting with the other mothers while we waited and the excitement of our children's burgeoning modeling careers grew. Sean was well behaved. It was a good thing I got there when I did, for by 10 AM opening time there were hundreds of mothers and a few fathers with their kids ages 0-10 snaked around the entire mall. If I had arrived and seen that, I would've surely retreated to my car.

I wasn't taking any of it very seriously. Sure, I made certain that Sean didn't have food on him and that his hair wasn't sticking up. Yes, I was grateful he happened to not have any self-imposed scratches on his face. I dressed him in a comfortable dark blue Gap sweatsuit with bright yellow Baby Gap lettering across the chest (the photographer made sure to incorporate this perfectly into all 5 shots alloted). Looking around, I noted that some mothers were clearly insane, checking out the competition with tight smiles and darting eyes, holding their kid's outfits in plastic dry cleaning bags until the very last second.

It was our turn pretty quickly. I had to plop Sean down on a stool amid a set up that was lit brighter than the sun. I had to crouch down behind him (again, thanks to the photographer for getting my fingers in the shots!). The 5 frames were over in a second. I asked how Sean did; "real good" was his assistant's answer.

So, tonight it sinks in that we wasted 2 hours for 5 so-so pictures. We'll chalk it up to modeling experience.

xo