From Daniel Cruz:
For the last 2 months I’ve had a side project going, in the midst of shooting my heart out this year with other fantastic photographers. This is the accumulation of those 2 months. Prior, I’ve had an itch to start doing styled shoots, but never had a go at it until I finally forced myself to tell Sarina out loud: “I think I want to set up my own shoot”. I knew exactly how stressful it would be throughout the whole process, so when it came down to it, I was ready to bend and flex under the pressure. The pressure of every item but THE PARK BEING CLOSED ON THE DAY OF THE SHOOT. So here’s the story of what went down the day of the shoot, that almost ruined the day: I had already been worried due to the downpour of rain the last few days prior to the shoot. With my iPhone showing clear skies for the day of, we pulled off the road and were stopped by a sign reading…uh…I don’t know something along the lines of: CLOSED! Fail. I laugh about it now, but my team didn’t know that my heart dropped to my feet. Here I was, the day of the shoot with fresh flowers, cake pops, props, and 2 models coming a long distance, absolutely, internally freaking out. Jc and I hopped out of the car, went under the fence, and searched out the only ranger on duty. Even though we had a permit, the ranger gave an absolute NO at the first plead. Perhaps then, my heart sank past my body, and into the ground! Every plea she shot down, and I learned that she grew tired of my bargaining. I was pushing the wrong buttons. So I stopped for a second, and informed her that the flowers would die, the cake pops would be wasted and we’d all have to drive 3 hours back home. Not to mention everything purchased would have been in vain. By the grace of God, she decided to give the head ranger a call to get an approval. Of course, she didn’t pick up. Of course. And we had to wait to see if she’d even call back that day. It seemed like forever. I prayed and prayed and prayed, as hard as I could. I made calls to everyone, trying to make something happen. While I was talking too fast on the phone, Jc ran towards with his arms up and said, “We got it, she’s opening up the park for us!” *EXHALES DEEPLY*. She opened up the park to just my team. Praise God! Though the trails I had planned to shoot on were shut down, I banged out the photos at lightspeed with the sun quickly falling behind the mountains. I shot for 20 minutes on details, and about 15 minutes for portraits. Even then, it was a good day. To all of my team, thank you for your hard work and commitment. God bless you.
Photographer: Daniel Cruz Photography // Models: Stella Simona & Caleb Wilson // Stylist: Sarina Harbin // Hair/Makeup : Celeste Styling & Artistry // Bakery : Kayden’s Kake Pops // Floral Design : Blooms De Amor // Video : Jc Guzman // Dress : Ralph Lauren
Daniel was kind enough to share this behind the scenes video with us! Enjoy!
