All Good Things Will End, So Will Bad Ones - Our Diwali 2019 Collection Photo shoot

Yesterday was the photo shoot day for our small online fashion business, co-owned by my daughter, Abby and I. I am just the custodian for now, as the business is her platform for greater things in life, in the future. 

The photo shoot was not easy, to begin with. Our photographer, who is also the graphic designer, did not want to work with those models from the earlier collection. And when a new model approached and asked for an opportunity, I asked him to interview her and see her fit. He was not convinced that she would fit but as she had about 1.6K followers on Instagram, he agreed to use her as the female model. We chose one of the students from the university where my daughter studies, a very good looking Pakistani boy as male model, friend of our photographer. 

The next challenge was getting the samples ready. In the past, we had done only samples for photo shoot and when there were orders, we would make fresh pieces and send to customers. But now, I am in full time employment. The only time I get to make any new pieces is either after work or during weekends. At this age of 54, long hours of work do not help. But such is life - it is never to our expectation. So, we decided to work around it. We prepared sample clothes for the photo shoot as well as the stocks. For women, we prepared sizes S - L for each design, for men, we prepared sizes M to XXL. So, when there are orders, I need not scramble and stitch new ones within the committed dateline. One of our online shops were at Etsy.com. Trust me, they do track the sales cycle - date order is placed and when it is fulfilled. So, we had to ensure that we had some room to maneuver to fulfill orders and not kill ourselves in the process. When the samples were ready, we did the fitting with the models. The male model looked awesome in our designs - he killed it. So, did our photographer, who wore one of the designs and looked as if he just stepped out of a fashion magazine. However, it did not go quite well with the girl - she was practically `swimming' in those attires, so Abby and I decided to use our plan B - fit the clothes to her size using safety pins!😃  It worked though. 

The day of the photo shoot was absolute test of faith - we had opted for outdoor shoot and it was raining in the afternoon, the time when we had scheduled the shoot. Location was Astaka Morocco. It was a Sunday, the crowd was unforgiving - graduating students, newly married couples and of course, those looking to take exotic instagramable photos. Astaka Morocco has been listed as one of the most instagramable places at Putrajaya, our administrative capital plus a favourite haunt for wedding photo shoots. So, basically it was a bad day for us in many ways, but we continued with our plan. The models were shot under shade and there wasn't enough natural light to begin with. For the first 3 hours, we had to rely on our photographer's magic. He was soaking wet, not thanks to the drizzling rain and humidity that made him sweat; in the process he had an altercation with my daughter - all in a day's work. Then after three gruesome hours, when we were about to wrap up, the sun suddenly appeared!!😖 Just as we were about to wrap up. Jeez, what timing. Our photographer was at wits end, but such is life. All good and bad things would certainly come to an end. Nothing stays the same forever. Neither does one's life. 


There would be times in our lives where everything seems too bleak but we keep pushing on, and then suddenly, a ray of hope appears and life takes a turn for the better. Vice versa. Thus, a wise man once said - it things are bad in your life, do not be too unhappy; if things are really good, do not be too happy, for every moment changes. Nothing remains the same. Neither would the empty nest. It is just another detour in the highway of life 💗

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