Weekly Update

Hello once again all.

This week has been a bit of a struggle for me as I've been sick most of the week and haven't had much energy.  Nevertheless it was a very busy week and there's never a need to focus on the negatives!

Accomplishments: I was selected to film a web commercial for a designer called Mjolk Homme.  He is a very nice English "chap" that is in his 30s.  He went to school for fashion designing and has been trying to make his mark on the industry since he graduated college.  At first he started out with a bigger, more well-known designing business in London but had to strong of an urge to create his own style to stay with them.  After leaving  the company he moved to NYC to pursue his dream of becoming a world renowned designer.  The Commercial: I'm the "star" of the web commercial that we filmed under the Brooklyn Bridge on Thursday morning, 2/2/11.  I met the film team at 6:30a.m. on the corner of Peck Slip and South St.  We used a local hotel to get ready and to prep me for the shoot then made our way out to the small beach by the Brooklyn Bridge.  It was Extremely cold but so much fun.  There was a crew of 7 people working the shoot and I had to do so many different shots that I can't even begin to list them all.  I had the camera centimeters from my face to standing 50ft away from it on a old dock leg out in the middle of and barely above the freezing cold water!  It was quite an experience to say the least and was also the first sunrise I have witnessed since moving to NYC.  The commercial is suppose to be inspirational, which was quite simple to pull off since I was looking at the sun rise above Brooklyn.  I am very excited to see how everything turns out and will be sure to add it to my website once I have a copy of it.

Other Happenings: I had a ton of castings this week, mostly for upcoming fashion shows for the upcoming fashion week.  The castings I went to ranged from Tommy Hilfiger, MarcbyMarc(Marc Jacobs), Perry Ellis, Simon Spurr and Richard Chai, just to name a few.  Aside from castings, my girlfriend Amanda has come to visit me this weekend, which is so cool.  I love spending every minute with her and having her around to explore the city, not to mention having her here since I've been sick.  She is a very loving and affectionate girlfriend and is a great caretaker.  I don't know what I'd do without her!

Living: We now have 5 guys living in the model housing.  They are all quite cool and I've become close friends with a German fellow named Berthold.  He has been very helpful and answered a ton of questions I've posed to him about how the industry works once you've made it to the international level.  He's been a Fusion model for over a year and has taken part in over 80 fashion shows and numerous campaign shoots, he's becoming one of the top models in the world.  I'm also living with a guy named Garrett from Georgia, Louise from Scotland and Daniel from Sweden.  It's definitely a clash of culture but we find ourselves laughing and sharing memories more so than anything else.  It is amazing to hear some of their stories ranging from childhood to in the here and now.  It is Louise's first visit to NYC, he himself left a family and girlfriend in London so we are basically in the same boat.  He and I have traveled to several castings together and I've helped him figure out the subways a bit.  Speaking of subways, I had a family of four ask ME for directions a few days ago, and I was successfully able to help them, how about that?!  I'm a New Yorker now(but still country at heart), walking everywhere with my head down and at a pace that says I should've been where I'm going yesterday.  I find it hard to believe I've almost lived in the city for close to a month, doesn't time fly?

That's it for now.  I'll be sure to post next week with more exciting news(hopefully).  Take care everyone and be sure to stay in contact.  I miss everyone back home and hope that all of you are doing fine.  Until next time,

Austin