Well I’ve finally got an evening at home to relax and do nothing. I went to grab some food with KPR, caught up on a couple of episodes of The 4400, and played Project Gotham Racing 2 for a while on the X-Box. It’s just what I’ve needed after several weeks of non-stop activity. I’ve had some time to reflect on the past few days’ events.

The biggest thing I guess was the Frontline Focus shoot I did on Thursday. Hugh was kind enough to allow us to use the Staircase for shooting, and it was a fantastic location. I’ve shot there before, but having the whole place to ourselves was very luxurious. We were able to make use of many of the building’s unique architectural features, like the big windows and the spiral staircase. There were four models to shoot, and six couture gowns. We brought in a professional hair and makeup artist to help, and that made a huge difference. I think the photos turned out great. We captured a number of different looks, and because of the perfect makeup, I was very confident no matter what kind of lighting I used. I ended up using a lot of very direct lighting, with grids. Harsh, but dramatic 😛

I read an interesting article tonight about how chimpanzees conform to peer pressure. The article talks about a study that showed chimpanzees will continue to use a less effective method of picking up food, even after they learn a more effective method, just because everyone else does it the old way. It shows chimps are cognizant of tradition and the value of keeping the status quo in order to fit into their culture. It’s further proof that we’re not so different from animals after all.

…humanity is almost a perfect mirror of this: those on the bottom generally want to elevate their station in life through one means or another, and those at the top prefer to stay at the top, and thus become more conservative so as to maintain the status quo. I think we’re not as special and different from the rest of the animal world as we would like to think.