Homesick

For this image, I needed to show a college student who was homesick and missing her family.

My good friend Caroline suggested I visit her niece Meka at BYU. The dorm was perfect--just what I remembered from dorm life--cinder-block walls! What says dorm room more than that? I had her resting on the top bunk of her roommate's bed. Meka was an excellent model, and I suggested she try a job as a model at BYU. We had a picture of her very large family, which we put on the wall as reference. I chose an image of a home with a forlorn, wistful sky to put next to Meka, trying to boost the mood of homesickness further. I heard that her father would be traveling from California to view the broadcast live! I hope they enjoyed it. Thanks so much, Meka!

"God Believes in Him"

I was asked to portray Tony Blair as a 10-year-old boy at school. He was worried about his father, who was serving in the war. His teacher suggested praying for him, but young Tony said, "I don't think my father believes in God."

"That's okay," his teacher said, "God believes in him."

I researched Tony Blair and learned that he went to school in a Choral School for Boys. I learned that most of those schools were converted old cathedrals, and the boys would spend a lot of time practicing singing--hence all the boys choirs with the high voices. I decided this would be best portrayed in a school uniform, however, rather than a choir uniform that looked like a high-collared nightgown.

Scott and his son Kaden were so sweet to do this for me! Kaden is a sensitive 10-year-old neighbor, and when I told him that his picture would be on TV, his eyes lit up and his jaw dropped! Getting him to act worried about his father while his father was standing right there was a little hard, though. Scott eventually achieved it by reminding Kaden of all the homework he still had left to do. That produced the sad face! Thanks a ton, Kaden and Scott!