In one of our brainstorm meetings, Torie asked us interns a question that completely caught all of us off guard: “Would you all like to model in an On the Run photoshoot?”

As I mentioned in a previous blog, “OMG! Let Me Tell You About These Experiences!" some of us got to be on the set of a photo or commercial shoot for different brands; however, this was HLK asking us to be the models for a photoshoot of a brand, so, of course, our answer was a monumental:

This isn’t an unusual request for those who work at HLK, since they sometimes ask their employees to do the same thing, but for some of us, it was our first time modeling and let’s just say we learned A LOT.

**Here’s a couple of HLK employees posing for On The Run’s Instagram.**

Ding! I looked down at my phone notifications and saw that Torie had forwarded all of us an email from Zack Stovall, the man who was in charge of this entire operation. We were to meet at Shaw Park first thing in the morning and bring a change of clothes, sunscreen, and sunglasses. When I read this on the outside I kept it cool, but on the inside I felt like:

The next day, we all gathered around one of the park tables where we met Zack (officially) and our photographer, Chris Myers. It was clear that most of us wanted to be prepared for this photoshoot, because we brought way more than what was asked for:

Food in case anyone gets hungry
1-3 changes of clothing
Makeup, but I suggest just a few makeup essentials since you’ll be walking long distances at times
Extra sunglasses
SUNSCREEN LOTION
A hat to keep our face shaded
Contact information of others on the shoot in case anyone gets lost
Our lovely smiles
And WATER!!! I made the mistake of not bringing water and got dehydrated before we took our last segment of photos. Don’t make the same mistake!!!

We asked Zack what we need to do and quickly learned that the whole process was half winging it and half planned. What I mean is there were ideas on what kind of photos we were going to shoot, but there wasn’t a 100% certainty on which ideas we were going to be bringing to life until we saw our environment. We ended up taking photos on the park tables, on a blanket like a picnic, and on the bleachers where we were asked to cheer for an invisible softball game while holding our On the Run cups. In reality, we ended up applauding some random guy who was smoothing out the softball field in front of us. Go Random Dude! Drive it to home plate!!!:

As we were going through the process, we found out a few important tricks of the trade:

You can eat the food, but it’s not suggested. Zac tried this with On the Run grapes that had been sitting out all day and getting touched by various people. His synopsis was: “This was a bad idea!”
The soda and coffee cups used in a photoshoot are usually empty. Try not to “spill” or tip your empty cups over in the photos.
Make sure the logo is facing the camera at all times.
Finally, most of the time you’re not going to be asked to pose as much as you will be asked to act casual, so just be yourself!

When we completed our time at Shaw Park, we moved to the next location: downtown Clayton. Although we were asked to meet near a certain intersection, it didn’t take us long to realize that we were going to need to walk down a few more blocks due to all the construction. We were trying to get photos where we stand and hold our empty cups as well as where we “casually” walk and talk with the On the Run products in hand.

**Chris Myers taking a photo of Zac Moreland, while Zack Stovall is either cheering him on or is photobombing enthusiastically. Either way, love it!!!**

As we were doing the photoshoot downtown, it was amusing to see passersby walking toward our direction, realizing there was a photoshoot happening, and freezing before they got to us as if we had some aura that screamed:

When they saw we were finished, these passersby scurried around us and we were told to meet at our next rendezvous point: the Art Museum near the Saint Louis statue in front of the grand basin.

**The Saint Louis statue in front of the Art Museum**

Here, we got some incredible picnic photos as we watched those in the distance on paddle boat across the water and some lady taking Instagram shots of her dog that was posing its “good side” for her:

The Emerson Grand Basin. Can you find the lady with her Instagram dog?

Once we finished our shots here, we went on to our final location: The World’s Fair Pavilion!

At the World’s Fair Pavilion, they were going to take shots of everyone walking “casually” with products in hand. As I mentioned before, I got a little dehydrated by this point due to lack of water and lugging around what felt like an 80-pound bag filled with makeup and other miscellaneous items long distances. (Again, don’t make the same mistakes!!!)

Zack was kind enough to let me sit this one out and cool off in the shade where I got to watch my fellow interns take turns pairing up with their empty cups to take photos. After a few shots and a chance for me to cool off, that was a wrap! We packed up and booked it back to our lovely temporary home of HLK, keeping in mind the lessons that we learned and the fun experiences we just had.

If this ever happens to you during your time at HLK or in life, have fun with it and whatever you do… DON’T FORGET THE WATER!!! Good luck everyone and stay hydrated this summer!