I’m excited to finally share with you a project I’ve been working on for quite some time now…

It’s a fashion editorial I shot and produced in Ghana!

For years, I’ve been shooting my own editorials at home, playing the complicated role of both the photographer and the model.  I dream up fantasies of the world around me and retell those stories through editorials. I enjoy planning through all the fine details: the scene, the look, the mood— they are all important in storytelling (which you might find I’m a huge fan of once you start reading below).

What’s different about this editorial from the others I’ve created is that I also designed the dress! I’ve long been inspired by the power of clothes to tell a story and mood of a place, people, and era. The clothes have always been the most important component of all my editorials.

My latest editorial fairytale takes place in the warm streets of Cuba. Well not exactly, but that’s where I was transported to when I visited the Afro-Latino restaurant in Accra aptly named Little Havana. It was a charming, vintage-looking, Havana inspired restaurant with lots of character in its decor. Special thanks to my amazing friends and family for your tremendous support in bringing my crazy imaginations to life.

Read below about the crazy adventure that went into creating this editorial. From sketching the dresses for the story to picking the right colors and even shooting the editorial twice after the first one backfired.

Monday:

I had only 5 days to pull off my crazy idea. At this point, I did not even know what the dress would look like or how I’d make them.

“Why don’t you talk to your friend Sarah?” My mom had asked.

Sarah Christian is a super talented fashion designer in Ghana. She also happens to be one of my best friends! She was the perfect person to work with on this project.

I contact Sarah. She’s on board! We plan to go looking for fabrics the next day.

Later that evening, I look through my Pinterest board to get an idea of the woman I want to create for my story: A bold, sexy, hopeless romantic that frolics the streets of Havana with an air of mystery and charm. I name her “Carmen.”

I sketch her clothes… there’s a jumpsuit, a short tier dress made of colorful ruffles, and a long off-the-shoulder, two-toned red & blue dress…

These are my final three.

I stop briefly to imagine my character, Carmen, wearing her colorful ruffles as she walks into the eclectic Cuban restaurant.

“I have to remember to call the restaurant to get permission for the shoot!” I remind myself.

Tuesday:

There is a mix-up and Sarah and I are not able to go shopping for the fabrics. She suggests going to the market on Thursday. The shoot is on Friday by the way!

I sit in silence for a bit. On one hand, it seemed obvious that my crazy idea was not going to work anyway, but I couldn’t help but feel crushed.

“We can go on Thursday to buy the fabric. That’s the next time I’m free to go.” Sarah cuts through the silence.

“The shoot is Friday,” I remind her quietly. I remember again that I still haven’t called the restaurant to ask if I can shoot. Sarah assures me that she can sew up my outfit in time for the shoot.

Later that day:

I’m at Sarah’s studio showing her my designs. We select the long off-the-shoulder dress for my costume. I decide that I no longer want it two-toned. One bold color like yellow or red will do.

We take a look at the Cuban flag for reference and pick the color red for my dress. “I want a blood-red color!”

Wednesday:

I stop by Sarah’s briefly to show her a blouse I want my dress modeled after. We talk about fabrics. Sarah suggests satin.

Thursday:

I am at my internship job as early as 6:30 am after not sleeping until 2 am.

In the afternoon, I meet Sarah at Makola market — a super busy marketplace in the center of Accra — to look for the fabric for my dress.

Our friend, Nicholina, joins us.

I’m getting nervous. “Which red is the right red for the look?” “Is satin the right fabric?”

Sarah is busy looking for an off-white lace fabric for a wedding dress she is making for another client.

“Which red?!”

We start looking for my fabric and my stomach turns. We see some reds, but it’s not the shade of red we talked about…

“That’s more burgundy than red.” Sarah corrects me when I point at the red satin sitting in the pile of fabrics.

I think I see the one I want. “That’s not satin,” Sarah reminds me.

We are at another shop now. “Do you want this one?” Sarah asks.

“Yes,” I say half sure.

The vendor pulls out the fabric from the roll and starts counting for six yards of fabric.

He pulls a roll out from one arm and pins it to join the others tucked underneath his chin, “three…four…” he continues.

“Six yards!” and then he starts to cut.

Inside me, I’m screaming “waaaaait!”  Sarah is staring at me. I don’t say anything. Nicholina is biting her nails, lost in her own thoughts somewhere.

The vendor cuts the fabric. I want to ask Sarah again if this was the right color, but I keep quiet because I’m sure she can already hear my thoughts.

He hands the fabric to us, and, for some reason, I feel a calming sense of relief.

“I have to remember to call the restaurant,” I note again quietly.

Friday:

I can’t think straight.

My stomach is turning again. I think to record this moment on Snapchat, but I’m too nervous to do it.

I try to reach Sarah to check if my dress was ready. No response.

I distract myself at work. I’m sitting through a long team meeting.

At long last, Sarah calls. The dress is ready! Whew!

I finally call the restaurant to ask if I can shoot there. I also admit to myself, for the first time, that I was putting off calling because I wanted to make sure everything was going to work out first.

The voice on the phone interrupts my thoughts. “Come in at 5. We will be open by then and the proprietor will be around.” I plan to arrive earlier to catch a better light and an empty space.

I finally ask to be excused after sitting a while longer through the meeting at work. Nicholina and the driver have been waiting outside for an hour.

I am anxious when I arrive at Sarah’s to see my dress. She hands it over to me casually, unbeknown to her how crucial that moment was for me. I’m still not sure about the shade of red. I’m also nervous about if Sarah got my vision right. I close my eyes as I pull the dress up my legs, saying a silent prayer as the zipper goes up.

I open my eyes…

I’m in love!

“I did it!” I say, almost jumping. “My crazy idea! I did it. Thank God.”

Sarah makes some adjustments to the dress while I do my hair and makeup.

—

My stomach is full of butterflies as I get close to the location and it takes a lot of a courage and a really deep breath to get out of the car and walk down to the restaurant.

Once I’m inside, I speak to the owner of the restaurant over the phone. My friends Jude and Nicholina are on set to assist me.

“I’m sorry it might not be possible to shoot today. We open at 5 pm… that’s in 15 minutes. You can try back on Tuesday,” the owner says.

my heart sinks…

“What is he saying,” Jude mouths.

I’m pacing the room while on the phone, in a long off-the-shoulder red dress that suddenly feels over the top.

We talk a little while longer and he eventually lets me shoot, “I need you to finish up by 5 pm.”

I look at my team, “We have 10 minutes to shoot!” I yell across the room.

—

The shoot wraps up after 45 minutes and everyone including the restaurant staff is in really great spirits. I make calls to my mom to tell her of the great news. Nicholina is on the side giving away free hugs.

I finally meet Marcus, the owner of Little Havana. “45 minutes later,” he jokes. We talk a little about our respective businesses and I immediately connect with his passion for his work. I am grateful for fellow creatives like him who bring funk and creativity to the Ghanaian social scene.

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[column size=one_half position=last ]When I get home and take a look at the pictures, I am gravely disappointed. A lot of them are out of focus. The makeup I did in Sarah’s dimly lit changing room looked awful. I didn’t catch a lot of these things because the shoot was a huge rush. We kept going, snap after snap, and no one noticed the blurred leg in one shot or the weird angle of my arm in another. “I should have checked each time.” I kicked myself for not being able to be so many things at once even though it was a tight shoot schedule

A week later:

Fortunately, my travel date got extended, and as soon as something opened up in my schedule,  I called Marcus to ask if I could shoot that day.

I couldn’t find any set assistants to help me shoot at the last-minute except Jude who promised to stop by briefly.

I spent that afternoon looking through my notes on what went wrong in the first shoot, creating a shot list and guideline, and applying my makeup in proper lighting (I even got the eye wing liner right, people! but not without a thousand angels holding my hand. whew!!!).

—

I arrived 20 minutes late for the shoot after sitting through really bad traffic.

When we arrived Marcus was already there, and I was now on my 15th missed call to Jude.

There was no one to help me shoot. And my time was running out!

20 minutes left to shoot. Enough stalling. I could feel the entire room staring at me. I decided I needed to start taking pictures of myself by myself. It’s how I usually shoot anyway, but I didn’t have my tripod with me this time. So, I hurriedly called in the only person I could think of: the driver who had driven me to the location and was still waiting!

I had been trying to cool off my nerves earlier by ranting to him while he helped me unpack my equipment. He had been nodding and shaking his head the entire time, listening to my rants about how everything was a disaster!!

“You might have to take my pictures!” I said. His head shot up. “Please.” I positioned him where I wanted to shoot and started controlling the camera with a remote from my side. He held still as I made his hands into a “human tripod” and took pictures of myself.

When I felt like the setup and light were coming out great in camera, I left him to shoot a few of his own, telling him each time to click and then quickly posing for the shot.

Only 15 minutes left! Jude finally joined us with his photographer friend.

Jude’s friend could only stay 2 minutes. He and I quickly shook hands without even exchanging names, and he started shooting. “Take pictures of me walking this way. The light should be behind me.” I directed. 5 snaps later…he had to leave!

Then Jude took over. He took a little over 5 snaps, but he also had to leave as well. Both he and his friend were in the middle of a presentation when they left to come help with the shoot.

Then, another friend of Jude’s came to take over. We were out of time now, but I had to get the window shot. I asked if he could go behind the palm tree and shoot me through it. He nailed the shot!

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It took a village to get this editorial done! I am so grateful to everyone who helped me pull this off! I couldn’t do it without any of you! Thank you Marcus of Little Havana, for your kind accommodation in your beautiful space. Sarah Christian Gh for being crazy magical and bringing my vision to life. My entire team and family for being my biggest cheerleaders throughout the entire process.

& Thank you all, my lovely readers, for patiently waiting, week after week, as I worked hard to get this right, and for all your cheering on along the way.