My newest set, "Danger Zone", is finally live!
This one is really close to my heart: It was shot just a few days after Hurricane Irma ripped through Florida. We were without power and running water for a while. Some time after the hurricane, some awful people broke into the house where my 3 cats are staying (where all our belongings are kept). They stole tools but the most important thing is that my two cats, Lana and Duchess, got out and were missing for 2 and 3 days. I wasn't sure if I'd ever see them again; They'd never been outside before, they had no collars, and there was at least one Pit Bull and one German Shepard wandering loose around the neighborhood. The Pit Bull came right up to our door on the morning/afternoon we discovered my cats missing. I was terrified.
@lovesquish, the lovely lady who shot this set, was almost on location when my man called me, panicked and hysterical, to tell me my cats were missing and the house had been broken into overnight. I called Jessica to cancel, and I almost did actually cancel. I was sick with worry. But I decided to do the shoot anyway after alerting the company of the brand of my cats' microchips. You wouldn't be able to tell that my heart was breaking and I was about to cry in any of these shots. Take a look and tell me if I'm wrong. (Huge props to Jessica for being able to take my mind off it and laugh a little during the shoot!)
Of course, after the shoot I rushed to the scene of the crime, called the police, and interviewed neighbors. We make constant laps around the neighborhood, in the 90-ish degree, humid weather with the sun beating down on us, me in my heels and skirt (I didn't have my sneakers or gym shorts on me), as we shook their food bin in an attempt to lure them out. With no luck that day or night, I spent about $50 the next morning making hundreds of color and b&w flyers, and we posted them all around the neighborhood and gave one to every neighbor, going door to door asking if they'd seen either of my cats. The ones who didn't answer got a flyer in their mailbox. We spent 2 eternal days doing this.
After a couple bad leads that led my man crawling through storm drains (he's over 6 feet) and us eliciting the help of neighbors, he finally decided he didn't know what to do except sleep outside on the porch and hope they walked up to him on their own. Lana did exactly that on the 2nd night. We had the thought that it was possible they were hiding during the day, when the dogs were out and it was horribly hot, and that they might be more inclined to wander at night when it was cooler. I was so happy when he told me Lana just walked right up to him, meowing incessantly. But I was then even more scared for Duchess: They were adopted from the same litter, together, and have never been separated. I didn't know why Lana would come back and Duchess wouldn't. I had so many worries for her. Luckily, the next night when he slept out on the porch again, Duchess followed suit and walked up to him. I haven't ever felt so relieved in my life.
This set is dedicated to my Lana and Duchess, hence the name of the set. After adopting them from the local shelter as soon as I laid eyes on them and taking them home, I named them after 2 of my favorit characters from one of my favorite shows: "Archer". The set name, "Danger Zone", is one of Archer's favorite songs by one of his favorite musicians, Kenny Loggins. "Danger Zone" is also a running Archer joke throughout the show.
Go check out my set, like and leave a comment if you get the chance. <3
📸 @lovesquish
-Akari <3
