TravelGuides

(TGA) - Travel - After a long day of travel yesterday and questionable weather as most of the state of Mississippi had severe weather including 30 tornados, our crew members all arrived safely in , MS this morning. Our first day here was absolutely beautiful. The sky was blue and the temperature was in the 80s. We got a later start than planned today but once we got up and running - around 1pm - we had a ton of success at our locations.We started the day with a shot outside of the Mayflower Storage & Transfer warehouse. We loved the exterior of this building - it was a great example of the untouched, "stopped in time" downtown architecture. We got our shot quickly and were in and out of this location in 32 minutes!!Next stop was the Train Depot and Railroad Museum. On our scouting trip a few weeks ago, we found the most interesting vintage passenger train cars
. We loved the weathered and patinated appearance and it made a great backdrop for the fashion. At this point of the day, the sun was bearing down and temps were rising. Luckily, Doug, our friendly bus driver had a large supply of ice cold drinks in coolers under the bus. We were very honored by a surprise visit by the Mayor of , Chari Barry. She was just a delight and was thanking us for choosing the first leg of our shoot to happen in Meridian, but we were the ones thanking her for the hospitality we have been receiving everywhere we go. Mayor Barry is stopping by our shoot again tomorrow when we are at the Riley Center to help us with a YouTube video and photo ops. Dani and Marquita, our models, looked great and the fashions are amazing!Last stop of the day was the historic Dentzel Carousel located in Highland Park. This carousel was manufactured in 1896 by Gustav Dentzel of for the 1904 St. Louis Exposition and later sold to the city of for $2000 (today it is valued at well over one million dollars!). The Dentzel Factory manufactured only two or three carousels per year and all of the animals were hand-carved out of poplar or basswood. Most carousels often featured original oil paintings as well. This particular carousel arrived in in 1909 and has occupied the same located since it arrived. In 1977, Meridians Dentzel Carousel and Carousel House along with Highland Park were placed on the National Register of Historic Places. These carousel animals are truly amazing - the detail work is exquisite! The city of helped raise the funds to have each animal painstakingly restored and between 1984 and 1985 each one was completely stripped and restored to its original glory. We photographed both models again here and it was so cool to see how great the fashion looked. Marquita sat on a neat giraffe and Dani stood in front of the carousel while it was moving in the background
. After a quick pizza dinner, we wrapped with the whole gang taking a ride on the carousel - we all became 5 year olds and were whooping and hollering with glee. :)Then it was 9pm and back to the Drury for a quick nights sleep - call time is at 7:15am. Good night everyone! Talk tomorrow!