Lebkuchen (German gingerbread) and doughnuts

Said double sugar rush can be the only explanation for all of us at a regular staff meeting a few days later saying yes when photographer Peter Morenus went down this slippery slope: for optimum campus beauty we’ll need to shoot in spring or fall; it should be fall, let me look at the events calendar; oh, Lip Sync is Oct. 24 this year, that’s a perfect date. Which gave us exactly 15 days to plan. We wouldn’t set anything up, only shoot what was happening in the moment. But we’d need to decide where to be and when for the best photo ops, in some cases gain permission and access to those places, take test shots for ideal equipment and angles, and so on. We’d need to find more photographers to cover as much ground as possible. Andrew Janavey, with Yesenia (Jess) Carrero’s help, would stand in for Christa. Our colleagues at University Communications stepped up as they always do, especially photographer Sean Flynn, who signed on for a 15-hour stretch. Other photographers across the University agreed to cover specific times we wanted to be two (or 10) places at once. Our bosses, Tracy Anderson and Mike Kirk, were like mom and dad, telling us to just be ourselves — stay authentic and creative, make it real — and how can we help?

Coffee, apples, and Cheetos

When the three of us planning to do all 24 hours — Pete, Andrew, and I — arrived at the office around 5 a.m. on D-day, we found a banquet of muffins, cookies, tea, coffee, fruit, and snack bags courtesy of so-kind colleagues Michelle Long and Jen Cote. Not sure when we’d be back, I stuffed a backpack to keep the photographers hydrated and energized. Julie would do the same when she and Sean arrived a few hours later. (It was 12 hours before we’d have a moment to race back here — to grab more charged camera batteries.)

Pizza

We extend gratitude less to the leftover lunch version that helped us stay late at work Wednesday to tie up loose ends and thankfully did not give us food poisoning than to the godsend pie Jess bought just before Domino’s in Downtown Storrs closed at 2 a.m.

… and last but most: Toast

Oct. 24 had produced a cloudier than desired sunrise and the question was, after getting our Hour 24 5 a.m. drone shots, did we have it in us to wait more than an hour for this new day’s sunrise and then spend an hour so doing? Pete’s answer: What time does Toast open? Add it to the long list of reasons we couldn’t have done this if Pete weren’t Pete, with his enthusiasm and nearly 30 years of making friends and finding the hidden and not-so hidden UConn spots we get to share with our readers. Every time we needed some extra juice along the way it was Pete’s passion that sustained us even more than his Korean candy and tea stashes (thanks for those, too, though). He kept saying, “I want this to be my love letter to UConn.”