“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
― George Bernard Shaw
This is from a personal shoot I did with a friend last Saturday, an hour of scampering over rocks and staring at the old, gnarled branches of huge acacia trees while feeling the soft texture of sand inside my shoes (yes, methinks I need to get my shoes fixed or buy a new pair). Anyway, I was in heaven. It feels soooooo good, going back to nature, even for just a few hours and just immersing yourself as you stand surrounded by trees and plants and smelling the faint scent of wild flowers as you walk past them. There are pockets of them around the city, and wide swaths as you go towards the mountains. Its realizations like these, that I can go to these places when I want to because they are just minutes away from where I live, that make me appreciate Dumaguete even more.
I love shooting Rena since I've shot her once before so I think I have a pretty good idea about how she poses and what angles look good on her. She's also very laid back so shooting her never feels awkward.
We were also schoolmates in law school so a few hours with her is spent talking about law school stuff, reminiscing about professors and talking about Bar exam preparations in between shots. I was eager to shoot in this spot since I've been going to this area A LOT lately and I saw how gorgeous this dried-up riverbed is. Everything is pretty here especially the large acacia trees. Their trunks were a soft, light brown and the leaves are the just the right shade of hunter green. Plus, there was a field of dried up acacia leaves in fierce orange and brown, which made for a really dramatic (and free!) backdrop! More on that later. Still processing Rena's photos but I'm just too excited to post a few, so I'm posting four frames :)
When I first met Sahar I thought she looked foreign and I was right. She is half-Pakistani and at 17 is a willowy beauty with the most striking pair of eyes. A budding model, she wanted to take portraits for fun and to add to her growing portfolio. Her boyfriend Jonas was also with us for the shoot since we were doing the shoot in his house (and what a house!).
Although we started late, Sahar got into the poses in no time and I was cranking my camera every few seconds to capture her every pose. She is definitely a natural model and she knew how to move, how to arch her neck and how to flutter her eyelashes just so for a really arresting stare. In short, I had so much fun! I would hope she and Jonas had fun too! The sun was out almost two hours after we started, which was a bit disappointing since I really wanted to stay and take some more photos, but you really can't take portraits in the dark so we called it a day. Here's the indoor shoot which took us about 15 minutes before we had to run outside to catch the light.
“No, this is not the beginning of a new chapter in my life; this is the beginning of a new book!
That first book is already closed, ended, and tossed into the seas;
this new book is newly opened, has just begun!
Look, it is the first page!
And it is a beautiful one!”
portraits, portraits, portraits, portraits, portraits, portraits, portraits, portraits, portraits, portraits,
― C. JoyBell C.
I love reconnecting with friends who live far away. Ken is one of my friends who I got to know online before we actually met in person. We hit it off right away, perhaps because we think alike about so many things. Although she spends most of the year in Oman because of her work, her vacations are filled with reunions and catching up with her friends. We've been talking about doing a portrait shoot and this vacation was the perfect time to do it, although with the few hours we had, I felt like another shoot is really a must! (LOL!) Despite the almost hurried way we did this shoot it was a great way to reconnect and catch. Plus, I got to see some of the beautiful pieces of Mideastern jewelry and dresses that she was selling.
We have always talked about dreams and passions and following your own path in life. Ken is surely on her way. Although she works as a nurse, she finds time to pursue her other passions, like fashion and staying fit, which in my opinion, is such a great way to live a life. You are not your work or your profession or your hobby. We are so much more than that. Part of living a full life is enjoying life after work, having other things that fulfill you and make your heart full aside from making a living. Friends like her remind me of that, especially when we finally get together and have these conversations.
portraits, portraits, portraits, portraits