Art Immersion Saturday

Just last saturday I had a scheduled photo shoot. It was what I called "for the love of the game" shoot, I mean for arts sake shoot. I was very fortunate enough to have my new friend Barbs to volunteer to model for me, and it was her first time to model as well.

First thing, we made sure that it wasn't a commercial shoot so we wanted to do something which would be creatively challenging. I badly wanted to shoot that weekend to relieve the stress from work the whole week before. We agreed on a vintage look shoot , and barbs wanted to experiment on a nude session so I suggested why not a body paint session. We agreed. All of it was a first time for her and me.

Nagkita kami sa Cubao, I got there first, tapos naalala ko na me vintage shop sa Cubao Shoe expo na gusto ko makita. So I stopped by their first since I was early. AngMarikina Shoe expo sa cubao eh andon na 80's pa lang. Don pa kami namimili ng shoes pamasok. I haven't been there since 1988. Pagdating ko don, it turned out to be a cool place. Paano ba madescribe yon, a mix of shoes and art. A hip place for Indie Art. Well basically cool sya, a true hole in the wall. A place forgotten in time but rich in history. Andon pa din yung shoe stores, tapos meron ng mga Antique stores /memorabilia stores, ukay ukay, Vintage shop, indie bookstore, art studios and recording studios pa ata, japanese collectibles stores, plus a cool italian restaurant. Bohemian themed place na sya and the cool thing about is , I guess it just evolved that way. Ang coool.

Anyway ayun , met up with Barbs , naglunch kami and kwentuhan before having the shoot. I make it a point to have some talk time with the models or kung sino shushoot to build trust and para at ease sila. It so they would know I have nothing up my sleeves.

We proceeded with the shoot of the vintage shots, first time I used my studio lighting outside my studio , it was quite difficult pero I guess we got some good shots from it. Barbs was not yet at east at first then after a while automatic na , I could get the right expression and posture from her in a snap. she would change from tweetums to serious easily.

Then we did the body paint. I have never used it before, but since I have been painting oil and other mediums before I figured parepareho lang naman siguro yan. From my research, ang body paint is same as any other paint tapos just add water. Nag research ako syempre sa internet lalo na tungkol sa safety, yung kailangna i- sterilize ang brush and use soft brushes instead of rough(like the ones used for oil). Then ayun na, free hand painting na. We decided on sunflowers for the design. May plastic flowers sa bahay namin na pinag base-an ko ng concept. started with her back. So that was easy..then we moved to the front. Don naging challenging.

Of course whenever I paint or photograph I make it a point to keep focused, be professional and of course keep everything in an artistic perspective..in short walang malisya.

So ayun the front is harder to do kasi nga, well gifted tong si Barbs so meyo maraming curves and endowed rin . Unlike painting her back was flat , sa front maraming challenges. Yung una sa chest area she has well curved , tapos while painting the nipple area well lets just say the Airconditioning was working properly so we had some difficulties keeping things not to perky plus sabi nga ni barbs "sige nga kaw kaya brushin ang nipple mo kung hindi rin magganyan" . Sa stomach area mahirap rin since barbs was sitting up, dapat she would have to lay back a bit para hindi naiipit ang tyan , and since basa pa yung paint sa likod di rin sya pwede humiga. Nilast namin paintan yung pelvic area para di mailang si barbs. Since first time ko mag body paint, medyo nakakailang rin kasi iniisip ko baka mailang si barbs and I was really very conscious not to make any movements that barbs might interpret as maliscious. Eh first time pa lang namin magkita . When I was painting on the "very sensitive" part na I tried to paint as fast as I can" . Well it turned out well, and I loved the feeling of painting again , ok din ang body paint parang oil , hindi sya transparent so ang sarap mag paint, kung wet on wet (no pun intended) ang style it works, plus if I compute it, I was painting on a big canvass, more than what I usually paint on. It took 2 hrs to paint , and another 2 hours for the photo shoot. Man was I tired, but it was really worth it, and I was happy, thank goodness I reall had a good model to work with, indi maarte and she gave a lot of creative inputs as well. It was an artistically fulfilling day and I made a new friend.
Thanks Barbs!