[PHOTOGRAPHY] The Photographer's MUSE

Every photographer has his/her own fave model to shoot, or so-called “muse”. It could just be a friend, or a professional model or celebrity (or even your pet dog). In my case, she’s a singer (people are always surprised to find out that she sings very well) also an actress, and happens to be my good friend --  Danita Paner.

2 photos from our first shoot 4 years ago. We did a test shoot back when my studio was still new and operational.

A brief backstory -- Danita and I go a long way back when we were 18 and angst-y. During that time, she already had an album, and also being groomed to be an actress. And me-- just starting out learning the wonders of photography, while getting-to-know my camera in bar gigs and concerts. We met each other thru my kuya-kuyahan Kean Cipriano, who was her boyfriend back then. YIHEE! Anyway, any friend of Danita will definitely agree when I say that she’s easy to be with. Kung titingnan kasi mukhang sosyal at English speaking si atey, pero once you get to know her.. rakenrol, surprisingly cowboy, and very funny. Mababaw lang din ang kaligayahan in short.

Outtakes from 4 years ago. Emotera talaga at magaling na magpose noon pa!

Looking at these old photos made me cringe a little. We photographers can’t help but feel a little embarrassed when we see earlier works we did. I think it’s normal. But it’s also funny that our old photos could look a bit amateurish. But that means that we have improved and developed new techniques through years of practice. Right? Right!

And so we set up a shoot last July to update our portfolios. Danita was so supportive and kind enough to shoulder the rental of light equipments. But we almost didn't use the artificial lights coz the location was very conducive to shoot with natural light. I tried different treatments in every photo so I could experiment with other post-processing techniques. Here are some photos from our shoot:

Esquire or Rogue cover ang peg!

Danita and Callalily. Uysh!

Asian film vibe

Pwede pang Vogue ang datingan. Haha

Classic 90s film peg

It’s super flattering that people asked where these photos will be published coz according to them pasok na pasok pang-magazine ang datingan. Aww thanks guys. <3  Receiving a lot of positive feedbacks made me realize that our collaboration was a success. It made me realize that your "muse" is most likely a friend who will make time for you (or “hatakable”). Your go-to model when you want to do shoots to experiment on something new, when you want to practice with your lighting, or plainly just want to hangout and shoot at the same time. But of course, you should also try shooting other people. It takes different approaches when shooting different subjects – you can learn from each one of them. Don’t get too comfortable with just one. Take it as a challenge! But you cannot deny that there will always be a personal favorite, your muse. Ssshh. Now tell me, who's yours? 

This November, Danita is gracing FHM’s cover and I couldn’t be any prouder as a friend! She keeps on acknowledging that it's because of our shoot. But my reply to you, Dan: No, you deserve it. It's long overdue. More covers to come (at ako naman ang magshoot sa'yo!) Please grab a copy of this month’s FHM! Yey!

"When you photograph a face... you photograph the soul behind it."

                                                    - Jean-Luc Godard

Feel free to ask or comment! ;-)

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