iBlues @ Paragon

After that horrible experience with the security officers last night, I gave up the idea of shooting today at the Paragon. My photo buddy Jared suggested a trip to the Zoo and... I agreed! Taking pictures of monkeys and gorillas would be nice, right? Hehehe... after taking pictures of beautiful ladies at the catwalk, I guess its time to practice shooting with "real" faces of animals (like me).

All set for the trip to the zoo, I met my buddy at the City Hall. But at the last minute, he suggested to take a peek at the Paragon. Just try, we agreed, anyway if there's no way for us to shoot then we'll leave. And to our surprise we were allowed to get inside to take photos! Iba talaga ang pinoy! How we did it? We just made tsika tsika with the lady named Ester at the entrance counter, then with added smile and pa cute we were given the nod! (We even get some drinks!)

The 2pm show was okay. They had the same set of models from last night except for An Kadesh and two other models. Mar-J, the beautiful Pinay was there, the black girl, the Catherine Zeta look-a-like, Kyzinia from Kyrgystan, the rest of the models we saw at the Marina. I didn't take many picture - I was afraid that I might run out of battery for the 5pm show (I forgot to bring extra, argghh!). I did focused more on composition shots rather than panning shots. The result, by the way, was less reject and more better pixs.

While waiting for the second show at 5pm, we got a free lecture and tips from an expert! Browning, the 22-yr veteran, is still using a film camera and 10-yr old lenses but when he explained to us the technicalities of how to compose good picture... boy! we were simply amazed. He emphasizes that it's not the L lenses that makes good picture but the composition and knowledge of the subject you are shooting. He also added that it is important to know your gear! Now on fashion photography he said: appreciate the designs sof the subject - dress or jewelry and (not the models. Knowing that, it would be good to take long shot (wide angle) before the model walk, then whole body shot while walking, three-fourth shots while walking, three-fourth shots on the pose, half body close up, at least one back shot (to get the other side of the dress), and if possible... a cross shot (one model coming in and another going back). He just smile when on some occassions, he saw some amateurs taking close up face shots using long lenses. There's no point of having portrait shots of the models because the essense is to show the dress, he added. Browning, called it "truck shots" (derived from those portrait displayed on traditional chinese burials). Ohhh! Am guilty!

Indeed, the technique works. See one sample of Mar-J below.

And after the show? Ambush!!! and we were able to get close up shots with Mar-J, the black girl, and Kyzinia. See the photos in my main profile. Hehehe....