model: Ashley Ramos
makeup artist: Diane Lorenzana
stylst: Sarah Policios of 11th of October
lights & set-up c/o: Edric Chen
I had a photo shoot with Ashley Ramos last Saturday for her portfolio and for 11th of October's new collection. I asked if she's ever had a shoot or has done any runway jobs before and was surprised when she said that she's never done any modeling jobs ever. She's only 17 and I think she's about 5'7". I was so shocked at how young she was and understood right away why she chose to let her mum go with her (cos it was her first photo shoot). With her height and pretty face, I know she'll land more jobs in the future. Just don't be too shy next time, Ashley! And sorry for making you laugh too much at some points :))
After getting her makeup done and after getting styled by the girls of 11th of October, she wasn't quite as confident to pose for us, compared to the other models Edric and I have worked with before. But as soon as I nudged Edric to play some music (no wonder it was so awkward at first), she became more comfortable with everyone looking at her and you could see her eyes lighting up for the camera more.
It always takes some time to get used to posing in front of different photographers and in front of sooo many people (as what my professor had said before, it takes a whole village to get that perfect shot). I guess for aspiring models like Ashley, you'll get the hang of posing for strangers, especially when you know you're working with the right people. It's important for you to trust them or do some research before accepting any jobs. I guess I'm lucky that I'm not so new to photography anymore. I've worked with some talented artists, and I've worked with not-so-good ones as well (hehe). It's your job as a model to project, give out your best poses and to take care of yourself! Remember, not all photographers can Photoshop well! There's only a handful of people out there who can actually edit well. Oh and it also takes a lot of guts and attitude. BE FEARLESS! That's my advice for everything.
Edric was even ranting to me while Ashley was getting her makeup done about how post-processing here was mediocre compared to the editing jobs abroad. He also showed me this mind-blowing video on how this photog edited her pics (forgot her name but she's soooo damn good). Imagine, the minimum fee (for newbie retouchers) is $50 PER PHOTO which takes 2-4 hours to finish! WOAH. And so I realized that it's no wonder the editing jobs here are so bad (with horrible liquified photos and super ugly dodge and burn, airbrushing, etc.)- people don't get paid enough! If my regular job paid $30 for editing 50 photos, WHAT A HEADACHE. I can't make a living off that. The good ones I'm taking about freakin' dodge and burn DOT PER DOT and draw-on/emphasize each pore to make it look natural. FINALLYYY some clarity and an explanation as to why I am always disgusted with heavily-airbrushed photos. I always like real skin showing through portraits.
If I could find a job abroad that would entail post processing, at $50 per image as my starting rate, hell yeahzz I'll take that as a sideline!
After graduating I'm seriously going to learn more about lighting and watch editing tutorials for days. This run-of-the-mill editing that I'm doing has got to go up another level!
♥