Origami

Moving on! I should’ve blogged about this origami series a while ago, but better now than never.

This was the biggest shoot I’ve had to do so far, making all the clothes took a long time, organising the model and the hair and makeup artist felt like it took even longer. The MUA pulled out about a week before the shoot too, so the model did her own hair and makeup.

Overall it was an interesting experience. Here’s a list of what went right:

• The outfits all turned out great, just like what I had in mind.
• I’m now pretty confident shooting with the studio setup.
• V and Karen were great assistants.

What didn’t go right:

• No MUA.
• The model, Susie wasn’t up to scratch, she didn’t have many poses, I had to give loads of directions, but in the end she just didn’t have that oomph.

This is the second time I worked with a professional model and how drastically different it was from working with Adrian. In the shoot with Adrian, besides finding a good location and deciding on his outfit, I did about 25% of the work, Adrian brought so much that all I had to do was press the shutter. With Susie it was the other way around, I reckon I did 85% of the work, all she had to do was turn up with 2 pairs of shoes and wear white undies and it still didn’t happen. Bloody models!

I’m not over the moon with the results but to all these experiences will help me in the future. Next!

The answer is no

I just woke up, logged into my email and there’s an email from Monica with reply as the subject, I wasn’t sure if it was spam, but I decided to open it. 2 lines in I realise this is from Fabrica, I started skimming to get to the answer, but sadly it’s a no.

I’ll copy and paste the email below.

Dear Shen ,

thank you for your application to participate in Fabrica.  We receive a multitude of applications from highly qualified candidates such as yourself.

Upon careful consideration of your application as well as the current requirements of the Photography Department at Fabrica, we are not in a position to extend an invitation to you at this time.

We  thank  you a lot for the interest you have shown towards Fabrica and we wish you all the best for your future achievements.

Sincerely,
Monica Faggin

Admission Manager
Fabrica S.p.A.

I’m feeling surprisingly calm right now even though it’s a frustrating situation. It feels like they send the same email to everyone, but at least they try to be nice. I do wonder how far I am from where their standard is and what if I apply again and I fail again. So brings the question, how much do I want this? How much do I want Fabrica? How much do I want photography?

I don’t know. I will definitely apply again in 5-6 months time and take an entirely different approach, but those questions above I will have to seriously think about.

Spring is here

With the arrival of spring I hope I’ve turned a new page. Many of you may already know that I’ve left my last job and am now on the hunt for freelance work, so please let me know if you hear of any! With the arrival of September, also brings the anticipation of the call from Fabrica. Yes or no, I would really just like an answer at this point. With many friends now overseas, I’m really getting the itch.

Oh, I also got my website all done and live at last! Now in its entirety I present to you: http://www.xiaohan.net/ It’s taken a bit of time, a bit of messing around and a fair bit of cursing, but alas it is done!

Spring, my favourite season! Despite the allergies it brings me.