Viva la Paris! Looking for Fashion night in Paris

I've been in Paris for nearly 10 months. So here are finally some tourist shots of the Eiffel Tower! :P

 

Ohh! Who's that??  ;)

Taken by Luis Alejandro Cuéllar Varona

We were killing time just before going to Club Ozu in Trocadero, Looking for Fashion night in Paris organised by Stefan Bourson. 

A lush club with a huge aquarium full of marine life right in front of the dance floor. Lots of pretentious peoples ( like us) at the Fashion party but was fun to hang out with a bunch of photographers Gal Reveuni, Luis Cuellar Varona and Roy Peri. all famous fashion photographers-to-be ;) Keep an eye out for those names in the industry! :)

Still Life: Beaujolais Blanc

I really hate studio still life photography and it is one of the worst disciplines for me in terms of skill and technique but I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome of my end of 32 week prac exam.

​Before I started shooting studio still life, I never imagined how much work and hours still photographers put in to setup their sets, arrange lighting, compose their shots and style the products. A photo like the one below can take anywhere between 3 to 6 hours to get the reflection well-shaped, translucency of the plant and wine bottle, plexi-glass table reflections and general even-ness of light just right. This kind of pedantic attention to detail is definitely not my cup of tea!

This will likely be my one and only ever still life photo I will upload on my blog. But who knows, there may come a day when I get tired of photographing people and start taking photos of flowers like many previous portrait or fashion photographers before me. Yes, we need to get away from people now and then :)

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​Studio Still Life , Wine bottle Beaujolais Blanc.

SPEOS Photographic Institute end of year exhibition opening May 15th.

​2012/2013 travaus d'étudiants.

​2012/2013 travaus d'étudiants.

I have to say I am rather perplexed  that the photo of me taken by Mariam Medvedeva is on the promotional poster sent out to the public for the SPEOS 2012/2013 exhibition opening. Also, the photo of Caroline Rose (portrait with the cornrows, Hair - Suzanna Rieu, Make-up - Carole Linard) taken by Corri McAllister and me was also chosen as my studio teacher told me it was a rather symbolic statuesque photo. I never really gave the photo much thought, it was produced in class and thought it was subpar as far as beauty shoots go. However, we all know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Now that I look at the photo more and more, it has an uncanny resemblance to Katsura Funakoshi's sculptures. Well, I think this experience has opened my photographic horizon more which my studio teacher has told me to do.
 
I haven't been a good citizen at SPEOS but with the guidance of the teachers and staff at the school, I do see that each and every student has improved by leaps and bounds and evolved their work through the school so I am happy to be part of the class of 2012/13.  For 32 weeks, we were immersed in photography 24/7 and we survived!

Looking forward to the exhibition and celebration for the 32 weeks of the most intense photographic journey thus far in my life.

Ultimately, I think if you don't know where you want to go with photography, SPEOS might be a good choice to help you find a direction. It is not a particularly specialised school however and they have had the same teachers for many years who are set in their ways.  So if you are not a beginner at photography, I would say save your money and assist an established professional.