Workshop: Dark

Reca Beierly Pamaran is a Gothic Princess.

Overdue post from early December. This particular workshop was quite interesting and personally challenging. Sai approached me for another of my personal 1-on-1 workshops, but with a twist–he wanted something “dark”. Now you should know I always try my best to cater to the needs of my student and that’s why I prefer 1-on-1s but this time it seemed to go against my own usual and natural style.

I candidly referred him to another photographer whose works were naturally darker than mine because I honestly did not want to disappoint him! But he insisted and so I accepted the challenge.

Enchantment in a dark and mysterious kind of beauty.

I was able to work with the gorgeous Divine Tayrus again for the makeup. For commercial shoots, I like to work with those whose styles I’ve already been accustomed to and can totally trust and count on to do the job with experience. But when I have workshops I like trying new MUAs so I can discover fresh talent and new styles. Every makeup artist has a signature style and look just like us photographers!

Poison.

Reca’s physical frame was ideal for the goth peg, waif and long-legged complemented by unique beauty. She was particularly shy and quiet throughout most of the photoshoot but she did a great job and never complained about anything! Thank you Marion from OZAR Models Philippines for referring her to me. 🙂

Some things that helped me tackle this new uncharted territory were bits of research from Professor Google. Photos of Tim Burton’s movies, basic knowledge of Goth and forcing myself to edit photos in a way that I didn’t like (but later on got used to). It really taught and developed me to be more versatile. I sealed in key aspects of a “dark” theme: slight eyebags, dark lipstick, messy hair, pale skin, all-black ensemble, blood-shot eyes, thick emo eyeliner and eyeshadow, melancholy and moderating the use of color as much as I could stand.

At first the peg called for black lipstick. I couldn’t stand it so I asked Divine to make it ombre red-black instead. I really liked how she made it looking stained and fiery rusty.

Styling once again by my friend Charmaine de Leon for South Shores. She was the easiest and no-fuss stylist I could always turn to but now that she’s back to school I’m sad she’ll be too busy to help me. 🙁 Here’s her blog post about this day with more behind-the-scenes photos. Be sure to check out how Divine achieved this Helena Bonham Carter hairstyle.

Enough of my own photos! Here are some spot-on great photoworks from my student 😉 I think he definitely got the vibe and theme way better than I did which is super great. This is HIS element! I like it that I help people find their own style than just helping them copy mine. It is definitely better and makes their photographic pursuits much more personal and lasting.

This is the most powerful photo from the set for my books.

I had a lot of fun getting to know, teaching and shooting side-by-side with Sai that day and I hope he continues to practice and have fun with photography! He is quite versatile as well and shoots prenup/prewedding photos. You can check out more of his works [here].

Until the next story…

Photography by me. Model is Reca of OZAR Models Philippines. Makeup by Divine Orlina Tayrus. Styling by Charmaine de Leon for South Shores. Student is Sai Peral.