FAMILIAR

Portraits of Hazel, taken by me.

If any of you are wondering, yes, my shoot with Hazel was on the same day as my shoot with Pia (see last post). And, yes, their outfits did somehow resemble each other and I swear, they did not talk about it. I may have also kept hidden a denim polo inside my bag as well but Manila's humid weather made me not wear it. Nonetheless, we all had matching white shoes that day. Again, we did not talk about this.

I enjoyed shooting (the photography kind) both Pia and Hazel that day and it was especially nice to see two familiar faces after such a long time. 

If you want to see more of Hazel's portraits, you can check them out over at my Behance: behance.net/monicapadillo.

Again, I am up for collaborations. If you're a blogger or a model who is need of a photographer, please e-mail me at monbpadillo@gmail.com. I would be more than happy to work with any of you.

NEUTRAL

Portraits of Pia, taken by me.

It's been a while since I last did a portrait shoot and I forgot how good it feels to be able to use my camera like this again. My relationship with photography has been going on and off as I have to constantly deal with anxiety trying to prevent me from approaching people. It doesn't help being an introverted photographer but I'm working on that.

But anyway, I'm quite content with what I have produced in this set of photos. It also helped a lot that Pia wore such neutral or light colors which is a look that I actually wanted to go for. Hopefully, I get to do more of these soon.

I have another set of portraits to release soon. Don't worry, I already have them scheduled for next week.

If you want to see more of Pia's portraits, you can check them out over at my Behance: behance.net/monicapadillo. Go and give 'em an 'appreciate' please. 

Also, I am most definitely up for collaborations. If you're a blogger or a model who is need of a photographer, please e-mail me at monbpadillo@gmail.com. I would be more than happy to work with any of you.

AFTER A WHILE

"If it scares you, it might be a good thing to try." -Seth Godin

The quote mentioned above may either pertain to two things: first, that one time last week when my friend and I went to Quiapo for a shoot. Quiapo isn't exactly the safest place in Manila so taking out my camera felt like a huge risk. But it's usually the most photographed place as well, what with its busy market life. It's also where the truly religious people go to visit the Quiapo church. It basically teems with life of the common people and it's truly enjoyable for street photographers to be able to take photos of such a place.

Second, my current hunt for a good first job. After graduation, I felt like I needed to be more of an "adult" and try to do things on my own by immediately looking for work. When a month had passed and I found myself still staying at home, I wanted to scream. I realized that this is the reality of unemployment and I feel like I haven't even experienced the worst of it yet. But I continued to apply and, fortunately, a few companies have responded.

It's been about two months since I graduated from college, two months that I've been sending out applications and going to interviews. It's true; job hunting is hard, but to be honest, I no longer feel pressured like I used to about a month ago.

I found that it's hard to convince ourselves of a certain thought unless someone says it to us, that doing something that we're not familiar with is the one thing that we actually need to accomplish. During my perpetual anticipation of my potential first job, I gathered up a lot of thoughts about what I wanted to do and I realized that it's okay to put myself out there.

It's okay to try something new, to meet new people, to be in a new environment. While I initially learned this while being in college, it feels like I'm experiencing this for the first time again. A part of me wants to stay as I am, to do things according to my strengths, while the other part of me wants to step out of my comfort zone. It's quite daunting (for an introvert like me) but I want to welcome it.

Also, I've been told several times that it's alright for me to take a break, to take advantage of my "free time" since that concept will soon be gone in my life. I've been told that it's going to be okay. Period. And I believe that now.

...

I think the quote is about the first point. Definitely.

JOURNBEATS

After months of idleness, I finally got to use my camera once again to shoot portraits, all thanks to one of my classmates, Yani, for taking me as their dance group's photographer (it was partly for one of our finals project as well).

I forgot how good it felt to take and post-process non-personal photographs. Hopefully I get to do more of these soon but for now, I just want some alone time with my anime and k-dramas. (Don't judge me. People change.)

Also, I made a Behance earlier this year so that I could have a separate place for my portfolio. You may check out the other photos from this set in here.

CHANGES

I've realized that this is my first post in 2015 and I'm sorry that I wasn't able to make an entry last January, although I'm not one who posts regularly but it's nice to be able to blog at the first month of the new year. In that case, Happy New Year!

2014 was part-spectacular and part-horrible for personal reasons but nonetheless has given me several reasons why I should be thankful for what I have and who I am today and lessons that should benefit me this year and for the following years to come. 

But they are still some things that I've left in 2014. For one, randomly speaking, I've thought about making a video diary, or rather just a video compilation because I have a collection of videos that I took last year that I never really had the time to edit or form into one cohesive thing as they were all recorded in different dates and moments. This is still something that I'm mulling over but I will surely make a post about it when I decide to make one.

Second, this blog. I made my previous entry last December and everything that happened after that was irrelevant and not much blog worthy. But for those of you who don't follow me on Instagram, I actually co-own another blog with my dear friend Shaunna. You can visit the blog here. It's fairly new and we haven't done a project together so all of our posts are based on our individual endeavors.

I'm not going to delete this blog though. It's not as successful as the photography blogs I follow but I want to keep something that's truly and only mine.

Third, my new year's resolutions. I recently found a notebook of mine that was apparently filled with a list of things that I should have done last year. I accomplished some of them but the rest were forgotten and my mind subconsciously placed them in the 'things that don't matter' box. 

This year, my only resolution is to stay organized. I have my planner, notebooks, sticky notes, and everything else that I need to keep things in order. I make lists out of everything, I organize my things in the correct category that they belong to . . . even I'm surprised with how neat my things are recently. Having a new desk and more knowledge of DIY knick knacks helped, I suppose. I do hope I keep this up until the end of the year or longer which would obviously be better.

There are still so many things that I would love to share but I don't want to jinx anything.

We've all grown out of something; whether they're good or bad changes, we're all different now than we were last year and I think the gentle present is what we should now focus on.

(All photos were taken with a Canon 700D + Canon 50mm f/1.8. My nifty fifty was a Christmas gift and I am absolutely in love with it! You can see the rest of the photos in this photo series that I made about a week ago)