#THESISIT: Damsel In This Dress

Going back to regular programming (M.I.A. on the wordwideweb because I've been enjoying life a.k.a. spending time with my mom while she was in town, an out-of-town trip with la familia, etc.), we have the beautiful Mica Ting as the Damsel In This Dress. This shoot was more of a contemporary play to the classic filipiniana/terno/Maria Clara-esque look, with juuuust a tiny study on the femininity of lace. I found that Mica would be such a perfect subject for this theme, and she was such a dream to shoot. Literally. I have always wanted to photograph Mica, ever since my freshman year of college. I first encountered her through my friend Aaron and his photography (Mica modeled for him from time to time), and have always really loved her look since then. (Funny story on how Aaron and I met: he was schoolmates with TerryJamMae, and so the three became our mutual friends and we'd hear about each other from them, but the first time we met in person was in Medical City. I looked like trash confined to the hospital bed with an IV stuck to my hand, but it was an interesting first meeting.)

Mica was such a darling. She was so game and even drove up to my place (which was where we shot) and even got lost along the way but she was just so lovely about it, especially considering how we had never met before this and hardly talked (save for our text messaging about the theme a few weeks prior to the shoot) and I JUST THINK THERE'S SOMETHING REALLY SHADY ABOUT ME TEXTING HER OUT OF THE BLUE SAYING I WAS FRIENDS WITH HER FRIENDS (although technically it was the truth) AND INVITING HER TO COME TO MY HOUSE I MEAN AM I THAT MUCH OF A CREEP?!??!??? i probably am loljk

What makes this shoot special are the following details: 1.) It was my first shoot with Mica; 2.) It was my first time shooting someone I contacted outside my circle of friends/usual roster of models/someone I had never met irl; 3.) It was my first shoot with my new camera. I kid you not when I say I only received my camera just a few hours (maybe idk 2 hours including lunchtime??? IT'S ALL AN EMOTIONAL BLUR) before Mica arrived, so there might've been a tiny bit of ~*~wingin' it~*~ vibes. Canon's pretty user-friendly but I was so accustomed to my 400D that my shooting with this theme wasn't as fluid as it could've been since I had to fumble with where certain controls are and whatnot as I didn't have time to thoroughly study the manual.

Mica being so naturally gorgeous made everything easy though. So many shots from this shoot are pretty much some all-time favorites from my entire thesis. Anyway, here are some outtakes:

Thank you so much Mica for being so game!!! You are so, so beautiful, and I look forward to working with you again in the future!