Top Social

photo Header1.jpg photo Header2.jpg photo Header3.jpg photo Header3.jpg

Capitol Optical Photoshoot

Sunday, May 29, 2011
So to make up for some recent blogging inactivity... here's a long post about a shoot I did for Capitol Optical sometime in October last year! It's really backdated I know, but I was waiting for the photos to be ready first before blogging that with the behind-the-scenes (sounds lame, but no other word for it) shots I took!

Anyway of course I had to go for the casting for it; tried on tons of spectacles etc. The shoot was meant to be for Capitol Optical to make a 2011 calendar for customers, as well as use the photos for their posters and what not.

I was told I would be shooting with a hot Caucasian model ^^ then somehow... it became my friend Errol. Some older readers might remember him in some of my blogposts when I blogged photos of us studying in NUS!
Errol appears a lot in like bank/insurance ads. His face is like... very insurance-man hahaha. He was also in a McDonald's TVC recently which was about their Monopoly contest!

So anyway I have ONE calendar, and I took pictures of each month. It's a little blurry but I was lazy to scan the pages in instead. I also typed out captions of what each page actually says. The calendar kinda features a "story". In which Errol is my boyfriend hahaha.

COVER
Photobucket

Photobucket
I look like... an aunty. Or ok maybe I would wear this to meet my future mother-in-law.

JANUARY
Photobucket
"You know that old saying - the future's so bright you've got to wear shades? Well this year is looking brighter than ever. Thanks to my trusty prescriptions sunglasses, I've got sunshine in my brain but never in my eyes!"

Hahaha there's such a saying meh... never heard of.

Photobucket

FEBRUARY
Photobucket
"Love may be blind but thankfully I'm not. Despite my astigmatism, which always seems worse at night, I can see my Valentine clearly through my toric tinted daily disposable contact lenses... And i love what I see (lucky me)!"

Photobucket

MARCH
Photobucket
"Did I tell you how I met the guy? He's my client! Given his goofy nature, it's quite amazing how serious and corporate he looks in his work threads and sleek frames. But even through glasses, I can still see the twinkle in his eye..."

Ironic since Errol actually sells insurance part-time in real life haha.

Photobucket

APRIL
Photobucket
"Whenever I have some 'me time', I like to go jogging with a playlist of my favourite songs for company. Even on windy days, my soft contact lenses never dry out. They're as comfortable as wearing no lenses at all!"

BAHAHA ME JOGGING?! UNBELIEVABLE.

Photobucket

MAY
Photobucket
"I've got the best mum in the world. And since she's been looking out for me since the day I was born, the least I can do is look out for her vision. That's why I'm buying her a pair of spectacles with progressive lenses for Mother's Day."

HAHA WHY MY MOM SO BOHLIAO ONE.

Photobucket
Random staff from Capitol Optical became models for a day haha.

JUNE
Photobucket
"Hip-hip hooray, we're going on a holiday! I never board a plane without my oxygenating contact lenses. They ensure optimum oxygen reaches my eyes even in the dry air of the cabin. No more red eyes on arrival!"

Photobucket

JULY
Photobucket
"Our dream vacation includes sunshine, sand, surf, seafood and sangria. My sunglasses have prescription lenses to help me focus on the things that matter the most, like where to eat next... what cocktail to order... which swimsuit to wear?"

Photobucket

AUGUST
Photobucket
"My boyfriend's a bit of an action man. How cool does he look in his sporty wraparounds? They must work pretty well, since he's never crashed his bike - except that time when we first started dating and he was trying to impress me with a wheel stand..."

Photobucket

SEPTEMBER
Photobucket
"Besides work, family and friends, my big love is music. Once in a while we catch a concert and cut loose, dancing and screaming like crazy teenagers. I don my rock chick best and make over my eyes with coloured contacts. Fun huh?"

Photobucket

OCTOBER
Photobucket
"Sometimes there's no better place to be than home sweet home, just chilling out in front of the TV. Whether it's a comedy, a drama, a horror movie or my boyfriend's second big love, football, everything looks better through my super sharp prescription lenses."

Photobucket
Haha I think this shot is cute!

NOVEMBER
Photobucket
"My maths whiz of a boyfriend coaches my 9-year-old niece (she pays him in hugs). Whens he recently had her eyes tested and found out she needed glasses, my sis wisely invested in special lenses to slow down her myopia. Love her funky frames!"

Photobucket

DECEMBER
Photobucket
"It's party time! The only way I can compete with all that sparkling champagne and twinkling tinsel is to put on a pair of fancy gold flecked contact lenses... What a brilliant end to a brilliant year!"

Photobucket

- - - - - - - -

BEHIND THE SCENES
This was actually a 1.5 day shoot because there were quite a lot of scenes!

Photobucket

Photobucket
They usually have examples or a mood board so that everyone roughly knows what shot the client/creative team is looking for. I just always wonder... since they already got these pics for the examples, why do they need to shoot them again??

Photobucket

Photobucket
LOL Errol having to look like he's focused on the goal. This picture wasn't used!

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket
With the boss of the... company that did the shoot. The Caucasian girl that's "my niece" is really her niece!

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket
HEHEHE Errol has to look lovingly at me hahaha.

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket
This shot wasn't used either!

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket
HAHAHA FAKE OR NOT. I hate jogging btw. Like hardcore hatez.

Photobucket
Think here they were talking about how they liked the hair so they might cut it out and place it on another shot of my body.

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket
Looking quite a bit older... And carrying a REAL BIRKIN OK. $13 000 in my hands. Probably the first and last time I'll carry one for the next... 15 years at least haha.

Photobucket

Photobucket
The niece getting hair done!

Photobucket

Photobucket
Actually I think a child model's job is quite easy. Too bad I was in China when I was a kid (obviously advertising there 15 years ago wasn't that developed)! I was cute lor ^^ I appeared once in some ice-cream TVC haha.

Anyway for child models... everyone gives in to them like crazy and all they have to do is smile. And the photographer is content with just a few usable shots of the kid smiling and they're done!

Photobucket
Insurance-man face!

Photobucket
Pretending we saw a friend.

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket
Do these shots look familiar?

Photobucket

Photobucket

By right they're not allowed to do that! If models are booked and paid for a particular shoot, the company can't use the photos for another brand, even if they're all under the same company.

I mean let's take an exaggerated example - LVMH now owns part of Charles & Keith. Imagine if they go take Madonna's photos for Louis Vuitton and use them for Charles & Keith? HAHAHAHA.

Anyway to avoid questions - Nope I don't get discounts if I want to shop at Capitol Optical, or get LASIK at Shinagawa. Models never get to keep clothes/products from shoots either (seems to be an extremely common myth) unless there happens to be surplus/they catered the product for you for the shoot anyway.
In this particular shoot the clothes were actually sponsored by Flash&Splash, so they need to be returned!

Like I got almost a year's worth of coloured lenses haha because they were in my degree so that I could wear them during the shoot.
I don't wear coloured lenses though, because I have high astigmatism so it ends up blurry for me. I mailed out some lenses to some girls who were keen (and have the same degree as me obviously); gonna keep the rest for random occasions I guess!

Ok I gotta go shower! Bye!

Ring Light

Tuesday, May 24, 2011
I got a ring light! I bought it off Jessica (cheaper than in shops hehe ^^) since she's leaving for Australia. I've been meaning to get one not because I am a camwhore *ahem* (really what... I never blog a whole post of 20 over photos of just me) but so that I can take pictures in my room if I need to!

Most of the time it's hard to coordinate wearing a certain piece of apparel out; needing to ensure it's for a suitable occasion, that I have makeup on, that it's not already nighttime, that I *cough* washed my hair...

Photobucket

Photobucket
It is INSANELY bright. Looking straight without squinting is really tough!

Photobucket
I think this is the closest I can get to the light without my eyes dying haha.

Anyway the ring light works pretty well so I'm happy! I think any bright studio light would do the job really. Here I'm wearing just eyeliner + concealer + lipgloss and I look quite lively/fresh!

Oh yes these photos are all taken with my (low-tech) digital camera, so it's not like it's something only suited for DSLRs. I actually searched for a ring light in Sim Lim Square and got snubbed because I no have DSLR haha ):

Now all I need is to buy another tripod for my own digital camera so I can take photos myself! Alaric helped me take these and he's um... gotten quite a bit BETTER at taking pictures haha but I'll probably feel more confident/uninhibited if I'm alone.

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

I'm actually really lazy to take proper photos or play around with the ring light... It's already hard to ensure the background is a uniform off-white in all 3 shots so that I can combine them together. And actually on both sides I have the mirror/door so I always have to cut those out. Troublesome.

But I'm just kinda grateful my room walls are no longer purple (my room used to have 3 different shades of purple haha) lol.

And gosh my hair looks so flyaway in some of the pictures ): better start using conditioner again.