Necktie

Life of a salaryman is never easy. 

You are constantly on the run. From overtime work to business trips to seminars and trainings. You can only wish everything would stop for a while. And that you won't be in a business suit.

 

Kybele

While I was finalizing my itinerary for Europe, an idea suddenly popped up – a fashion / model photo shoot. I showed Kat my portfolio and asked her to help me find model(s) who will be interested in posing in front of me. She found a very much willing and interested Kybele. Her portfolio opens with “ “Hi. I’m Kybele and I am awesome” and with that I immediately contacted her and presented the concepts I had in mind. It’ all about COLORS! Her excellent port is consistently on the dark side so I thought it would be a good chance to add some vibrancy. 

   

inkpot's now empty
colored blood stains forever
a part of one's soul

Lolita

Almost two years ago, I wrote something about fashion in Japan. I blogged about it because I have to. Haha! A picture of mine was included in one of the fashion magazines here before. Maybe I looked like an anime then. Or clothed like one. I’m still keeping that magazine though!

Anyway, Japan’s street fashion in Tokyo is very popular not only to foreigners, but also to the locals. Harajuku, Shibuya, Akihabara are just few of the places in Tokyo District that’s worth visiting. Street fashion as well as candid photography is very popular to amateur and professional photographers.

I am not really familiar with some of the technical terms in fashion world, but one of the most popular statements in Japan Fashion World is the Lolita Fashion.

Lolita (ロリータ・ファッション, roriita fasshon) is a fashion subculture in Japan that is primarily influenced by Victorian children’s clothing as well as costumes from the Rococo period. Lolita has made this into a unique fashion by adding gothic and original design elements to the look. From this, Lolita fashion has evolved into several different sub styles and has created a devoted subculture in Japan. The Lolita look consists primarily of a knee length skirt or dress, headdress, blouse, petticoat, knee length socks or stockings and rocking horse or high heel/platform shoes. Teddy bears and dolls such as Super Dollfies are often carried to emphasize the childlike look.

Sometimes I called them maidservants. Because the clothes they wear are very similar to maids of royal families. Throughout the year, they are wearing these costumes and it made me wonder, how can they survive during the summer season? Its too hot!

But of course in taking photos, you have to be professional too. If needed, try asking their permission. Or flash a smile to them. Its not that difficult, respect is very important to them, and very well-appreciated too.

Otaku is another popular J-fashion too. So, if you are into street photography, and you are in Japan, Tokyo MUST be included in your itinerary. Whether you like it or not.

/totomai
10/13/08

Inclusion

Aside from sushi, temples, karaokes, pachinkos and electrical gadgets, Tokyo is also well-known when it comes to fashion – and not the ordinary ones. Around the area, you can see people of all ages wearing not-so-normal stuffs from maidservant to geisha to anime to Disney characters to tribal costumes. And they seem comfortable with these statements. Weird, maybe, but that’s the way it is in Tokyo.

Perhaps the diversity of the fashion sense in Japan, specifically in Tokyo, was the inspiration behind the publication of Tokyo Graffiti magazine. They claimed to be the magazine of the new generation and one of their regular features is the street snap wherein they highlight Japanese as well as foreigners fashion statement of the day and whose get-up is catchy enough to be noticed (just an assumption though, hehehe).

Earlier , I wrote about an unexpected experience I had in Akihabara wherein a fashion editor asked me for a photograph. It caught me by surprise then, but I gave in to her request. She explained that my picture will be included on their next issue.

Come October 25, the latest issue of Tokyo Graffiti was published and made available to the public. Out of curiosity and maybe a bit of excitement, I checked a local bookstore for the said issue, scanned through the pages and indeed, true to her words, I was there along with four Japanese 10-minute models. Hehehe. At 480 yen, I bought the magazine and just can’t fathom why I was included since I believe that what I wore that day is considered a normal casual wear. And one more thing, out of the four poses during the ‘shoot’, the one I liked least was the one that hit the page. Very amusing! All content was in Japanese except for my name of course, which was wrongly spelled. Haha!

It was such a crazy experience. Having my photo on a Japanese magazine seems surreal but on the other hand, it serves as a stamp to my stay here in Japan. Grabbing a copy of the magazine just 9 days before leaving Japan is nothing but a worthy remembrance on my part. It happened only once and may not happen again. So be it. Hai!

I showed the issue also to my Japanese officemates and almost all of them replied with a grin. Haha! I just don't know what their grins mean.

Funny thing is that my mother still jokes about it every time she sees the magazine. It is now one of my prized possessions. Well, my father is still asking me if it’s me indeed on that page. Anyway, thanks for reading.

/totomai
05/16/07

PS

I scanned the page and posted it here. lol

Glamour

One aspect of photography that I would like to focus in the future is the glamour/fashion photography. I find it challenging on how to capture the right expression of the models; how their auras would reflect on prints. But since my point and shoot camera has its limitation especially during night scenes, I’ll try to save enough money first to buy a camera that can give satisfying results. Yeah right, I sometimes hate my camera when I attempt taking portraits.

Earlier this year, my friend JC scheduled a glamour photo shoot. But due to an emergency, he wasn’t able to come so he instructed Jepoy to continue the shoot. These models will pose for free since they need new pictures for their portfolios. Four models for four photographers. I thought photo shoots are easy to do, but I was wrong. Waiting for the models to change wardrobes is taking a lot of time, as well as transferring from one location to another. My companions were equipped with DSLR cameras while I sported a credit card-sized camera. Hehe. But hey, I enjoyed every minute of it. At least I was still given the chance to try glamour shots!

Among the models, Kat is the most experienced. She appeared in billboards such as Globe and Chippy, and not only in the Philippines but in other Asian Countries too. She’s cool, very relaxed and knows how to play with the camera. Her sister, Hazel is my favorite model. Maybe because I am new in photography and she is new in modeling – being a neophyte in our respective fields was the common denominator. Next one, Abby is the tallest among the four – taller than me too. She has the Filipina features that make her stand out. She just recently won an FTV fashion show. Mharz was also a participant on the said fashion show. She is friendly and exudes a seductive aura during the lingerie shoot.

It was very tiring but it was quite fulfilling. Oh, before I forget, the Ferrari and Lamborghini cars are just awesome. Really, they are.

totomai
04/30/07