The Friendship Shoot

Ever since the publication of these photos, we've received numerous comments on them - all pleasant and favourable, of course. While being aware that people (*ahem* the nicer ones, at least) are apt to give positive remarks regarding such as photoshoots, I personally feel that the shots turned out exceptionally well. To me, it is a novel manner of documenting the beautiful friendship we share - exactly as it is at this moment. We know not what the future holds, but right now, it is this amazing, and we will always have a reminder of it in these pictures. I've always found that pictures, in addition to literature, are the nearest to permanence I could hold on to, in this world of impermanence. Does that explain my penchant for writing and photography?

Granted, I'd never had any outdoor photoshoots prior to this one, so I can't tell how most people would describe them - a breeze or tedious, enjoyable or horrifying, fun-filled or stressful - well, other than tiring, of course. Ours was so awesome it didn't feel like a photography session - it felt like a genuine Roomee Outing, with a professional photographer tagging along. I can't remember when last I had that much fun! (oh yes - during the last outing with the roomees!)

So, what made the shoot and the shots such a success? Here's a glimpse into Behind the Scenes...

The Impeccable Planning
The credit goes to Bee Ree - she chose a great location and made us wear white. Our plain clothing made good contrast against the mostly green backdrop, and exuded an air of youth and wholesomeness (misleading perhaps, but well... nonetheless!)


In addition to that, she actually prepared a storyboard!


She did a research on various possible poses, chose what she wanted and had them all printed out neatly for reference. I am - and I'm sure the others were too - humbled by her thoughtfulness and thoroughness. What a roomee!

The Generous Dose of Craziness
An overdose, in fact. We simply couldn't seem to stop being silly both in behaviour and conversation, nor stop cracking jokes.

When our photographer instructed us to "act" like we're talking to each other, we end up saying stupid things and then laughing like hyenas. That resulted in a lot of mouth-opened-wide shots.


We really do love to laugh like that and we don't care if the world thinks we are not lady-like.


It was a challenge when the photographer wanted to take proper, demure shots of the bride because the remaining roomees would be goofing at the back and that made it quite impossible for her to keep a straight face.


Seriously, I can't explain how on earth we found so many things to laugh about.


When the photographer told us to just stand there and pose, as opposed to "talking" with each other, we burst into song.


No, we just couldn't stand there and do nothing - unless he ordered us to look at the camera and smile. When the photographer said to walk hand-in-hand, we clowned around as we did.


The clowning resulted in someone laughing so hard she was temporarily unable to continue walking.


One of the laughing fits had my tears streaming down, and I had to exert a lot of effort to control myself, in fear of my make-up melting! Such, we were, throughout the entire shoot. We even monkey-ed around the photographer every chance we had.


If he was exasperated, he didn't show it. What a sport!

The Fantastic Photog
In addition to his impressive photography skills, he's a great guy! I've been told a good photographer sets the right mood and puts his subjects at ease so they would be happy and comfy throughout the shoot. Ours didn't need to work so hard on that - we provided more than enough to amuse ourselves, and him as well! When I ran through a wet grassy patch in the field, got both feet covered in mud and had to rinse them out at a sprinkler, he could hardly contain his laughter. No, he didn't need to put us in the "mood". Instead, he did very well encouraging our liveliness and putting up with all our antics. Despite our being out of control so often, he managed to capture nearly 300 very decent shots. He even caught us totally unaware, like in this one:


Actually, they were posing for me:


He was also very patient with us, especially during the "jump" shots. He had to teach us the right way to jump, count for us (= 1, 2, JUMP!) and yet... failed shot after failed shot! We were totally talentless in coordinating our jumps. Like, totally!


At first, only Shell Shell couldn't keep in sync. She jumped later than everyone else and was still up in the air when the rest had landed:


Or she was ahead and had landed while the rest of us were still up there:


Gosh, it was hard! After several more attempts, the rest of us started spiraling out-of-sync as well:


And we kept taking turns doing it:


We just kept getting it wrong!

Look - someone's "floating":


Guess the landing sequence:


I wonder if our poor photographer was grinding his teeth and suppressing his urge to pull our hair out by then. The poor fella!

After n times, at last, we got this great one:


*phewww* You have no idea how very relieved we were!

Of course, most importantly, a friendship photoshoot cannot succeed without the friendship...


So, there! =)

Further reading:
The Photoshoot
The Wedding (Morning)
The Wedding (Evening)