I was feeling a bit savage today, and I felt like I needed to embrace it. So I ate raw meat from the bone, beat my hands against my chest, swung from vines, and ate snails with my toes. A fabulous day!This one is for my sister Constanzia. I love you lady, and I miss you! My top is from the my favorite store ever, ever Gyahaha in Hongdae.Have a lovely Tuesday and please be just a little barbaric today :)And check out Mandolyn's #6. It makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside ^^
The Self-Portrait Madness Escalates! #5
Wow! Is all I have to say. Wow!
This is only portrait #5 and I can't believe how many things have started to come my way since my friend Mandolyn and I have started this challenge. Let me explain, or try to. This story may be a wee bit difficult to understand, and long! I had trouble believing myself, but bear with me if you have the energy or brew some coffee! Brew it extra strong with some delicious milk to obtain the maximum focus ;)I had probably the craziest, most unexpected Saturday in quite some time. Like I said last week, I had no clue where my next self-portrait would come from, but then it just fell into my lap! So you see remember that fear challenge list I made? The one about the different things I wanted to do before saying goodbye to Korealand? Yes that one! Well on that list I wrote that I wanted to do a fashion shoot and collaborate on the photography shoot with another artist (fashion designer, make-up artist, etc).This past weekend that goal was accomplished! After I made the list, I decided to go meet and to talk to the owner of my absolutely favorite clothing store in all of Korealand in Hongdae called Gyahaha . I wanted to how she felt about collaborating on a fashion shoot together.This store is amazing! It is full of beautiful colorful clothes, designed or bought by the owner Yeon Ja. She travels all over the world selecting clothes, fabrics and Jewelry for Gyahaha (Ladies in Korea let me know if you need directions because they carry some Western sizes and jewelry) .So about 3 or 4 weeks ago we met, Yeon Ja, Hyun Mi, and myself, had a lovely chat and decided that we wanted to work together! They told me that it was actually the perfect timing for a shoot because Gyahaha is about to launch their new summer line and they were looking for a photographer to do a fashion shoot, and I walk in their door. I like their style of clothes and they liked my style of photography. Ah-sah! I just love when the stars align!So we planned for a photo shoot for this past weekend and then we all started planning the shoot's concepts and looking for models, foreign and Korean. All was going well, and I couldn't be more happy to work with them.., but on Tuesday this tale took an unexpected twist. I get an email from Hyun Mi last Tuesday discussing the logistics of the weekend, our concepts, the timing, the models, and then she casually mentions that ever since they met me that they though I would be perfect to model their clothes. And they hoped that I would be one of the models for the shoot... Ha? What?!? ::at this point in the email, I spit out 1/2 of my morning juice dousing my computer my desk with orange juice while I simultaneously choked on the other 1/2 of my juice and it went down all sorts of wrong pipes that I didn't even know I had. It was a mess:: But you see, ladies that... I'm the photographer.. yes?? uhhh.. how? mmm. errr. And then the idea came to me. Like a light from Heaven, the voice of God most probably. ;) You know what?!? You can do this. I've been doing self-portraits for the past month, why not? Weird, but doable.. So I pitched this idea to them, and they agreed! Wow.. Crazy right? Model and Photographer for a fashion shoot. Really, is that even possible? But wait there is more craziness to ensue, yes I know, how? You will believe it when you see it!So Saturday day morning the Gyahaha team, and I set out in the wee hours of the morning about 3am to go to a piece of farmland about 3 hours east from here, but not before grabbing some delicious Soon Dubu to fill our bellies. Off we went in search of perfect farmland. It took more time then expect, and people kept telling us that we couldn't take pictures here or there, but then we finally found a beautiful location free from all those pesky rule-following people. And so the shoot began. And yes I did model and photograph, I must say it was an experience switching from photographer to model and then back again. It's a little rough having to try to switch from model face to creative brain and then back again, but a good challenge. I would set up the tripod, arranged the scene, then the ever so lovely Hyun Mi would click the shutter for me or tell me when my face looked dumb. She was an amazing help! So I guess these may not be a purest of self portraits but.... It was pretty close :) Here's one of the semi-self portraits from Saturday...
Well we shot all day! But the weather was amazing, and we an awesome time! About 4pm we packed up all the clothes and props and headed home, well almost, we first decided that all of our hard work deserved good food so we ate. I just love how Koreans never let you go hungry. They are my kind of people.
After filling our tummies with Korean BBQ and marinated raw beef&pears, yum!, we had to rush back to Seoul because they had another in fashion shoot in the studio at 7pm. As soon as we jumped into the van, we all passed out from exhaustion. It was about 6pm., and we were on the way to my house, and the studio called Yeon Ja, by the tone of conversation, I knew something was wrong. I heard my name spoken in the conversation a few times, but everything was in Korean. I could only pick up a few words. She gets off the phone and then there was just silence in the car for about 10 minutes..No translation was provided. hmmmm... now I was curious. What was going on?So being the noisy, annoying American that I am, I started to poke about the studio shoot, and I asked if I could go and watch it.. Then Hyun Mi tells that was the studio on the phone, their model was very sick, and that the studio stylist saw my self-portraits and asked Yeon Ja if I would be interested in modeling for the shoot?. ::at this point if I had had been drinking any sort of liquid, i would have spewed it all of over the car and its inhabitants:: hahaha! Really? Are you serious? Not twice in a day when I've never modeled a day in my life. You guys must be super confused.. I'm supposed to be on the OTHER side of the camera.. you know the PHOTOGRAPHER!, remember?But Yeon Ja hadn't mentioned it to me because she knew I had already worked all day and thought I was probably exhausted, and this would be asking too much. After thinking about it for hmm... 5 sec I decided the sure, I was tired, but how could I pass up the opportunity? I mean I had already wanted to go to the studio to watch the madness and now I could join it! Ah-sah! I wonder what they would make me do?.. hmmm...Come to find out, they didn't make me do much, but they sure did a whole lot to me.. A few times they had to give me electric shock therap so that I didn't fall asleep on them, and by the look of my hair you can tell. It looked like I stuck my finger in the socket. Look at the pictures! It was sheer madness. So much so that the shoot lasted for about 9 hours. I got home at 6 the next morning.
The Photographer Kim Suk Jun, Hair & Make-up by Ji Hye, and the set stylist who was super cool with such a personality, name: Hyun Na! And thanks to Hyun Mi and Yeon Ja for keeping me company and feeding me kimbap and juice so I wouldn't fall asleep in drool all over their pretty clothes ^^
Such a crazy Saturday, and I know the lunacy will continue. I can't wait! I am a truly blessed :)
'Timely Fashion' ~ Self Portrait #4
As a journalist, I felt the need, the call, my duty, the deep, deep responsibility to incorporate my journalistic background into the next self-portrait challenge, with a little fashion twist, of course. What fashion could really be more current than the daily paper? Not even Paris designers can top the freshness of the morning news! Just call me at 1-800-fresh-fashion for your very own chance to wear the latest, greatest fashion!And I wanted to give a big shout-out to all the years of sleepless, shower-less, coffee-filled nights in the photo labs with my bestest and super gifted, artsy friends.... Mandolyn McConaha, Libby Isenhower, Nathan Morgan 2.0, Elizabeth Lauer, Joy Lewis, Drew Thompson, oh, oh and Becky Fluke too, but she was a rebel in the group and left us early to escape the sleepless blues of school life.. They are all very talented and beautiful, beautiful people, currently all over the planet doing all sorts of crazy things! But hopefully one day soon we can all catch up together, eat good food, drink delicious coffee, and chat about all the photo geeky things we can think of! I miss you guys! 
#4 finished! #5??? We'll have to wait and see, but currently, I have noooooo idea., but it will be an adventure, like life :) view my portfolio
'Dreamin in the Forest' ~ Self Portrait # 3
Self-Portait Challenge #3 in the bank with the ever so lovely Mandolyn McConaha!.. I decided to get up in the wee morning hours, hop on the subway at 5:45 am and take an excursion to a farm town about 30~45 minute from my town. I was donned in a dress, gloves, boots and was carrying my tripod and camera gear as I boarded the train. I believe I gave my fellow sleep-deprived train riders a little morning entertainment.But by the time I arrived, and I hiked up into the orchard, I guess I was too exhausted to do much more than nap. Ah well, perhaps next time I'll consider sleeping in. :)
Levitation is like Good Cheese, Fantastic!
Self-portrait #2 with my bestie Mandolyn McConaha . This time I took to a little practice with levitation. It was a bit rough to begin with, and I have massive bruises on my bum to attest to the difficulty of levitating in a thunderstorm. But after a few dives on the concrete, it suddenly clicked and the body just began to float up, up and away! It must have been all the static electricity in the air. Benjamin Franklin would have been proud. If you're interested in become the next Harry Potter of Levitation just let me know. I'll give you pointers.Tip #1 Stuff a 200% down feather pillow in your backside.
view portfolio here
Spring's Arrival ~ The Challenge
My friend Mandolyn McConaha and I are off to challenge ourselves to a little self-portrait assignment for the month of May and maybe beyond. This is how it works. 1-2 self-portraits are due a week. All of which must be blogged to keep our quality up, up, up! The whole point of this assignment is not because we're super narcissistic and can't get enough of our faces, though some might disagree. In theory, it is to practice conceptualization and taking the crazy ideas in our heads and seeing how far we can push them.So in the future when we have scores of talented models at our disposal, ::cough, cough:: We'll be so good that we'll know not only how to design a scene, take the picture, but also how to tell the model how to pose and direct a photo shoot. Bam! That easy. Like an easy bake oven or the Showtime Rotisserie JUST... Set it and Forget it! Rotisserie chicken sounds delicious right now... yum. with a little bit of roasted garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and goat's cheese? oooh and lay it on a nice bed of balsamic vinegar dressed spring greens.Ok enough about food that I can't eat for another 8 months! ::Inge picks up her chopsticks and continues eating her kimchi and seaweed breakfast:: Here's my first portrait of the project. Entitled 'Springs Arrival' I've never had so much trouble focusing a camera in my life. Being the subject and the photographer is rough work. I should get paid double or at least eat double. Oh wait, never mind, that night I ate like I was a lady pregnant with twin elephants.Also check out Mandolyn's picture here --> http://mandolynm.blogspot.com/