(EZRA) 10/52 : I’ll chase your nightmares away
My sister and I gave my mom this dream catcher years ago for her birthday. There came a time when she had trouble sleeping and we thought it might help. She still ended up having to take sleeping pills, but it’s the thought that counts right? XD
Week 9/52 : Underwater dreams
I had something totally different in mind when I shot this, but it didn’t look right while I was editing it and I ended up changing my mind halfway through. I was too lazy to reshoot it so I did my best to just make something out of this shot instead. The windblown hair made me think of seaweed and that’s where the whole underwater idea came from.
Initially this was just me standing in front of a blue background, but it didn’t look too “underwatery” so I decided to add the fish. I’m still not completely happy with it, but it will have to do. There’s not really much I can do to it at this point.
Credits:
Week 8/52 : Reach!
I uploaded this a while back on Flickr, but as usual I forgot to post it here on my blog.
This was my self portrait the week after my friends and I attended the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Clark a few weeks ago. I wanted a picture with the actual hot air balloons there, unfortunately we weren’t allowed to go near them. To make up for it, I made this photomanipulation of me chasing a hot air balloon. This obviously wasn’t made to scale, but I had no choice – not unless I wanted to end up as a tiny speck in this week’s self portrait.
There’s a funny little side story behind this photo. I asked my sister to help me take the shot of me running because I couldn’t get the timing right using the remote control. I told her to stand in the corner while I ran towards her with my arms outstretched. It sounds easy but I overestimated my motor skills (or lack thereof). It was going pretty well and we managed to take a few good shots with ease until I tripped over my own feet and crashed right into her. Needless to say she wasn’t too happy about that. (Neither am I for that matter. I sported a huge bruise on my knee for a week after that.) But I like how the photo turned out, and she’s already forgiven me so all is well XD
Credits:
- Hot air balloon : Foxstox on deviantart
- Field with hills : Laire-stock on deviantart
- Cloud brushes : Obsidiandawn.com
Week 7/52 : Clothes make a statement. Costumes tell a story.
I miss having red hair… Although my hair has never been this vibrant shade of red before. Looks pretty good though, doesn’t it?
This was supposed to be my self portrait for Valentine’s Day, but I shot and uploaded it a couple of days late. (Well, I uploaded it a few days late on Flickr, I’m uploading it a few weeks late here on my blog XD)
The wig I wore for this shot was actually blonde (it’s the same wig I was wearing in this shot). I played around with the colors in Photoshop to make this it red. I added the little heart mark on my cheek there too. Not too happy with my facial expression here (I didn’t have time to reshoot), but I do like how the colors turned out.
Belated Happy Valentines Day everyone!
(Quote in the title is by Mason Cooley)
Week 6/52 : Darkness stirs and wakes imagination
First photomanip of the year. I haven’t done one of these since FOREVER! Ever since I started taking photography classes, I’ve sort of been trying to do minimal editing on my photos. Our lecturers told us that most photographers these days shoot “with Photoshop in mind”, and that we should avoid this. I understand where they’re coming from, but I just love Photoshop too much. Besides, this is an entirely different thing anyway. Photomanipulation is a completely different art form. It’s not like anyone’s going to believe that this is real – my hair doesn’t look this good IRL.
Shot this in my bedroom as usual. The background was premade by an artist on deviantArt. The rain, water, lightning and hair extensions were all downloaded from there as well. I really enjoyed making this, and I love how it turned out. It may not be my best photomanip to date, but I’m just happy that I was able to put my Photoshop skills to use once again.
Credits:
- Premade background : kevinchichetti.deviantart.com/art/Premade-Bridge-263602462
- Hair extensions : dezzan.deviantart.com/art/Hair-Stocks-259532943
- Umbrella : manichysteriastock.deviantart.com/art/Old-Black-Umbrella
- Rain, water and lightning brushes : redheadstock.deviantart.com
Title came from the lyrics of “Music of the Night” from The Phantom of the Opera
Week 50/52 : Dissolution
A break from all the strobist stuff I’ve been doing lately. I missed doing photomanipulations 
My editing skills are getting a little rusty. I hope it doesn’t look like I’m being eaten alive by moths (or worse – flies). The concept behind this is that my dress (and me, I suppose) is slowly dissolving into tiny butterflies. It’s supposed to represent the transition into a new me as we enter a new year.
(EZRA) 40/52 : Care to make a deal?
I thought I posted this earlier, but I guess I forgot again. This was Ezra’s Halloween portrait. Surprisingly she didn’t go for anything too gothic or bloody. She normally loves those things but she told me she already has a lot of pictures like that so she decided to just be a sassy devil.
The horns were from my aunt. She bought them last year for Halloween but decided to not wear them, so she gave them to me instead. It comes with a tail too. (I’ve actually been waiting for Halloween to come around so I can use them for my self portrait, but I ended up doing something else XD)
Week 42/52 : I still remember your smile when you tore me apart
Belated Happy Halloween you guys! Meant to shoot this yesterday but we spent the day visiting cemeteries and paying our respect to the dead so it was quite dark by the time we got home. This was taken this morning instead.
This was my submission to TOTW‘s theme this week (“Phobias“). I went with haemophobia, or the fear of blood. I really can’t stand the sight of blood. Pictures are fine, but in real life (and sometimes even in movies) it seriously creeps me out. My knees get weak and I start to hear a strange buzzing noise in my head when I get too near large amounts of blood. That’s one of the reasons why I decided not to go into medicine even though my parents strongly encouraged it.
My title came from Within Temptation’s song called “Angel”. The actual lyrics went something like “no remorse ’cause I still remember the smile when you tore me apart“, but I changed it a bit.
Splatter brushes came from HERE.
Week 40/52 : What a teacher writes on the blackboard of life can never be erased
A bit late… meant to post this around Teacher’s Day (October 5). I kept putting off uploading this because I’m not too happy with the shot. It’s grainy, washed out and badly Photoshopped. I couldn’t find any apples the day I shot this, so I used a pear and just replaced it during post processing. I tried my best to make the images blend, but it wasn’t good enough, so I threw a bunch of textures in to try to distract you from the floating apple.
Anyway, wishing all you teachers out there a super belated happy Teacher’s Day!
(EZRA) 38/52 : If you can dream it, you can do it
Ezra’s been having a hard time adjusting at her job. She doesn’t have that much work experience so it’s understandable. The stress is really getting to her, but she’s not giving up because she knows she will come out stronger in the end. She’s always been so unsure of herself in the past when it comes to these things, so it’s nice to see her believing in herself for once. Besides, she knows that she always has us to support her whenever she feels down.
Week 37/52 : The trick to juggling is determining which balls are made of rubber and which ones are made of glass
Forgot to post this here on my blog. I shot this around 2 weeks ago. This was the start of my students’ exam period so I was extremely busy finalizing their exams, checking their lab reports and preparing my advisees for their thesis proposal defense. So much work to do, so little time. I had to learn to juggle my responsibilities well. I think I did alright. I’m still hanging in there.
In case you’re wondering, I don’t know really how to juggle. I’ve tried to learn so many times but I guess I’m just not coordinated enough. Obviously that means that this photo isn’t real. I posed like I was juggling and added the “balls” (AKA oranges) using Photoshop. The motion blurs are real though, I tossed the oranges around a few times and took pictures of those for this manip. (Mom : please don’t kill me for throwing your precious fruits. I know you love them, which I why I made sure not to bruise them XD)
(I got the texture from HERE.)
(EZRA) 35/52 : Let the little fairy in you fly!
She is now 6 weeks behind on this project. I think that’s an all time low for us! But I can’t really blame her. She’s been *so* busy with her job the past few weeks that she’s barely had time to eat. She’s lost a ton of weight already!
Anyway, we took a few shots yesterday, so hopefully we’ll catch up soon.
Title came from a quote by Rufus Wainwright
Week 35/52 : The most confused we ever get is when we’re trying to convince our heads of something our heart knows is a lie.
(Quote by Karen Marie Moning)
First self portrait using my new camera. I’m not too happy with it, but it’ll have to do. I’m still 3 weeks behind and trying desperately to catch up, ack!
The headband I’m wearing in this picture is actually a necklace. It was a gift from my friend Ena. She just finished her Master’s Degree in Australia (in Medical Physics, eek!) and dropped by for a visit the other week. Congratulations Ena! And thanks for the pasalubong 
Anyway, I really miss taking pictures. I miss doing shoots with my friends, or walking around campus and taking pictures of the most random things. I miss my old Flickr groups and the contests we used to have. And I miss my Flickr contacts. Most of my old groups are now inactive since everyone has gotten so busy, and I haven’t had time to properly visit my contacts for months now! I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them have already deleted me as a friend. I do log in to Flickr every couple days, but only to upload my self portraits. I’m surprised people still comment on them even though I don’t do the same for them anymore. If you’re a Flickr friend and you’re reading this, I apologize. And I promise I will visit your streams as soon as I have time
(EZRA) 31/52 : Lights out
I think someone’s excited for Halloween…
Had to Photoshop this like crazy because the original shot was *so* yellow/orange (due to the candle). I only learned about the importance of adjusting the White Balance on my camera recently, so I wasn’t able to fix it when we shot this.
Lace brushes by scully7491.deviantart.com
Week 32/52 : Nobody looks good in their darkest hours. But it’s those hours that make us what we are.
Another SP inspired by the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning. I’m on the fifth (and final) book. I’m trying to savor each moment and take things slow but the suspense is killing me! I’m on the last 25% of the book and something tells me I won’t be getting much sleep tonight.
For those who aren’t familiar with the series, I talked a bit about it in my last self portrait. I mentioned that it’s about a girl named MacKayla Lane who leaves her comfort zone to avenge her sister’s murder. Searching for her sister’s killer is hard enough, but things get even more complicated when she discovers that she has the ability to see Fae. She also learns that her sister’s murderer might not have been human at all. Fae have this thing about feeding on humans – they love it! MacKayla despises them even more for it and makes it her mission to track them down and kill as many as she can. She does a good job, but there’s one Fae caste that troubles her. These creatures fear the light and spend most of their time lurking around in the dark, thus earning the name “Shades”. They’re harmless as long as you stay away from shadowy areas, but take one step in the wrong direction and they will devour you in a matter of seconds. Shades are considered one of the weaker and lower class members in Fae society, but because they can’t be killed, they become one of Mac’s greatest fears.
Anyway, I’m in love with this series. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some free time soon to make a review for it
(Title came from a quote from the book Faefever – the third book in the series)
Week 30/52 : Deep in my shallow dreams
It’s been raining nonstop the whole day. Classes have been suspended and most offices are closed. Manila is flooded once again. Authorities managed to evacuate some citizens in time but from what I hear on the news there are still a lot of stranded people. I’m lucky to be living in an area that’s not affected easily by floods, but a lot of people aren’t so fortunate. So far it doesn’t seem to be as bad as the Ondoy situation back in 2009 but that doesn’t mean it will stay that way. We’re all just praying that the rain will stop soon.
Anyway I shot this this morning. It’s obviously inspired by the current situation we’re in at the moment. The water and the rain are Photoshopped (this was shot inside my room) but my “wet look” is not. I actually stood under the shower (with my clothes on) before I took this picture to make it more realistic. Unfortunately I think I might have caught a cold from doing that because I didn’t hop right back in the shower immediately afterwards. I’m loading up on Vitamin C right now and hoping that this will help me feel better. I’d feel pretty stupid if I ended up sick because of one picture while other people are out there right now battling Mother Nature.
Title came from Owl City’s song called “How I Became the Sea”. Water and cloud brushes are from http://www.ObsidianDawn.com.
(EZRA) 29/52 : “Happily Ever After isn’t really the end…”
Ezra’s self portrait meant for the last week of July. We’re slowly catching up
This is inspired by this new TV series that she started watching last week called “Once Upon A Time”. We used to love fairy tales when we were younger, so she’s really happy about this show. I haven’t had time to watch it yet but she told me it’s good. She even got my parents in to it, lol. They watch an episode ever night before bed.
Title came from a quote byKC Randall. Glitter brushes from www.ObsidianDawn.com and the texture is from HERE.
(EZRA) 28/52 : Crimson butterfly
Burn!
I had a hard time with the flames because they work best when placed against a dark background. I had to experiment with different blending modes to get it to look right.
Ezra told me that this was inspired by the Fatal Frame video game series. It was one of her favorite games growing up. The 2nd game in the series is called “Crimson Butterfly” and it was her favorite – hence the title of this picture. Ezra told me that in the game, crimson butterflies ferry people’s souls to heaven
Flame stock came from tirasco-madawa.deviantart.com and the butterfly brushes are from www.ObsidianDawn.com.
(EZRA) 21/52 : Rainmaker
This is actually a re-creation of an old photomanipulation I did way back in 2007. That was when I first started out on deviantart and I had just discovered Photoshop. Back then I had a lot of free time so I spent hours browsing through the lovely stocks they had on dA and coming up with photomanipulations. I miss those days. These days I can barely find time to shoot a simple self portrait.
Anyway, Ezra told me that she wanted to do something rain-related because of the current weather here in the Philippines, so I showed her my old photomanip. She loved the concept so we decided to make something similar for her self portrait.
Water and cloud brushes from redheadstock.deviantart.com.
Week 21/52 : Words can make a deeper scar than silence can heal
Just a random concept I thought of the other day. It’s a bit different from what I initially imagined, but I’m still pretty pleased with it. The hair on my face kinda bothers me a bit though. I mean it’s fine since I was going for the whole wind blown effect, but I wish it didn’t cover up my lips so much. I tried reshooting it with my hair tied up, but it didn’t look as good.
Anyway I’ve finally caught up on my 52-week project! Weeee~ Now I just have to make sure I don’t get lazy and fall behind again.
Week 20/52 : Fiction reveals truths that reality obscures.
Theese past few weeks I’ve just been sitting around at home and reading whatever books I could get my hands on. I discovered that I really enjoy urban fantasies and paranormal romance. I didn’t even know those two genres existed until a few weeks ago. My current favorites are the Vampire Academy series (which you probably already know, seeing as I’ve mentioned it a number of times already) and the Georgina Kincaid series, both by Richelle Mead.
Anyway, I figured I’d do something book-related for my SP this week. I shot this earlier today in front of our garage. (I was actually planning to do the shoot in our garden but the heat was killer today so I decided to go somewhere with a bit more shade.) The book I’m holding is one I’ve never read before. It’s called “Slaves of Mastery” and it’s the second book from the Wind on Fire Trilogy by William Nicholson. I’ve never heard of it before but I found it at a booksale for P99 (~$2) and I bought it, not realizing that it’s part of a set. (I love booksales and whenever I see one, I usually end up walking away with a few purchases. Most of them end up collecting dust on my bookshelf because I’m too busy to read them. Ezra tells me that I should stop buying new books, at least until I’ve read all the other ones I’ve bought, but I just can’t help myself. Anyway I promised myself that I will get around to reading them all someday.)
As for the falling books in the picture, don’t worry, I didn’t actually start throwing my books in the air. They came from the following stock artists on deviantart:
- gothicbohemianstock.deviantart.com
- inadesign-stock.deviantart.com
- castock.deviantart.com
- borncrazy7189.deviantart.com
And the quote in the title is by Jessamyn West
Week 18/52 : Little Dhampir
Another Vampire Academy inspired self portrait. I’m still obsessed with the books and I’m currently rereading the entire series
Anyway, those tattoos are photoshopped of course. They’re symbols that are often mentioned in the book. Dhampirs (half human – half vampires) often get tattoos on the back of their necks to mark their achievements. They call the “S” shaped tattoo a promise mark and it indicates that they have agreed to serve the Moroi (the good vampires) and protect them from Strigoi (the bad vampires). The little “X” marks are called molnija marks (which means “lighting” in Russian) and they represent how many Strigoi that dhampir has killed so far. The main character in the story has a lot of these, and she even has the star-shaped “zvezda” tattoo which indicates that she’s been in battle and has killed countless Strigoi.
My title came from the main character’s nickname, which was given to her by a Moroi who was in love with her. He was one of my favorite characters
Week 17/52 : Shadow kissed
Recently I’ve been obsessed with this book series called Vampire Academy. I just finished reading the final book (Last Sacrifice) last week so I decided to make this vampire-inspired self portrait. I’m not really that pleased with how this turned out, but I’ve been editing it for the past two days and making itsy bitsy changes. I figured I should just upload it since I don’t think I’m ever going to be completely happy with it.
In the books, vampire bites give their victims a huge rush of endorphins, so people actually volunteer to give blood. When a human does it, they’re called feeders and are accepted by the Moroi (vampire) community. The Moroi only drink little amounts of blood each day so its safe for the humans (aside from the fact that it turns them into junkies). However, when a dhampir (half vampire, half human) offers their blood to a vampire, it’s considered kinky and erotic and society looks down on them for it. But some dhampirs still do it for the rush.
If you want to know more about the books, you can read my review on the series HERE. Although I must warn you that it contains a lot of spoilers so if you’re planning on reading the books, you might want to skip the section where I summarized each book and just read the intro (where I basically just tell you how much I loved the story ^__^).
Bite marks brushes came from HERE.
(EZRA) 16/52 : Do you believe in magic?
Ezra’s like 3 or 4 weeks behind in this project so we shot this quickly the other week. Uploading it just now because I kept putting off the editing. (It’s summer here so we’ve both been extremely lazy XD)
Anyway this was inspired by an old poster of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. We used to love that show when we were younger
