Becoming My Own Film Crew

I have become my own film crew, my own makeup artist, director, script writer, sound crew, caterer, gaffer (okay, not yet), lighting director, film editor… you get the idea. Recently, I needed some new headshots. What, I have to put on real clothes?! So I took out my makeup and put on “outdoor” clothes, set up my studio, and did a photo shoot. I even did two wardrobe changes.

The photo is from an art exhibition at the Ministry of Culture in Lima called, “Peruvian Beauty” by Yayo Lopez, and it included people from Peru of all ages and types, but the beauty on the poster shows a good example of a headshot.

What I learned from doing the photo shoot was that I’m glad that I bought a remote control for my phone, use good lighting (nothing beats sunlight), use plain backgrounds, have the camera at eye level, and take many photos. A trick I used to get a smile to reach my eyes was to do some silly photos as these would make me laugh thus causing some of the jollity to reach my eyes for the more normal headshots.

Staying indoors is giving me time to look through old photos and try to organize them. But mostly, I’ve been teaching myself how to use iMovie, GarageBand, and other tech tools for my blog.

A friend suggested that I name my studio space (my dining room table). Clearly it has to be Madventures Studios.

Thread and Bare – Spa Life in Dhaka

Getting threaded by the skin of her teeth.
Getting threaded by the skin of her teeth.

Another of the good things about life in Dhaka is getting pampered. While the spas and salons may not be as high end here as one would expect elsewhere, it is relatively inexpensive. I have had haircuts for 600 Taka ($8) which is not as cheap as it is for the locals but still inexpensive to me. The prices make it easy to go to the salon (usually ladies only) and get plucked, massaged, waxed, threaded…

Threaded bare.
Threaded bare.