My First Ever Outdoor Photoshoot Experience

2-3 months ago, this girl Olivia was complaining that we did not have enough  photos together. Fast forward 3 months later, half of my camera roll is full of her face! 

Last month, Olivia was approached by a photographer friend of hers to do an outdoor shooting at the Botanical Gardens. She was like "why not we both go and get more photos together?". 

I only had 1 real photoshoot experience when I was a kid with my mom where we went to the studio, got our hair and makeup done and dressed up for different settings. Though occasionally my friends and I would go out to snap photos of ourselves and cute desserts, it's still among ourselves. Now that I had to meet truly professional photographers, I was actually pretty anxious and nervous before the shoot. Plus, I was afraid of being bitten by hundreds of moizzies in the Botanical Gardens. 

I did my own makeup at home before heading out for the shoot because I couldn't imagine doing my makeup (either by myself or by the makeup artist) out in the wild with monkeys and strangers staring at me and my sweat dripping down my forehead every second. When I got there, I realised that Olivia looked like she just rolled out of bed (I actually meant that quite literally and she owned up to it too), so the makeup artist worked on dolling her up while I wandered off with the other photographers to find a good spot for the shoot.

The photoshoot was scheduled at 7.30am to avoid the crazy hot weather. I thought it would be a chill tranquil morning for the shoot but I was wrong. We had to weave through a crazy traffic jam before getting to Botanical Gardens carpark and the whole place was full of people there for their morning hikes and runs. Hell, I didn't even know that there were so many health enthusiasts in Penang! 

The best thing about this shoot was those amazing people who I got to work with. Steve and Jia Chen are the photographers for that morning. Not only they are good with their camera gears but most importantly, they make me feel really comfortable from the start till the end of the shoot. Plus, they are quite playful and funny to hang out with too! 

I am not really a girly girl so posing with elegant poises were extremely awkward for me. I couldn't stop laughing at how pathetic I was!! Steve gave me a few good tips on posing because he specializes in wedding photoshoots and knew what's the real elegance of a girl a lot more than me! On the other hand, Jia Chen's style was different from Steve's. He knew that I was not so good at posing so he took shots while I was just casually talking to him, walking around and doing stupid little things here and there. Best of both worlds isn't it?!

My #OOTD for that photoshoot:

Top: White cropped top that I got from a night market in Bangkok

Skirt: Stylenanda

Shoes: Adidas Superstar Originals
Accessories: Pandora bracelet 

Looking at the photos that came out from the shoot is very satisfying but there's really a lot of blood (moizzies sucked my blood) and sweat (heaps of buckets) involved. 

I think I had soaked up enough Vitamin D for the rest of the year. Felt like Olaf melting away in the sun. I wonder how do those celebrities film shows and shoot photos in those summer days with searing heat and appear amazing in every single shot.

When Olivia and I were shooting those candid shots, we were actually ranting to one another "WTF, it's so hot", "OMG, I could feel my foundation melting away", "Haha I see your sweat here and there". 

Pffttt behind the scenes were really funny. 

Once we finished the shoot, we both went back home respectively and had a quick shower from head to toe before meeting up later in the afternoon for tea. It was a very memorable experience and also a very exhausting day. Nevertheless, I love the photos. 

For those who are looking for professional photographers, do check out these 2 photographers' details as below:

Steve: Website ◊ Facebook Page

Jia Chen: Website ◊ Instagram