THREE MODELS, AN INTERIOR DESIGNER, A BAND LEADER AND A FLAMENCO DANCER

The Designer.....
















The Bandleader.....
















The Dancer.....














Tattoos. I never liked them. Whenever I had a patient in PGH who has tattoos, the first thing that came into my mind was that this man was a prisoner in some jail and that his tattoos signify the gang he belonged to. Not a good impression. Besides, with the closing of commercial blood banks, it means that the hospital relies more on blood donors for patients who need blood. Ideally, blood donors are a patient's next of kin. And one of the requirements for a donor to pass is that he must not have tattoos on his skin. So there, I'm saving myself as a donor for my family in case one of them needs blood. I have a high pain threshold therefore, a tattoo needle doesn't scare me. Having said this, I do thank God that not anyone in my family has blood dyscrasias or is afflicted with dengue, which requires blood transfusions of vast quantities.

One Saturday morning, I joined John as he had a schedule to shoot his models for his "Tattoo Pride" project. It's a good concept, as he opts to photograph people who sport tattoos that have no criminal record. And I was pleasantly surprised by my friend's audacity to approach people who are complete strangers and ask them to pose for him and his project. We photographed a popular band, dice-k, who sang the song my niece loved, "Itsumo"; fine arts students who see tattoos as art and some tattoo artists. That day, an interior designer and a band leader were the ones who confirmed their schedule. John did mention that a third model might show up, an underage girl who dances the flamenco and who can pass as an adult because of her height. She shall be a "bonus" model when she arrives.

It was an amazing photo shoot! Our models were game and good looking that it was impossible to take bad shots of them. And one of them even had the guts to bare all and go all the way (nude). No coercion was used in convincing him. He was the one who suggested it. As the shoot turned into a nude photography session, John and I therefore asked the other two to leave the studio and wait in the lounge outside. We wrapped up shooting our nude model in thirty minutes. As much as I wanted to shoot in a slower pace, I can't because of the other two people waiting for their turn. Given the circumstances, I was pleased with the results and so was the model.

Our second guy was the handsome one. I have never seen a man who has a set of very captivating eyes, though I have a female friend (a doctor) who has (and I do wish that I can get her to pose for me so I can look at her gorgeous eyes!). And because of his features, he doesn't really have a bad camera angle. What's more appealing is that he has a well toned torso. His abs isn't exactly washboard type but isn't that flabby either. My naughty side wished that he'd volunteer to be shot in his birthday suit as well but I know he wouldn't. The pace was relatively slower than the first hour when we were shooting the nude model but my adrenalin level was still way high. We were through with taking pictures for the second model in an hour.

The last was our "bonus" model, a young lady who doesn't have a tattoo but was asked by John if she was interested to pose wearing her flamenco dress. I admire kids who go out of their way to learn a new skill. The surprising thing about her is she chose to learn a Spanish dance, flamenco. I didn't have the chance to watch a flamenco performance when I went to Barcelona years ago because my friend and I were more interested in trying out each restaurant at the main boulevard called "Las Ramblas", in search of the best seafood paella and sangria. And despite the Spanish classes that I went through in college, I couldn't figure out if what I was saying was a Spanish word or something in Pilipino! Anyway, this kid also takes Spanish lessons as well, which I find amazing as well. We asked her to do some dance movements as we tried to photograph her dress as she swirled it in motion.
We finished in about 45 minutes and thus called it a day.

I was tired by the time I got home. I didn't think that I will have lots of photo opportunities by tagging along with John for this shoot. I guess it was my lucky day!