It’s Wednesday already, and Jeff and I are still on such a high from Firestarter. Seriously, I don’t know how to put into words how amazing an experience this has been. It’s been nothing short of life-changing for us, and I will carry it with me forever. The feedback from the participants has been beyond our wildest hopes and expectations, and honestly, it’s been quite overwhelming. I want to keep all their emails, texts, tweets, and Facebook status updates and messages in my little treasure box, with the odds and ends from my childhood that I still keep.
Here are some behind-the-scenes photos from Bryan and Pie, our third and fourth shooters. Bryan has been shooting with us for three years now, and Pie for about two, and it was great having them there with us.
Jason Magbanua was there on the second day to talk about branding. It was an honor to have him there, and we all learned so much from his talk. And it’s highly likely that there were more pictures taken of him than of our models. Haha.
We had the best time shooting Chips and Fozzy Dayrit, who were both so game and so in love that I could not stop giggling. More on that when I post photos from the shoot. Chichi Sotomil did hair and makeup so perfectly, Veluz designed THE dress and we all can’t get over how gorgeous it is (and the belt!), Lifestyle by Feliz hooked us up with pretty Sugarfree Shoes, Vatel Manila provided the beautiful bouquet, which Fozzy called “Bob”. I suggested the name George but it didn’t fit quite right. Throughout the day, when we were moving between sets at The Peninsula Manila, people would go, “Where’s Bob?” Hee.
That’s Chichi and her ridiculously adorable baby boy Marco next to our stunning couple. The ones with the cameras are the crazy kids we spent the weekend with. We’re still quite young (haha) so some of them are our age, but I cannot help but feel motherly towards them.
The workshop was made possible by our sponsors: VSCO Film, ProPhoto, AsukaBook, Weddings@Work, and The Peninsula Manila.
Some participants have already begun to share their photos and stories of the workshop. Nez Cruz blogged about it here. Zeus Martinez shared his experience here. Will share more as I find them: Teki Diaz, Alan Cabredo, Brian de Leon. We can see their hearts in their work, and we are so, so proud. Like I told Nez, we’re looking forward to watching their stories unfold.
We called the workshop Firestarter because our intention was to light a fire within others who are now in the same position we were in four years ago. Somehow, they ended up rekindling ours, and it’s burning brighter than it ever has before. We’ve always said we love our job, but this has added an entirely new dimension to it. This weekend was so much more than we had ever imagined it would be, and we are forever deeply grateful to everyone who came and helped make it possible. There are no words to express how much.
Here’s to chasing dreams, following your bliss, and burning ever so brightly.
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