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| A Personal Project |
Over a year ago, I started a new Instagram account, named "dustyrobe". It was when I was recovering / suffering from a fresh breakup. My old accounts had too much memories, so I left them as they were and started something new. A mark of a new beginning if you might. Now, you're probably wondering what does dustyrobe even mean? It's so out of the blue, so random. Well, I was watching an anime (yu-gi-oh arc-v) at the time when a similar term came up - dusty cloak; the name of one of the cards. I thought about it and decided to put a twist to it, even adding a meaning to the name. Likening myself to a forgotten robe in the closet (because no one uses that) that has been left to collect dust, I thought of myself as someone forgotten. Depressing, I know. But that was my state of mind at that time. Months went by, and even after recovering, I'd grown to like the name. But I digress.
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| Banana cigar for you? |
My very first photo on the account was of a banana, peeled halfway and bitten with the caption -
"You're probably wondering, why the name and why the banana. Well maybe I'm just trying to be artsy, or maybe it's a metaphor."
There was no meaning whatsoever when I took that photo. I just felt like it and I thought that it looked aesthetically pleasing. But let me just insert a random metaphor into it, the me then was like the blackened skin of the banana and I wanted to peel it off to start afresh.
So yes, I started the account with no purpose or direction. Somehow, one thing led to another and I ended up using it for photography purposes. Perhaps the artsy fartsy banana photo was already an indication or a foreshadow even that my account would one day be used to showcase my photos. While mundanefilms which was made 2 years ago was meant to be an outlet for my street photos, dustyrobe on the other hand will showcase all the portraits.
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| Hopefully the backstory wasn't too boring |
Now to the main point after a long grandmother's backstory. As a way of paying tribute to my very first photo on dustyrobe, I thought why not use bananas as a concept for a portrait shoot. I wanted it to be as weird as it could be, with a tinge of humour. I already knew from the start when I thought of the concept that I wanted Randell to be the model. No one else would be so willing to get weird for me after all. I wanted to do it indoors as well for softer light and a cleaner background. There was no better place than my place. White walls and a vintage looking sofa, couldn't have asked for more. Also, it was somewhere where we couldn't get judged by the public.
When I first came up with the concept, I wanted the overall theme to be in love. Where Randell would do retarded things with the banana like a man in love would be. Somehow during the shoot, the mood changed. Maybe it was the sombre music that I was playing. Just like how I felt a year ago, the feelings were conveyed through this set of photos.
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| When the heartbreak sets in, you just end up not knowing what you're doing |
I hope you see where I'm going with all these. I hope you see the character development. From an aimless photograph of a banana to a planned concept shoot with a banana. It is my metaphor for the account that was once without a purpose but now has a direction. Yes I went one big round to show the metaphor.
This set of photos is my tribute to my first post, me starting anew, me having met a whole lot of amazing friends this year, me celebrating my birthday, and me still finding love.
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| Why are you thinking wrong? This is art. |
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| Is this the new way of dancing to Twice's Signal? It might very well be. |
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| And my personal favourite out of the whole set. Thanks for sacrificing your eyes while I manual focused. |
Huge thanks to the bestie, Randell for helping out with this weird shoot. Okay fine, there was an additional reason why I specifically wanted Randell to be the model for the shoot. He was the one that helped get me through my toughest times of my life. Not just the period after I broke up but also during the relationship (he helped me reach the decision of breaking up) and also during poly dramas. So yeah, if the shoot was a metaphor for me having found a purpose in life, then him being the model would be showing him as the catalyst for that change. Thanks buddy, for everything.
And that is the story of how I got my Instagram name, and how this shoot came about. Will probably do more of such shoots along with fashion ones.
Cheers.
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