Hey everyone! I’m very excited to share that I’m currently featured on Dove’s Facebook page as their resident personal-development expert (along with lifestyle and portrait photographer Suasti Lye) for their latest camera confidence campaign! :D
I’m currently featured on their Facebook page, ready to answer any questions which ladies (even guys) may have on overcoming camera anxieties and achieving camera confidence.
Dove Camera Confidence Workshop
Last month, I announced that Dove was running a workshop on Camera Confidence, which they had engaged me to conduct. Out of nearly a hundred entries received, ten wonderful women were selected to participate in the workshop.
Through this workshop, I had the honor to work with 10 beautiful yet camera-shy women, including Qiao E’, a breast cancer survivor who used to feel self-conscious taking photos because of her chest; Irene, a girl who was born with cleft lip palate which made it a norm for her to shy away from the camera; and June, a plus-size relative to the average Asian girl who was conscious about her body and hence rarely looked at the mirror (she didn’t have a single mirror in her room before the workshop!).
Through our one day together, these originally-camera-shy women (re)-discovered their inner AND outer beauties, never to see themselves in the same way again. Their transformations were HUGE: tears were shed (all ten ladies and mine as well), past issues were processed and purged, eyes were opened, and their lives have been changed: never to be the same again.
The Dove Camera Confidence Workshop on Nov 30, 2013. I titled it as “Love the Camera, Love Yourself”, because that’s ultimately what it really is about: to love the camera (or anything in life really), it starts with loving yourself first.
Ice breaking: interacting with the participants and hearing everyone introduce themselves
Working with each and every participant to discover the root of their camera anxieties
Going deeper beyond discussion of camera anxieties: our beauty anxieties!
During one of the transformational moments of the workshop
Group shot with the Dove girls: I love this! From left to right: Nureliza, Irene, Pauline, Kiran, Rosalind, myself, Wei Yin, Suasti (our resident photographer), June, Connie, Adeline, Qiao E’. Beautiful Women. ♥ :)
You can also see the profiles and transformation stories of the ten beautiful ladies on Dove’s Camera Confidence page.
I’m proud to say that since the workshop, these wonderful ladies are now very camera confident and have been snapping photos and sharing absolutely gorgeous photos of themselves with their loved ones! :D Prior to the event, they had always avoided the camera where possible and would feel resistant or even anxious when they sense a photo-taking session coming up.
Many of them told me that they signed up for this workshop not knowing what to expect, and they got away more than they could have imagined or hoped for. I personally just feel blessed to have this opportunity to work with them and enable them to re-discover their beauty, because this beauty has simply always been in them all along: just like it’s in you and me too.
My Dove Camera Confidence Video Trailer Shoot!
Along with the workshop, I also had the honor and opportunity to be in Dove’s video trailer announcing their all-new camera confidence campaign.
While it was a short trailer (slightly less than two minutes), it took one full day to shoot it. It shows that many things you see in the media take a lot of time and effort to “orchestrate”, and it’s pointless to take media-projected images (be it photos of models in fashion/beauty magazines or celebrities in TV dramas and movies) as personal ideals because they simply aren’t reflective of real life. (The Dove Evolution commercial brings this message to light too.)
Getting my makeup done for the shoot while going over my lines via audio recording
“Silence please! Recording in progress.”
The crew, getting things set up
On the set, getting ready. Special thanks to Dawn and Janice for taking photos while I was shooting!
Waiting for things to start
Lights, camera, action!
Doing candids for the trailer montage
With my co-star of the day, photographer Suasti Lye
How the set looked like from the couch
Director Julius reviewing the takes very intently. He has worked with MTV, SK-II, among other brands
A glimpse of the crew
Having fun while on the set :)
With the lovely Dove team!! :) From back to front: Tianying, Ting Ting, Yu Hui, Dawn, Myself, and Janice
A screenshot of the final video trailer
See the final video trailer here! :) (Includes cameo shots from the workshop on the day too!)
Special thanks to Julius and his team for their amazing work in this production! :)
Share Your Questions with Me via Dove’s Page! [Q&A Now Over]
If you have a question on overcoming camera anxieties and achieving camera confidence (any at all), share it with me via Dove’s Camera Confidence page @ www.DoveCameraConfidence.com (let us know if you came from PE!) and I’ll get back to you! :) The Q&A section is open till Jan 15, 2014, and Suasti and I will be answering your questions daily.
Look forward to hearing from you! :) And thanks so much for all your support all this while guys! It’s been a wonderful 2013 and I look forward to a terrific 2014 ahead!
Update Jan 16, 2014: The Q&A is now over, and we received many interesting questions, some of which came from PE readers! Thanks so much for participating and hope you found my answers useful! :D
Disclaimer: This is NOT a sponsored post.
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