A day with the Master

As I've mentioned before, I am currently taking some classes here in the Philippines, fashion workshops to be exact, and in my Styling class our generous instructor Millet Arzaga was too kind to invite the whole class to a private Q & A session with master photographer Mr. Jun De Leon. His name might not ring a bell for most, but lets be honest, how many famous photographers does  one person really know off the top of their heads, right? Well, it was definitely that case with me, my photographer vocabulary only consisted of a few, like Herb Ritts, Annie Leibovitz and....that's about it, I think. So of course the moment I heard his name I did a little Google-ing to get myself acquainted, there I quickly realized Jun De Leon is definitely a big name here in the Philippines and I would be learning from the 'master'.

Prior to arriving to class, I already had my assumptions as to how this session was going to go; since we were meeting at Mr. De Leon's studio, I figured we'd be getting pointers on how to work with a photographer, learn the ways around the studio and he'd simply answer our questions about what the do's and don't's are in a studio with a photographer. Boy, was I wrong! To be fair, our questions were answered for the most part, but I think we all didn't expect the candidness of the interview and the volume of wisdom  he would share with us.

Mr. Jun De Leon (I apologize for the blurry image...I feel bad taking pictures while he spoke so I took this very fast)

Here he is sitting on his 'directors' chair while the whole class sat and listened intently to everything he was saying. When I first saw him on that chair, smoking his cigarette, I just knew this man was an artist.

This photo really makes me smile because this is when he was trying to show us an image in a magazine, which he shot; he was so comfy in his environment, he preferred to be on the ground so all of us can see around him and the pictures he was showing. This moment took away some of the intimidated feeling I had towards him, actually...maybe just took it down a few notches since he is a VERY intimidating individual.

What really amazed me about Mr. De Leon was his passion for his craft. With decades of experience under his belt, you'd think he would be bragging about all the celebrities he's shot, covers he's done, and all the books he's had published. But no, the content of his lecture with us consisted more of inspiring words of wisdom. The man with all the bragging rights in the world simply shared with us his unending love for his craft and advised us all to always pursue things that "gives you a rush". Because in the end he says, "what's time if you don't use it to pursue what you dream of". I can go on and list all the inspiring quotes I've collected from this session, but it was a private session after all, meant for our class only, so I won't abuse that special opportunity given to me and my classmates by sharing it to the world as well ;0)

A photo of the gang that day with Mr. Jun De Leon in the center and Millet(wearing a white top and blue pants). Took us almost a half hour to configure this dynamic set up with our photographer..hehe.

That day was truly a wonderful opportunity and a great gift from our instructor, Millet. She was right to say that we are "very blessed" talaga (really), since we are exposed to so many things that not many stylist today got to experience when they were just learning/starting. So thankful I found this class, I'm loving every moment of it!



Peace, Love & go for the RUSH friends!!!