Recently, I have been invited to be the guest photographer of the Off-Beat Figure Drawing session – Dream Drawl. Off-Beat Figure Drawing is a monthly gatherings of lovely creatives, models, live music and photography. Utilizing a furniture refurbishing warehouse, people with different skill sets, whether amateurs or highly skillful artists, are all here for one reason – to create. The interesting part of Off-Beat is that every session, they invite local musicians to be on-site. This is not simply a life drawing experience but also a retreat, serenade yourself in the life music, and see how it leads you in your creation.
I have been invited by Off-Beat many times, but due to timing issue, I kept turning down the invite. Half a year later, another invite from Off-Beat came and I told myself, it’s about time. Let’s check out what’s really going on in the Dream Drawl session, and let’s see how things have changed in me.
Well, almost immediately when I arrived there, I feel at ease, relax and comfortable. That’s a sign that I no longer worry about technical challenge, what’s coming ahead but rather accepting what shows up, being spontaneous, improvise and document the story. This is truly an enlightenment! The musician being featured that day was a local folk/country band called Sealegs. They are truly amazing and definitely help my creation process to be a lot enjoyable!
However, I do have an agenda in mind, I do not want to solely just cover the event, but I want to create, just like all the artists there, hoping to create a piece of art that I could perhaps worth printing it and hang on the wall. Unlike the usual Figurative Art Photography which photographer has all the control of lighting, scene set up and able to direct the models, the fun thing about working in a drawing session is I have limited to no control for all of them. Photography being a different creating medium can only work around angles, composition, and whatever is available to make it work.
This post is really big mash up of 3 elements – painting, figure modelling and music. I cannot express how much fun I had attending this event and telling you the story through my images. Let me know what you think.
Click play for the accompany music to better enjoy this post.
