(Zara dress, Capital Vice Miu Miu-inspired heels, Forever 21 accessories) Hype this look on Lookbook here.

How do you like the change of setting? It started to rain so hard yesterday afternoon that I was suddenly forced to find a new location in my house (that’s not my studio since a like a little change from time to time… if you’ve noticed) to shoot myself in.

This is actually my grandparents’ room, which might look familiar to some of you because I also shot my friend JL here! I love that it has a huge natural light source and dark blue velvety curtains, so it’s absolutely easy to create moody self-portraits like these.

Recently I feel like my photography skills are being compromised in a way that most of the practice I get is only when I take my own personal style photos. Balancing photography with a lot of other things like blogging, modeling, styling, etc. may be fun but it occasionally puts me in a semi-frustrating situation where the phrase “jack of all trades but a master of none” applies so much to me. Why not take it to the next level by challenging myself to create better self-portraits? Not that I wasn’t doing this already. I think it’s just time to level up a bit.

It’s all quite a challenge for me, but I do hope I get better with this as time passes. Of course, with enough practice and research. Not having enough time is never an excuse, because it’s completely possible to *make* time for something that you really love. Maybe I can go out of my comfort zone and do less boring poses and facial expressions next time.

Behold the face of desolation and pose of hopelessness (I’m so kuba!):

/end art-related rant

On a lighter note, paint splatters that match the curtains and my hair! I bought this dress weeks ago while I was looking for a sophisticated-but-fun-looking piece of clothing that I can wear to business functions and talks. Ended up wearing this to the PANAF IMC Youth Congress last October 7.

And to complete my paint splatter art attack are these gold Miu Miu-inspired booties which are officially my first overly shiny pair of shoes. So smitten by these heels right now I don’t think I can get over my love for it any time soon. <3