After Dark 2013 ~ Dashi Panda

Another post from St. Louis! This is After Dark!

~*~

Waiiiiiitttt!! *zip, pause*

Hurh? I got a few questions from a blog reader (yay!), and I'm going to go ahead and answer them here. ^^b I thought it would be an invasion of privacy if I posted their questions (just to be safe!), so these are answers to questions people can't see, hahaha XD Begin!~

I'm not from China, since I was born in the United States, but my parents are from Taiwan.

Yes, I did graduate from that school, went to college, and now I'm going to medical school. :D In the US, we don't graduate from universities as a doctor. It's a two step process: first go to college, then apply and get into medical school (then graduate... as a doctor!!).

Aww thanks! :) I like to swim and dance, and would like to think and hope that I'm pretty good at swimming, but I haven't swam competitively in 4 years, so I'm no where as fast as I used to be. I like to swim for fun and keeping in shape though. As for dancing, I still have a lot to learn!

I'm 22 years old (probably much older than you thought I was, right? haha~) and no, I don't currently have a boyfriend.

Okay, let's continue to After Dark!!

~*~

What's that? Basically a photography conference full of learning. It's a national event where photographer gurus come and teach their passions to others. Photographers (I think there were more than 400?) who want to learn pay big bucks to attend for a few days, and they, as well as a bunch of models, fly in from all over the country. One of the coordinators contacted me, and luckily, I was still at WashU in St. Louis at that time. :)

Information session

Daniel took me to the information session in downtown. After Dark was hosted at the Union Station hotel! It was pretty big inside @__@ This information session was pretty cool; I got to see how coordinators organized and planned things out, and we were all assigned days and times. The event ran into my classes, so I couldn't attend for 2 out of the 4 days, and I went at night after my classes. Looking back, I should have skipped those classes (seeing as how everyone does it on a weekly basis, haha!) and embraced the opportunity! I worked during the later hours ("After Dark," right?) where pretty much only studio work could be done, but I actually love, love, love natural lighting. Playing around in the hallways with natural sunlight seeping through the curtains would have been awesome. At least I know now!

Here was my name tag~

They were setting up studio pods for the next day.

The hotel had a lot of space, like this pretty hall of shops

And this one by the windows. SUNLIGHTTT

This is what the hotel entrance looks like, just like a castle!

Random pictures of tulips from campus (no idea why these pictures are here XD)

But campus is quite pretty during the spring semester ^^

This is the After Dark. There's an interview in the middle. I was featured in it twice; can you spot me? :D

Pretty exterior again~

This was my first modeling event, so I had no idea what to expect. Darn it, so should have went to all four days-- it was a lot of fun! I love being all dolled up with the hair, the dressing up, and the makeup. It's like playing pretend in front of the camera :D I'm sure many people don't know what an event like this is like, so here are some pictures to share with you ^^

Makeshift makeup station, haha~

People would sit and listen to a mentor before testing their skills.

All sorts of gizmos and gadgets

I actually liked listening too! .. although I couldn't understand some of the stuff they were saying ^^''

Here was a snack bar for those who didn't have enough time for meals! So nice of them :)

I met this girl while we were doing makeup together. She's gorgeous! I couldn't stop sneaking looks at her through the reflection in the mirror :P

The makeup artists were awesome too-- they even did hair too!

Here's my hair! All this with a straightener. How is that possible? @_@

Back into the ballroom for shoots!

So a lot of it is trial-and-error for the learning photographers.

They'll have a model and take some shots with some settings,

review their shots and see how they can improve,

and then continue to take more shots.

I've never seen this thing before! I think it's an extra large reflector, haha~

I was totally amazed by the backdrops. The floor looks like real wood!

And always wanted to play with a ring light! These things are so awesome and fun! But they hurt my eyes XD

For the days I went, I went at around 9pm and stayed until 2 or 3am. Daniel picked me up both days, and I'm super thankful! He even had a test that week too.