Week 9/52 - Beauty of the Night
I am thrilled to reveal a beautiful friend name Quyen as my number 9 portrait of the week. I asked her couple weeks before to be part of my project and she was interested! I wanted to do this as my gift for her belated birthday. During the week, we finalized on a place to meet up and picked downtown.
Friday night, the weather was being bipolar. It went from rain, wind, and clear and then back to typical Seattle weather. In the back of my mind, I was thinking "I need a jacket and umbrella for this." As it turns out, the rain was gone. The night ended up being more beautiful than I perceived.
Now, let's dive into my night with Quyen.
We started the night out with dinner. We were seated in the bar section more closely at the window so it was quiet and away from the rest. Majority of our time spent during dinner was to catch up about life. Before meeting up, what I knew about Quyen were all of her amazing photos she posted online that showed her hiking trips and beyond. During our conversation, I learned she recently started opting for the outdoor and loved it ever since. It was cool to hear more about herself and her upcoming travels along with adventures with friends. The coolest of all was our shared interests for music festival. She claimed to be shy, yet every single photo here expressed otherwise. :)
After dinner, we started our photo shoot. Attempted an indoor capture and luckily achieved one image, but decided to get out and continued forward. We walked around downtown for a bit and then made our way to Pike Place Market. The market is gorgeous at night. Quiet, peaceful. With the ground wet, colors were enhanced tremendously. I knew I had to make the shots count.
As we continue to walk all around market to find more surrounding for interesting backdrop, we noticed the view point looking onward the water and Seattle Ferris wheel. After getting some breathtaking shots, Quyen brought up the idea to stand on the table. At first I was hesitant, but then I obliged and went with the idea. Even I didn't think of that! That goes to show she is brave being in a dress and heels while standing on a not-so safe surface table.
Before concluding, the overall photo shoot felt like I was photographing an actress or a model in a movie setting. I even said the theme felt like La La Land (although I never seen the movie). I have to admit it was my first time doing a photo shoot at Pike Place Market with anyone. I learned from Quyen it was her first time hanging out at the market at night. She is a natural and extremely photogenic.
Finally, thank you Quyen for being in my portrait project. Not only it was fun for me to photograph you, but it was also wonderful to catch up and learn where life has taken you and what is more in store. You inspired me to travel more and being inspirational as well. People are not only blessed, but grateful to have you in our lives.
Moving forward into Week 10! I have no expectation on what is coming up. I look forward to spending my time with the next person and photographing them for who they are. Stay tune for the next portrait of the week!
- Sally Phnouk -