Monday, January 17, 2005

Look who's working now!!

Hahaha! I'm working!

We started work on the catalog yesterday... Shooting the products in the studio. I was the “art director”... that's what my boss introduced me as... It just means that I help to give opinions and ideas for the arrangements. As a sort of proof that I was doing work, Amin took pictures of my doing some arrangements.. too bad he didn’t manage to catch the moments when I stuck my tongue out at him for doing something so silly…

It's really like some fashion shoot... the way we fuss over every detail and how everything must look perfect... eg. the fruits had to be treated with mustard oil to make them look fresher... the stems had to be freshly cut before every scene so that everything looks fresh... even the flowers had to be carefully chosen... but we let up sometimes... when the flowers dun look all that great... my boss says it's ok... that can be edited in the photoshop afterwards...

With all this fuss, it's just like how my sister had her wedding shoot... ok.. so my models were little containers and vases and such... but you know... same thing...

You wanna know what’s cool about the whole photo shoot? We used food… To put in the containers… and you know what happens to the food after the shoot? We eat them! (The eatable ones of cos..) I had cake, puffed rice balls, popcorn, and a strange fruit… this fruit that grows inside a coconut... once the coconut started sprouting a plant… smells and tastes just like coconut oil... chewy… can’t get used to it…. My boss and everyone likes to make jokes... Eg. Make you eat something that isn't edible or nice or something... So the rule of the thumb is, I only eat what I see them eating...

Work finished about six... and the rest of the guys stayed later... to do more shoots... My boss joked and said he'd dock one hour worth of my pay... then i told him i wasn't getting paid... haha! Now seriously, my boss is a really funny guy... Recently, he had taken to not translating everything he says to me... It used to be that he'd speak English to me and jess and Bengali to everyone.. Now, it's Bengali to everyone else and me! Just because I once guessed correctly what he was saying to Shalini.. And come on... anyone could have guessed that one... He had gotten his tea... then came back in again and said something about "chini"(sugar).. what would you think? He was asking for more sugar for his tea! From then on, he's convinced he must help me understand Bengali...

The other people in my department are really cool too... Atiq has been doing funny things like cluck his tongue so that it makes a loud sound... and snapping his fingers at my face... I'd been trying to do them back... but the clucking sound i make is really pathetic compared to his... Yup... Now you know what really goes on in a photoshoot... that was just during the in between moments when my boss and the photographer Moin are in deep discussion about the lighting... Not that we don't help... but we try not to get in the way... And besides... we're very good at holding reflectors and table cloths for the shoots... I think table cloth holders and reflector holders should not say too much in case you distract the photographer.. what do you think?

Here's the other accomplishment that I think I have to mention… Jess and I have gotten more and more independent with every trip out on our own.. We've been going out on our own to go shopping and changing money and looking for food... We'd explored a large part of mirpur road on our own already.. that's the major road... and dhanmondi 27.. the road leading to mirpur from Drik.... and of cos panthapath... the road outside Pathshala... Yesterday, we went looking for a very highly recommended bookstore... It wasn't all that great... didn't have a lot of stuff... I wanted to buy a thin book... imported... about poetry... it cos 9.99 pounds... and do you know how innocent that sounds?? it costs over Tk1000!! That's insane!!! I know that's S$30 but I still don't like the idea of paying over a thousand dollars on any book... whatever currency it is... I'm getting the book from Borders...

There's one more thing... The three of us have started sitting three to a rickshaw now... It's really fun and it saves us a lot of money... This is how it works... The person sitting at the top gets on first, sits on the backing of the seat (it's thick enough and sturdy)... The next person sits between the legs of the top person and the last one squeezes in the seat... It's easier than it sounds... and you get a great view at the top! I really like sitting on top now... The only thing is... with no cushioning, it really hurts the behind when the rickshaw goes over a pothole.. Not as bad as the poor rickshaw driver who has to move us all...

So yup... that's the report of yesterday... gotta go for breakfast now... I'm late for work!

posted by thebemusedphotog @ 9:10 AM

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