After training with Willy and Barreto in December and talking to the client, Claudia Carrión, I finally attended the first photo shot of the food for the franchise book Claudia wants to make. Sadly, I wasn't able to attend the first session since I was on vacation so I didn't know the client as well as Barreto. 

We got to Casa Gourmet early in the morning; I helped Barreto set up the lights and the mini studio before Claudia got there. Once everything was ready many desserts were brought into the room, it was impossible not to stare or be provoked by this delightful treats. Once Claudia got there we begun the photo shoot. 

We begun with a Quiche, if you know how a quiche looks like it is very simple, there is not much decoration. However Claudia was very meticulous about every detail and decoration, she wanted that the Quiche looked outstanding, so we had to get the angle with no cracks or burns and we had to add some oil to give it glitter and make it more provocative. As I watched her work and listen to her thought in the first two photos I begun to know her better and better and I was able to understand what she wanted the pictures to be like.  There were many small details such as burns, dirty spots in the plate or crumbs that she realized and changed so we could retake the photo. So the first thing I learned about our client was that to her small details matter, she is a perfectionist.  Therefore Barreto and I had to watch out for those small details that we knew she was aware of so that we didn't have to retake the pictures many times and loose time. 

Furthermore as the photo shoot went by I also realized that she really wanted her food to look provocative and inviting. Therefore we had to take the best angle of each dessert to make it look DELICIOUS and MOUTH WATERING. To do this we either added oil to make it shinier or tried different angles to take the best profile of every dish. After looking at all those pictures in the screen I couldn't resist my craving to dig in. 

During today's session I learned the importance of listening and knowing your client. The better you know your client and his goals the easier and better you will met his expectations.  As I understood Claudia more and more I was able to take pictures that she fell in love. Yes, 3-4 of my pictures were approved by her, my first day and already took 3 pictures for her book!

Nick Carraway:
-Elegant
-Hats 
-Vests
-Bows instead of ties
-Suits y camisas

Daisy:
-Jewelry, expensive and a lot
     -Necklaces, earnings, bracelets 
-Big dresses
-Short hair
-Fan
-Smoking
-Heels

Tom:
-Polo cloths
-Wealthy—> well dressed 

Gatsby:
-Ring
-Bow
-Suits y camisa
-Sunglasses—> round
-Always well dressed
-All colored shirts
-Indian cotton
-Linen
-Even in his house he dresses elegant
-Soldier suit: doesn't let you know if you are rich or poor, it neutralizes what Gatsby really was so Daisy didn't know if eh had money or not

Mytrle:
-Classic dress, not as fancy as the ones form high class woman

High Class Women:
-Well dressed
-A lot of jewelry
-They combine a lot of cloths
-Short hair
-Dresses: long, glitter, 
-Always wear something on their head, hair
-Beach: bathing suits were complete and wear head band in their heads
-Heavy makeup
-1920
-Hat or something on the hair/ head
-Gloves
-Sunglasses are round
-They wear hats every time they are going  out

High Class Men:
-Straps
-Bathing suits —> complete 
-Pañuelo
-Striped suits


Low Class Men:
Servants:
-Ties
-Suits y camisas
-Elegant shoes

Workers:
-Dirty white shirts
-Baggy pants (nothing fancy)

-Daisy is materialistic

GREEN LIGHT: magic of the green light has vanished
Now he has Daisy so the green light has no more value

Daisy: american dream, how far we go and loose just to get that happiness or materialism 

Ostentatious —> Gatsby for Daisy showing off of wealth 

The valley of Ashes

Tom made fun of Gatsby because of the Pink suit—> lots of money no class, to dress

West and East Egg and Valley of Ashes —> 

Cathartic—> purge negative emotions (get them out)

Daisy —> shallow American Dream

America —> from poor to rich

Money has value because we have given it value

No intrinsic value

Money is a veichle to get food or these things

Before finishing the book I decided to watch the movie in order to understand the story better. As I watched the movie for a second time after finishing the book I notice many things which have helped me understand more the message and symbols of the book. Once again the ending has almost brought me to tears It is amazing how people with so much money, Like Daisy and Tom, can just pay and run away from their problems. Gatsby was innocent and he had to suffer the consequences. 

While I watch the movie I annotated on the costumes used in The Great Gastby, I focused on the main characters. The high and wealthy class lived on West and East Egg. Men wore suits, mainly bows and hats and women wore long dresses and excessive jewelry. If we compare the way Tom and Gatsby dressed with clean, suits, ties or bows and hats vs. what Mr. Wilson wore, dirty shirts and baggy pants, we can clearly see who belongs to the high class. The cloths each character wore represented their social class. The more fancy your cloths the more money you had. 

While Myrtle dressed with simple and cheap dresses, Daisy and Jordan wore expensive fancy dresses with tons of jewelry to make them stand out. During a casual day at her house Daisy used long and beautiful dresses which today people will only were to elegant parties. She always had some type of jewelry, the amount depended where she went. 

going up to the cross in chorillos
practicing curves
the ultimate test to see if i really learned to drive
scared of curves
son muy cerradas y peligrosas
como la gente va volando 

Today was my second class I was ready to receive some instructions and then go down to la Costa Verde little by little.  As soon as I saw my teacher down stairs he handed me the key and told me to start the car. I was shocked, honestly I didn't feel very confident or capable of starting the car and drive down to the Costa Verde like if I do it regularly.  

He closed the door and turned on the air; I put on the key, started the car and brought down the hand brake. There were no cars so I drove through Ugarte Moscoso and turned to get out to Salaverry. Before taking the hardest way immediately, going down the Costa Verde, he first told me to drive through the Miraflores malecon so that I would get familiar with more cars around me, stoping and advancing in traffic and traffic lights. 

During my first light in Salaverry the clutch got me before I stepped on the accelerator and the car turned off. Meaning that the clutch came up too fast before I accelerated and this caused the car to turn off. When this happened I got very stressed because the cars started to beep at me and the people beside me would scream.  But I focused on myself and not on the other people and I asked my instructor why that happened, he would tell me my mistake and what to do so it didn't happen again. Once I knew exactly what I was doing wrong I begun to get more confidence in myself because I already knew what was wrong so I evade it. Little things like this came up along the way, and little by little I begun to realize what are some mistakes I repeat why they happen and how to evade them and this is how I got more and more confident. Once you know how the car works exactly it gives you so much comfort, you never doubt or are insecure about anything because you know it all.

However I was confident driving the car but I was still not confident about the cars driving next to me. You can never know what will be the others cars move, you can only trust yourself because you only have control of your own car. Like I mentioned previously, before going immediately down the Costa Verde we were going to drive through the malecon so I would get more confident. At the beginning I drove slow but once I got the hang of the speed, moves and behavior of the other cars I got more comfortable driving on open streets and avenues. During the entire ride I repeated to myself that I was in control and I knew exactly how to do the manual transmissions, accelerate and stop. This also helped me gain confidence, it erased all the doubt and insecurities in my mind and allow me to flow. The calmer I was the better I performed because just like in a test if you stress out you forget everything and freakout when inside you really know all the answers. 

The more confident you are the better you will drive because if you are not confident and you are insecure of turning or doing different moves you can end up crashing. This is why when you are about to do something you have to be completely sure about it or not because you can cause an accident. The more confident you are on yourself the more sure you'll be of your instincts.