Portraits Vol. 4

Today's set of portraits features Elisa Aquino.

Ate Elisa asked me to take her photos for this project she was working on and of course, I said yes. I love taking portraits and to take the portraits of the person who inspired me to try portrait photography was a huge honor for me.

The shoot was fairly quick and easy. Ate Elisa styled herself and did her own makeup. She knew her best angles and how to model herself. She needed very little directing during the shoot. All I really had to do was take the photos. We projected her photos on a wall to get some color and drama in the shots. We played with two different photos -- one that was very dark and dramatic and another that was much more colorful but had a good contrast of light and dark colors as well.

In post-processing, I wanted to highlight the contrasts of colors and, of course, accentuate the shadows in the photographs. It was definitely fun sorting through all the photos, but these five are my favorite ones. I'm very proud with how they turned out and I was absolutely relieved when Ate Elisa told me she loved the photos.

Thanks for letting me collaborate with you on this, Ate E!

Makeup, Styling, and Modeling by Elisa Aquino
Photography and Post-processing by Luis Abesamis

For collaborations, you can contact me at: whatdoesluissay@gmail.com

Follow Ate Elisa on all of her socials!
Blog: shemakeshimknown.com
Facebook: @shemakeshimknown
Twitter: @elisabaquino
IG: @elisabaquino

Mental Health Self-Care Tips

Last October 10 was World Mental Health Day and the theme for this year was workplace well-being. I'm an advocate for mental health and with the degree that I'm currently taking up, I'm learning more and more about what I can do not just for my own mental health, but also for the mental health of those around me.

With that, I've chosen a couple of self-care tips that I've picked up over the years around the theme of work and school that are geared towards helping our mental health. These tips might not work for everyone as these are all based on my experiences, but I hope these tips are helpful in your mental health journey.

1. Maximize your breaks.

The work that we do can be very demanding. Aside from the rest we're (hopefully) getting at night, our bodies need to rest every once in awhile through the day. That's why it's important to take breaks. But a lot of the time, we still find ourselves working during our breaks. We pull our notes and study for the quiz next period or plan how we're gonna check off each item on our to-do list this week. Theses are all great and important things, but we need to maximize our breaks.

We're in a culture that encourages people to always be working -- to always be doing something. We feel guilty for taking breaks because we've equated resting with being unproductive. Allow yourself to enjoy those breaks. They're little pauses in our routines that allow us to step away from our work and recharge.

Take a nap and get that extra boost of energy that'll help you get through the day. Go watch a 30-minute vlog and catch up on your favorite Youtubers. Do breathing exercises to help you calm down even if you don't feel too overwhelmed yet. We spend a large portion of our day working. I think it's fair to say that everyone deserves to take a break.

2. Embrace lazy days.

We all have lazy days and sometimes, it's (in)conveniently on days when we have a lot of work to do. But if there's on thing I've learned from having lazy days, it's that we shouldn't punish ourselves for them. The work we do takes a lot from us and so we should embrace lazy days because they're opportunities to find healthier and happier ways of doing the work we need to do.

We don't need to feel bad for giving in to lazy days because sometimes, that's the only true rest our bodies are going to get from all the stress. The lazy days are there to help us take a breather and reevaluate how we've been going about our to-do lists.

3. Create a healthy work space.

Having a healthy work space can affect the attitude we have on work and how we do our work as well. Whether it's putting up notes, verses, and photos that encourage and inspire you or taking out clutter and mess that stress you out, find ways that make your space a healthy place for you to work in.

Let your work space motivate you. Make it a place that lessens the stress and lightens the load. Create an environment conducive to rest as much as it is to work.

4. Be honest about your mental health.

This isn't the easiest to practice, but I've found it to be helpful in my journey with mental health. Over the past few years, I've learned the importance of being honest about my mental health. Whenever I felt anxious, the first thing I always needed to do was to acknowledge that I was anxious and that sometimes, I was anxious for absolutely no conscious reason.

Being honest doesn't necessarily mean telling everyone you work with that you suffer from a particular mental illness or disorder. There's still so much stigma around mental health so it's understandable if opening up about it isn't something you're comfortable with. But whenever your mental illness or disorder is acting up and manifesting itself, be honest about the situation. Don't dismiss it by saying that it's nothing when it definitely is something. Be honest about your mental health if not to your co-workers or block mates, then at least be honest to yourself about it.

Let's all do what we can to break the stigma and shed light on mental health. But most importantly, invest in your mental health. Devote time and effort into taking care of yourself. Your health is so much important than work and school. Happy World Mental Health Day, everyone!

Do you have any mental health self-care tips? Let me know in the comments below!