Tuesday, August 25, 2009

My super busy weekend!

I know it's actually been a few days since my super busy weekend, but it was so eventful that I'm going to write about it! And please excuse the fact that I sometimes overuse exlamations, I try not to but I'm an excitable person.

First off, I had a beauty shoot on Friday with Orlando based photographer Betsy Hansen. A beauty shot is usually a picture of the model's face, emphasizing the make-up skills of the artist behind it. It also shows off the facial features and bone structure of the model, so it's crucial to have a shot like this in a model's portfolio. It's important to have a great team for shoots like this.
Now the shoot was at Joe Blasco Makeup School and there were a total of nine models for the students to work on (one for each student and one for the instructor). Betsy was there to provide important insight to the make-up artists on how to create a look that's ready for the camera. I was assigned to a make-up artist, Jacqueline Ford, who also went by Jackie and we had similar tastes in make-up choices. She opted for a radical 70's look with bold white eyeliner on my bottom eyelid, crazy long eyelashes that were white AND black, and hot pink lips. I LOVED IT.
We chose to wear my hair down completely (I had it straight with bangs across my forehead) and it all came together. Betsy did a test shot and showed Jackie the shot and things she needed to highlight and emphasize so that it would be more visible for the camera. Make-up that is done for photo shoots are not the same kind of make-up done for every day events. There has to be an over-exaggeration of details for certain things to appear well for a photo, especially with contouring.
Betsy as a photographer tells the model what she wants out of them, when I was trying to do a "surprised" look she told me to go all the way, and I hope I did!

Now for Saturday. Saturday I had the opportunity to shoot with John Deeb who is an amazing photographer. He also does other really cool neat stuff with photography and film work, but I'm not really sure what. We had a full team on board, including the talented make-up artist Gemma B., an amazing hair stylist Tanya Ryder, and wardrobe styling by the fantastic Tammara Kohler. John also had an amazing team that were there to assist him and to learn from him but they were great with helping out the rest of us. Everything just came together so well. John had a location that we were to be shooting at so hair and make-up was done at the studio as well as the wardrobe changes. My first look was a vamped look that I absolutely LOVED with my hair in an intricate bun and intense black lips.
John's assistant, Erica, drove the models to the location and took us back. Since there were four of us total working on increments, timing was crucial. John also shot two models at a time as one model was about to leave, he'd shoot the arriving model and the leaving model together for a few shots. After the first look we took a lunch break, provided for everyone by John. We had Tijuana Flats. I had a vegetable burrito with no cheese and guacamole=)
For the second look, we went for a diva look, almost Lady Gaga-ish. This look consisted of black and gold tights, underwear panties, and a fur coat. My hair was done up in a mohawk and my make-up with plenty of gold glitter. I gasped in the mirror when I saw everything, it was so rocking.
John as a photographer gave really great direction which is sometimes needed with a themed shoot and for a model that is just starting out.

Sunday was my shoot with Challotine (I'll post the link for her business site later). Challotine herself was one of the models along with Anna Dang. The trio of us looked really great together in front of the camera due to our ethnic backgrounds. The make-up was done by Nicole Pace who gave us a really great cat-eyed sexy look. Challotine herself did my hair in a mohawk but different from the one I had before, it had curls and was put together almost like a bun. Sarah Siuk was our stylist and Lisa was our photographer. One thing I enjoy the most about having a female photographer, is that they truly do give you insight on how to pose in a way that's most flattering to you and your body type. Whenever we showed too much neck, Lisa told us to lower our chins. This was the most noticeable problem. We were shooting a look that was a high fashion look at the opera. We had little masks and everything.

I hate it when I'm not shooting because it's back to school and work (got to keep my day job!) and bills. Reality sucks sometimes.
I have so much more to talk about but I'll save it for my next post. Hopefully I'll have time to update again later today or tomorrow.

0 comments: