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Lesson Info

Day 2 Creative Team Q&A

I'm gonna introduce you to the set and the creative team because I know there's a lot of questions for them yesterday, so I feel it's really important to kind of come in and ask them I'm going to give you a little bit of the idea of how the shoot came together, so I gave my team, um, about a month ago, some inspiration, so I sent them a mood born exactly what I wanted them to do. Visual reference. This is exactly what the kind of idea of clothes I wanted to pull if it was relevant to the autumn winter kind of spring, summer kind of fashion. So, yeah, I just want you to meet them, and they have about to say to you, and they want to hear your questions, too, so I'd love to start with you. Karen um, so high, I'm karina ll guy, I'm doing the sets and props for the shoot um, after after seeing the reference images from uh, lara, I really, really like the whole idea of big gowns are about to see erin got us some exquisite gowns for today, so I really like to work with a set that the models c...

an interact with, especially if it's multiple models, so, um I like the idea of the gods may flowing off the bench or one of the models to climb the letter or hold the bird cage I don't know if you can see the bird cage way over there but uh yeah we got a when working with sets um it's it's sad to say but the first thing after you see the um reference images is to talk about the budget and what's possible and what's not possible um so I said this yesterday I think it's very true if you're beginning photographer just try to work with what's close to you and what you know you can achieve instead of forcing something that's not really there because it's gonna look forced so um yeah I think it may be good to maybes help people how much of my input versus your input was into the set design but this um well I think it was kind of fifty fifty wasn't yet yeah I think it was very equal and you're going to see coming up soon when lara will start uh taking photos I will need to see it on the monitor because it's very important for me to see it from her angle because what you may see right now as being a cohesive looking and put together she might get for example like a bold spot on the leaves that will need to fix so it's really really important that I would see her it from laura's eyes really um to make sure that we have a very perfect product in the end yeah, I think with best introduce everyone and there may be questions after right pesach deborah my name is deborah I'm here today doing makeup yeah basically how the inspiration came about for this like what inspiration was it um what how like much input you put into it you know how we went about arranging it and things like okay, well I think what happens when you and I work together and work as well? First we have an idea then we have way have references then we have research so behind the idea and the clothes way reference the time maybe it's a circuit nineteen fifties like you had today. So with that in mind we do some referencing internet of course and we pull up some ideas for nineteen fifties makeup or if you have a particular look that you want me to do you just you know show me and I create it pretty much the products that I do use in the style of what I would be creating today is mostly from backstage from all the runway shows this year that I have attended new york, london, milan and paris so with the collaboration of the fashions and the ideas and inspirations and the look that is going on for this season I would have creative something from if you reference nineteen fifties, I would put a spin on it to make it look current and use the products that pretty much that are top of the discussion of what's out there for makeup. Great. Okay, debra. Hello? Uh, I'm alexander tomas, my hair stylists working with laura for quite a long time now. Never if we continue work together the next sixty years, I'm happy with, um, should I talk about our inspiration? I would love to. Yeah, the inspiration from today how much of my input, what you kind of brought to tape on what your references and your inspiration for the heller is, um well, the hair today is I think, really in my wheelhouse generally is the kind of thing that I love because it's just soft, pretty gorgeous hair, which kind of goes along with it. You can probably see some of our styling here. The wardrobe is this kind of like a fantasy of ah, um expensive fancy woman on dso you kind of a lot of the looks can be a little bit hard or they're very strong. So you want something in the hair that's gonna be a little softer, a little less it's not gonna look tortured, you don't want it to look like she's too, over styled what is it? They say that if you're in a fifty thousand dollar gown treated like a pair of jeans, if you're in a pair of jeans, treat like fifty thousand dollars down? Uh, I think that, um, hair usually plays a big part in that because a lot of hair stylists, um, typically photographers they're starting out tend to work with here. Silas, that are come from the salon on dh it working an editorial on working in the salon is two two totally different worlds and styling philosophies, and so people coming from the salon tend to try and over style to compensate for the fact that they're just not aware of what's happening editorially. That's great! Good bye. I am tara paige lire! I'm here assisting alex on here today. Um, actually a makeup artist, but it's great to assist to watch uh, the other artists come up with their ideas and how they get inspired from the clothes and everything else. And I'm having a great time that's all I have to think, like in the first and foremost great time. My name is aaron o'keefe, and I am the wardrobe stylist here, and initially, like we've said earlier, we start with inspiration. It always starts with a discourse between the photographer and myself and we shop swap images and just talk about an overall mood and feeling that we want to convey at the end of the day um, I think it's a very organic and collaborative process I will email are and say, oh, I got this, it might not be exactly what we need, but what do you think this could make a really great picture and it could fit in some way and usually hair and makeup will help us tie things in but normally stay stick to the plan, pull some things I love to pull things that have really great shape that is me favorite drive I love this dress, I love the sheer sureness to it and I think that this is something that the model can wear and just create a pretty picture without really having to do much. I also love to give models something quieter that they can work in and have a feeling to convey whatever they're feeling personally because there is a person in the clothing and it's important for them to shine as well. We pick models very carefully and we don't choose people that we don't think can handle it. Um I also love to add texture I try to mix and match a lot of things you don't want anything to be too pretty or too edgy, you'd like teo, really mix things up and, uh give everyone a chance to work together to make, um like a really great picture at the end. It's not it's, not only up to me it's not only what what I think I possibly talk about where you got these things from yeah, uh, line is and how you access them as well. Yes. So initially when we talked about doing a shoot I go to style dot com usually or a look a look books for different designers and it's usually the season that will be coming up. So all of this is not necessarily in stores yet I will reach out to different designers, different show rooms and they'll tell me what's available I'll tell them what I want and what kind of work out a deal for when I can have it the amount of time that I can have before and then I have to give it back so huge part of my job is keeping all of this stuff safe and making sure it gets backto everyone that wanted to make, uh re macro I said this to me through paul wilmot there a lot of different showrooms thatyou can contact that house many designers. This is from sonia, right? Hell, I went through them directly uh, we have j mandel, bottega veneta, marnie you can really reach out to anyone and kind of mix up things you do? I do a lot of high low as well. I do some vintage shopping, there are definitely pieces that I normally wouldn't have in my closet that I think would make a really great picture. I have shot with laura quite a bit, so I actually keep her in mind when I'm out, I'll just see something randomly and say, oh my gosh, this would be great for laura. I also keep her style in mind as well. Each photographer has their own style is laura talked about earlier and I think it's important to keep the photographer style in mind when you're styling because it's really a picture with everyone it's going towards everyone's books on it's important, that was fantastic in life, so I'd love to get some questions for maybe you guys first, yeah, for hair and makeup. Uh was interested in what you're saying about someone coming from the salon or maybe just straight out of cosmetology school versus somebody that's working in an editorial setting. What advice would you give, tio? Maybe stylist or I mean, I guess, make up stylist or hairstylist, uh, or even photographers searching for somebody with more of like an editorial style or experience level? Where would you find, um, I mean it's hard to find someone outside of the major markets, which in the u s are new york l a d c could say chicago, miami it's harder to find people that have experience with editorial just because that market is so much smaller. Um, I find that the the best people editorially are the ones that have really good foundational styling skills. They're really good with blowouts really good with just those kind of like, I guess you could say write carpet looks, you know where they have like soft waves or they're just they're really good at those simple things and have taken the time to master them rather than someone that goes full speed ahead and just kind of throws tons of product in the hair and teases it up huge and that there's a place for that, but you need to already have a good grip on your proportion, proportion, texture, things like that because that's, what the camera sees, um, you can I think, find someone that has those good foundational skills and develop them along with yourself. Uh, that's how I got started, like when I initially got into styling, I really didn't have editorial styling I didn't really have that much experience with it, but I had got had the privilege of going to the new york salon like kind of blowout boot camp, which really kind of shifts your whole paradigm of how you do hair and so I was able to take that skill and working with other student photographers I was able to develop that and kind of put out feelers into other parts of editorial styling and figure that out and do it all in good taste umm well I guess you have to start somewhere right? So I think that when you're looking for to work with a makeup artist, I think it's really important to find someone that has assisted some of the top makeup artists it's usually those air the people underneath like the first or second assistance those were the ones that are really up and coming and they're wants to watch so I would highly recommend you to work with someone that is assisting because thie key artist the big artist that is was doing king the shows they have access to all of the new products and they're collaborating with the designers so they're the people that the designers are telling the makeup artists okay, we want thisyou know this I changed this a little bit so they're kind of collaborating in a way where there's input back and forth so I think those are the people that are closest to the designers that are that are leading the makeup looks right now and it's really important to work with someone that has the opportunity to view what's going on backstage also it's you know it's kind of hard when you're first starting you have tio hands on you have to be doing makeup so you know, maybe someone at a cosmetic counter that's sometimes where people start from there the first step and they're looking for photos and they're looking for photographers to work with and you just have to really be able to see the talent you really have to pick it up as a photographer you have to know this is good and this is not good and that's your job you really have to be keen on that you know, look att you know top makeup artist in your fields and you know see what they're doing and see what good make up it says they're gonna have good makeup always you know those that's what you have to be looking for yes so I know a lot of people watching are in small towns and are like we don't have big makeup artists who have assistants okay for those people I'm asking would you would make up artist starting out there maybe do like a free test on the photographer or would you do hair to show to prove to the photographer that you're worthy um because you don't already have your own look book because you haven't done it before would you have a ma okay, so you're saying well yeah she would she would do someone maybe a friend of yours or some large ears you know yeah yourself and then you know, photograph it to see what because when you do makeup in person sometimes looks different the photograph and it also depends on your lighting like you're lighting might be different than you know another photographers look if you're using a soft box or if you're using you know lighting that really blows out the makeup it can look really different from one picture to another in person and in camera and that's something you always say to me like lara what lighting knees and always ask me that and I'll tell you self flight and I'm outside and then that will give you a good visual idea of where we're going that's right? Because it'll be so different like sometimes you do the make up and in front of the camera depends on your lighting you'll take the picture and it looks like there's nothing there and as a makeup artist we look for that we look for if you can catch that hue of purple in your camera because if I do a makeup and I look at it and I'm like, oh wow, it doesn't look like she has anything on so you know, I tend to also go for a still life photographers sometimes where they can capture every little detail as a makeup artist it's really important because if we're just starting out we might not have we might not have the you know coordination are really to get that makeup really on strong so we need you know photographer that can catch everything little you know lighting wise every color q because there's so many colors you know in makeup so that's what I I would look for and also it's absolutely okay teo teo do makeup it's a test celebrities do it all the time they test run you you come over you know you do the make up you might you know get paid whatever but at least you can do the test run to see if your personalities match if they you know if you are you know doing the right makeup for that person so yeah that's absolutely a good idea answer your question chloe about the people that maybe looking for makeup in hat in small towns I think that you know going to people that recent graduates it like colleges like people that are working a makeup counters in like stores anyone like that like model mayhem is an excellent resource because so many people from different towns are on that as well so there's so many areas that people think that it's so far out of reach for them but it's actually you know in the town they're from or it might be just down the road and they just haven't found the power that person yet to collaborate with do you have any schools in your you know, there are I have in the chat room uh so I know that that is what people would be asking right? Schools also have, you know, matter of someone that's that's graduate er is really keen until I feel that ffolliott so shoot wedding so as a wedding photographer exactly, I have to do your hair, you have to do your makeup, same person, get it photograph don't just have it done once in the salon really need test it, I would say for all the people in the united states, I know there's a couple outside this outside of the states, but here in the u s the paul mitchell schools, I went to apo mitchell school, they have a lot of focus on styling outside of just what you learned for the salon, they do like they are constantly doing fashion shows in the school and doing kind of events and base I know my school in particular from maryland, they're constantly sending people up to new york to expand their education. People that are already coming into the career with that kind of mentality are the kind of people that you want on your team. Actually, what I do is I reference what I'll do is I'll pull out a magazine from a face from the magazine with hardly any makeup on a clean face, so if we wait, you should have brought those so what I will do is I have I have an idea I will paint it on the actual face. I'll take the color and paint on the girl's phase and then I'll take pastels and I'll paint some kind of inspiration and we'll sit down andi, we'll go through everything and she'll be like, yes, I like this no, I like that so it's actually on the face and we can visualize it before it actually happened on the real model's face and that's how I do my inspirations pretty much with all the photographers I'll rip out pages from the magazine and do the actual makeup for the eye on there. It's great, great a question. Another question for you from and ms if is you mentioned referencing and would you be able to give a couple of examples where new photographers could possibly find a good source other than that research on the internet? If you have what you said earlier, are there specific places that you might go on the internet? Uh oh, gosh, yes style dot com you have all the that you have all the fashion shows for each season that's a really big and in there you have a beauty section, so under each designer there's a beauty section, so that'll zoom in closely that's what you know photographers are backstage like shooting all of the models the new looks I would definitely that's a good source also there's another site called into the gloss okay, which I really like the glass into the glass. Cool. Yeah, wonderful for the prop stylist uh well, karen and also for aaron as well um money when windows photography is wondering when sourcing stylists where's the best place to find them or getting contact with them, I find it difficult to find stylist that find one of a kind pieces or quality garments and that's the essence that makes or breaks a shoot so er regarding props I would say, um because props tess I don't know how big it is and cities that are not, uh, with with a strong fashion industry. Um, so if you're just beginning and you trying to start your book uh, for me, there was one sure that I was doing wardrobe for and I really wanted someone to do sets and I couldn't do it myself. And I remember that my friend j josie her apartment is fabulous and she has, um branches from central park that she painted white and she put on the wall and her jeweler gaze air hanging from it and she finds old chairs and boxes and turns them into um tables or ah seats so you just gotta, uh try and think who you know that's really, really creative and really thinks outside the box to to make what do you think it's impossible a fantasy said reality so possible for everyone like yeah, right yeah, thrift stores air great especially the ones outside the big cities because in the big cities they know how good their stuff are. So, um I shop a lot in the bronx in new york and I find stuff for cheap and I spent a little more on on paint or something like that and I make it happen I think it's really fortunate that we have the internet in our life it's it makes it very easy to find a wardrobe stylist laura mentioned model mayhem let's agree a great site and also just utilize good of google um it pull up images, look for stylists and like debra said, if something is good it's good, you can tell don't check their books and see what magazines they've worked with or what designers they've worked with and what the final outcome wass you can also pick up independent magazines, check the name look for them on the internet, contact them. This is a really nice small artistic industry and I think a lot of people are open to working with new people because you never know what's going to come of it I've definitely worked with photographers that I've never heard of before and they gave me great pictures so just don't be afraid to reach out to people people reach out to me all the time just looking for me on google and, uh get together that way what do a couple more questions, sean and this one is from second sight dave who says I don't have the best fashion sense should I give up any dreams of being a fashion photographer or can I still do it if I have a great team? I think it doesn't really matter if you have no fashion sense like this photographers out there that they don't really care about the way they dress they love the picture and the styling comes a second part to it I think if if you want to collaborate in fashion photography it is about having a stylist and having their opinion that's why it's good to have a skill set like that so you're focusing on the visual side photography and you can give input but rely on the silence to pull the good things and also do research as well get to know what's out there and, you know become accustomed to it too it could be a good question for you as well as allegation is cute I mean yeah, if you see their work and you love it, then trust them they they do know what's best you know what the final picture should look like and um can have input but if you don't trust your fashions and trust your silas you obviously think that's a great um so let's take one more right here ellery I think it's super important teo as the photographer if you're producing a photo shoot to be really, really honest with your team um don't be polite if there's something you don't like, we need to know about it in order to make a photo work for everybody cause you have a great team but it's enough for one person to not do their job properly because their energy is down because you didn't tell them because they feel like something is off and that throws away the entire photo because I could have a fantastic photo where the wardrobe is exquisite and everything is great the lighting is perfect but the makeup artist wasn't into it never would happen with you obviously, but um or the hair or the hair so I wasn't into it so you really have to end gauge your whole team and be honest with them and tell them you know what? I like this we'll do a few options with the hat, but we'll do a few without to see what works the best in the end yeah, yeah exactly and I mean, don't put down your team but be honest about what you like visually and what you don't. Because we all in the end. They just want a really good image. Yeah.