Often when I think of beauty photography, legacy brands like MAC Cosmetics, Cover Girl and Chloe come to mind. However, as trends shift and younger demographics enter the field, I’ve been in awe of how “untraditional” the campaigns surrounding them have been captured.
Brands like Fenty Beauty, Glossier, & Milk Makeup have made beauty fun and relatable while also engaging a much more vocal audience who are looking for both great products and ethical practices. Seeing this trend of beauty that’s more conscious, inclusive and playful resonated with my personal style that tends to focus on the individuals in front of my lens and the artistry of the diverse team behind the shoots.
A playful approach to my work is generally where most of my concepts start. Often, I gravitate towards harmonious colors, a variety of textures and models that are able to emote a myriad of expressions. For this particular concept, the goal was to experiment with monochromatic colors that were directly linked with elements. Nothing new about this concept, however, how I chose to portray those elements was thru light painting and motion to bring each element to life. These two shoots were captured on different days with different teams so I’ll break down each one to walk you thru the process and also introduce the incredible teams I got to work with on each.
The first test I did was with model Yamila, Hair Stylist Francheska Nieves, Make Up Artist Ashleigh, and assistants Fela Raymond and Cameron Reed. The goal was to create something “electric” using purple as the color of inspiration. Francheska found ways to layer & shape the hair that I felt embodied the movement and unpredictability of electricity. She was almost super hero (or villain?) like. Ashleigh focused on playing with several tones of purple that really brought out the features of Yamila: a touch of purple in the blush, a lid that we played with more shimmery tones and transitioned to a deep gloss, and a dark lip against a flawless satin skin finish. Being that this first shoot was experimental I went into it with little expectations and played around with different ways to emphasize all parts of what we aimed to capture. This shoot set the tone for the following shoot whose theme was “water”.
After experimenting with electricity, I thought it was only natural that water be the next theme. Naturally, blue was the color of choice, however, how I navigated water piggybacked off of the first shoot: hair that appeared soaked but intentional, and makeup in varying tones of blue. For this shoot I worked a smaller team with the multitalented Vicky Lauren who handled both Hair & Make Up and model Tenzin Yiga of Stetts Management, and assisted by Bryant Diaz and Van Melher. I began refining my play with motion blur and light painting which has done a wonderful job of creating motion and energy with these still images. Our model Tenzin’s blonde hair was a nice complementary tone to all the blue tones we were playing with. Between the blue/cyan gels, the deep blue of the backdrop and the monochromatic blue of the glossed eyelid which gave the deep oceans feel. Through it all, my favorite part of these two shoots was the latitude to play, experiment and create something out of my norm.
