Week 12

So that is it! Submission week... I have managed to edit 90% of my images over the weekend and now I am focusing on writing and actually designing my website. It's Monday and I can feel the pressure but I have to make it until Wednesday so I can submit Thursday morning and be done with it. I have made up my mind about the title of the project & website, which will be #UpCloseAndPersonal because most of my images are either portrait shots or closeups... I hope this will incite the visitor to scroll down my web page for more.
I cannot believe time flew so fast... and I cannot wait to launch my new website which will mark the start of my business.


www.simonagabriela.com 

Week 11

Today I have had my tutorial with Kat which I haven't seen in a long time. I also managed to speak to Sharon about the progression of my project and the issues with receiving images from the photographers. The fact that I actually went to the tutorial and left my fear of facing my tutors with the work I have done so far has helped me regain my confidence that actually, I was probably not doing as bad as I thought. Anyway I did not cam thoroughly prepared for the tutorial as most of my journal was not written yet and my images unedited, but the feedback I got from Kat regarding my images made me very happy and encouraged me a lot to believe that I can do this until the end. Sharon has also suggested that I should look into examples of other make-up artists websites such as Ellis Faas, which had a very unique way of displaying her work, not like every other make-up artist out there. This is the kind of approach I have in mind for when designing my website as well, as although I want it to be an online portfolio, I want to make the viewer think that it is something more complex than this, which in fact it is. For this reason I have reflected back on where I actually got my inspiration from and realised that most of my work is inspired by either daydreaming or looking through other inspirational artists images on instagram. So I thought to myself, why not design the layout of my website to be a bit similar to that of instagram, in which you have white space and you scroll down to see the images, and there are hashtags and catchy phrases and words and very often descriptions that make you deeply think about life and so on. I don't know if what I'm trying to say makes sense to most people, but basically fuse elements from the internet culture, more exactly instagram, to elements of editorial work, and therefore create something more interesting to browse than a plain old website portfolio. So I decided to group my images into "projects" and fit a title that I think inspired the creation of them.

Back to this week's progress. I have still got to edit like 60% of my images, refine my website and write my evaluation. This week I am dedicating entirely on editing my images with the better techniques I have learnt throughout the semester from browsing Lynda.com. Hopefully now that I know how to actually use them, I will be more efficient and my work flow will improve it's speed.

Week 10

This week I was supposed to have my tutorial with Kat but I was very ill the whole week... I have not managed to do much writing catching up as the journal was kind of written later than when it happened... my plan for this week was to finish retouching of the images but I haven't really started doing much in this aspect and now the clock is ticking... There is no way I will be able to actually post that video tutorial anyway on youtube, I am glad I left it out so I could focus better on my last shoot which was such a huge success for me. This week I am forced to give myself some rest as my health has started to be quite bad. I definitely have to catch up with everything as soon as I feel better and actually come prepared to discuss my progress so far with Kat at next week's tutorial.

Easter break week 2 - my most successful photoshoot

After my formative presentation I had spent some time to reflect on what I was doing and what I was trying to achieve with this project... where I had mistaken or where was room for improvement and where I did well and I should keep on doing it. The idea that I was not presenting any work that was reflecting my true potential was really annoying, surfacing from the back of the mind whenever I thought about just leaving it as it is and maybe just posting the youtube video and that's it. But I am glad I did not leave it to "that's it, it will be better next time" and instead I focused my energy for one last photoshoot which I hoped to prove myself that if I want, I can do anything. I can create deeper meaning through the use of make-up, not just pretty faces. I can combine my resulting website then into a mixture of instagram-style and editorial style make-up, both which I am in love with, as they would just not be as beautiful if they weren't to be different. If every make-up style was the same, it would be boring.

Back to the shoot. I had known a stylist from last year which I loved to collaborate with as she was extremely talented, Zoe Pujol. I have contacted her and told her that I wanted to collaborate and we decided to do something together along with another group of brilliant people. So for this to work, I was therefore responsible with the make-up and hair design for the shoot and to lead the make-up artists team to reinterpret my vision. This sounded super exciting and it was indeed, I haven't done this before except from the Front competition, but there was a somehow equal amount of work put in by both of us when working in a team. Anyway so Zoe and the rest of the team handled all the other aspects such as finding agency signed models, cool location, magnificent clothes and so on, and following their instructions by email I have designed the makeup. The email from Zoe included image references of the styling and aesthetic and was at follows:

Hi Simona,

Here is a detailed explanation of the shoot in the photographers words: This project explores the concept of revolution through the recreation of the events of the 1st of October in Catalonia, where a self-determination referendum was conducted with extreme difficulties and violence from the police. This recreation will be done through three photoshoots representing three revolutionary elements of the day: Violence, Patience and Solidarity. Each chapter will result in 4 to 6 shots most of which will be group shots with 3 to 7 models. The shoot of the11th is for Solidarity -or the caring moment that people engaged in during and after the fact.

Have also attached the corresponding moodboards (sent by the photographer), female models (still waiting to confirm male ones, so also take into consideration that you will have to create some mens MUA looks too), location images and call sheet. Here is a pinterest board with related style and colours/tone for the shoot: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/zoepuj15/mireia-solidarity/  Have also attached images of some possible clothes that will be used.​

After reading the email we discussed more on facebook and she also sent me more details about the context:

This is the what the photographer sent me: In my new project I will reenact through a series of fashion images the events that took place in Catalonia on the 1st of October of 2017. On that day a referendum took place. It had been called by the Catalan government and organised by groups of citizens as it was declared illegal by the Spanish central government. The referendum was meant to find out whether the Catalan people wanted to remain in Spain or have their own state. During that day, the police attempted to stop the referendum by violently seizing the ballot boxes or at least attempting to do so, as the population managed to conduct the voting successfully. Through the exploration of this event I will look at what could be called “stages of revolutions”, as I believe what happened that day was of a revolutionary nature. I have decided this stages in three parts, and thus the series will have three chapters, which will be differentiated by composition and tone. The first stage will be called Patience (names are susceptible to be changed as I find more appropriate words), it refers to the organizational period previous to any social change or “revolution”. This chapter will have reddish light that suggest nighttime, the composition will be vertical, suggesting layering. the layering of excitement, expectations and fear that preceded the day. There will also be a still life in this chapter, a food still life, as the people that presented themselves to vote and guard the voting stations brought breakfast to share (as they had been sleeping in the schools or presented themselves around 5 in the morning to make sure everything worked well). There was, coffee, cakes, biscuits and other sweet foods in abundance. The second stage will be Violence, representing the shock cause by the brutal act of the police. It will be lit with blue lights, increasing as the composition becomes more chaotic and expressive. The bodies in the pictures will engage in disorganized movement, like that of a punk dance or the Guernika of Picasso. There will also be a still life for this chapter including earring, an umbrella, glasses and other objects that were lost during police intervention and remained on the floor after. The third stage will be Solidarity, or the caring moment that people engaged in during and after the fact. The colour will be yellow and the composition will have circular pattern to it, or a weave like pattern, with people forming lines holding each other.

Having all these informations at hand, I have thought about ways of translating this into a make-up and hair design. In this post I will explain the design process and give instructions and clear visual examples of how the look is supposed to be like, so the other make-up artists working alongside me will know what is expected. There were three looks, starting with the most simple one and builded/changed upon change of clothes. The main look in my opinion was supposed to be the one with white applications to the face, but on the day the third look, the colourful one was.

LOOK 1 - neutral/earthy tones clothing

This will focus on the base of all the looks

All female models

• Clean skin, paler base (no bronzer, slight neutral colour contour of the cheekbones), little concealer and sheer coverage of foundation, dewy & highlighted look (skin very moisturised)
• Flushed cheeks, from the apples to the bridge of the nose slighty (preferably pinkish hues of blusher/cream blusher)
• Natural looking freckles on skin
• Neutral coloured eyeshadow-more like contour colour
• No mascara/clear mascara, possibly added a hint of gloss/a highlight or champagne shade on the middle of the upper eyelid, eyes sculpted slightly with the contour shade/a matte neutral soft brown shade, highlight in the inner corner
• Natural fluffy eyebrows, filled in lightly with powder and set upwards
• Lips in a natural colour, very soft edges, not defined, satin finish
• Powder in T zone lightly and under cheekbone where contour will be applied, only at the end of the makeup
• Facial spray before shoot

Male models

• Very moisturised face and LIPS, sheer coverage base, slight contour of cheekbones
• Eyes defined with the contour powder more towards the iner corner of the eye and the eyebrow
• Groomed eyebrows, fluffy looking and set up
• Maybe a hint of blusher (see on the day)
• Clean natural looking lips with chapstick 
• Added applications of the face
• Facial spray before shoot

HAIR:

• natural model’s hair, maybe just straightened a bit or styled to look it's best

LOOK 2 Directions - this will work with the white clothes

 (facecharts done by me in Adobe Sketch)

LOOK 2 symbolism

The llook will have the focus on one/two/three? main models in the centre of the image. Their face will be done in a very similar way, with rose petals coming from the edges of the face and stacked onto each other towards the hair, almost like a scarf wrapped around the face, framing the face in an “O”. The rose petals will start to disperse and fade towards the middle of the head/hair and from the sides of the face towards the neck. Small little white flowers will be used to fill in the gaps along with little white pearls, those helping with the “fading” effect. The rest of the models will have rose petals, small little flowers and pearls continued onto their faces, almost like a continuation of the main model’s looks, like a flow from the models in the centre of the image to the ones on the sides. 

The symbolism of the look plays on the idea of unity and support, therefore all the model’s looks will be similar and the same elements will be used throughout the looks. The rose petals along with the small flowers and pearls, when together, symbolise the power of the people that come together for an ideal, when alone, they look fragile and small, but when together, they make a statement. The placement of the white rose petals around the face of the central models will help create a “circle”, an “O” aorund the face which again, plays with the idea of wholeness when united. Pearls have been used for centuries to suggest purity, therefore adding them to “fade” the look reinforces the feelings associated with selfless solidarity between humans.

We will see on the day but bring white eyeliner, something to replace white mascara and something to make freckles out of just in case. Hair to be discussed on the day but bring a straightener/curling wand and hairspray just in case. 

Any changes should be discussed with the make-up designer and the rest of the creative team previously. 

All female models

• add applications to the face, retouch eyes if added gloss
• “Blooming lips” / “Korean lips”: a pinkish, natural shade of lipstick is added onto the lips in a fade effect from the centre to the edges. The most intense colour will be in the centre of the lips. Added gloss.
• Add rose petals, small flowers and pearls to the face in continuity of the main look (eyelash glue/double sided tape to secure depending on the case)
• Skin sprayed with facial spray before shooting

Male models

• keep the base from first look and touch up where needed
• Added applications of the face
• Facial spray before shoot

Hair:

• Hair parted on best side of model, sleeked back (gel) where it suits the model. Example:

LOOK 3 - this will work with the colorful pink clothes

• remove the flowers and pearls off the face
• remove the freckles from the previous look and clean up the mess from the removing
• add blusher again
• Clean up the eyes from gloss and apply concealer as base, set with powder for good blending
• Create a colorful pastel look: combinations of purple+yellow, purple+green, green+pinks, pinks+yellows OR monochromatic pastel (blended well on the eyesm NO gloss) SEE EXAMPLES
• Keep the hair from previous look

This shoot took me a lot more time than I actually was supposed to have for it but it was all worth it in the end! I have taken Lia with me to be the other make-up artist and it has been the best decision because one of the other Muas did not turn up. It was challenging to finish all three looks in time but we've made it and I could not be more proud of the way we both handled the situation on the day and the smooth communication between us. It has been such a rewarding experience in the sense that I have finally worked with professional creative people and not just university students or people like the ones I have worked with before... The only downside to this is that although I agreed with the photographer that I will be able to use the images for my FMP submission, I did not know that in order for images to be published in magazines they have to be exclusive and unpublished anywhere else. Therefore it was hard convincing the photographer to give me some of the images and most of the ones received were primarily focused on hair & make-up, which is fine, but I wanted to have those good images!! Anyway I got one of the mediocre ones so I am happy with that too, but just for future reference if I need some images by e certai date and time for projects or so I should probably make a written agreement between me and the photographer so situations like not receiving my images on time or at all will not happen. But I am thankful and happy I had this opportunity and I think making contacts and being patient will take me further than just trying to rush things... who knows, maybe my work will actually get published.

Here's some behind the scenes:

Easter break week 2

This week I had my time to show off the new photography skills I have acquired practicing so far... Lia Lazar has asked me to collaborate with her for her own FMP book, Celestial Metamorphosis. For me, a book represents something that has to be excellent, especially a coffee table book, and especially one that I had contributed at. This thought had made me feel more of the pressure than I should have, at the end of the day it was just a photoshoot like all the other ones. But this is how I felt before actually arriving to the studio, when I was doing my research on the photographers I admire, model poses, type of shots and lighting etc. Discussing with Lia, we have chosen to photograph Saturn, so se was ready to experiment with different lighting techniques such as gels and so was I, although I have not experienced with it before. I have done a bit of research on how to do it and found some reference images, but also had some backup ones just in case, which proved to be extremely useful as Lia took longer than expected to to the model's hair so we did not have time for the gel experiment. I decided to go for something a bit safer, something that I have practiced at least once before, and having the experience gained from the shoot when I photographer her helped me so much.
During the shoot, I was very calm and tried to calm everyone else, as Lia and the model were a bit distressed because we have started shooting later than usual. My positive way of thinking and speaking on the day has somehow transferred into them and even though on the inside I was feeling a bit nervous, staying calm in front of them and acting like I really know what I'm doing has helped keep a positive atmosphere. I have faced a bigger challenge in that day than I expected though, because Lia has managed to borrow a Canon Mark iii, the camera I always wanted to shoot with, the camera of the real pros. Unfortunately, I was not familiarised with it and it was a bit hard at the beginning to figure out the focal points, as my camera, although a new model of Canon, was different to this full frame one. My struggles to keep both the lips and the eyes on focus have been noticed by Lia and myself, but even so, Lia was very excited about the results and kept complimenting the images as I was taking them. This has made me feel much more confident and when Chris passed by, I also asked him about how to use the focus better to achieve images like in the example I've shown him. He then explained me that in order to get those images, I have to open the aperture to be able to focus on more background detail and multiple points. This little piece of advice has literally changed the way I look at those kind of images now, and I can't wait to experiment further to perfect my photography skills.
After the shoot, I was feeling an inexplicable state of happiness. I know it sounds weird but I have not felt this way in a long time about my work, as always work has come with a bit more pain than it used to be at the beginning. I am not sure if this signals that I now gravitate to enjoy photography more than make-up, but the feeling of being there JUST to take the images and not do every little ting was making me feel somehow free... less worried and disappointed in what I do, as it it the case with most make-up looks I do, I am rarely able to feel happiness upon completing it.
I cannot believe though that even if this was one of my first real attempts at doing photography, Lia has been so happy with the images. SHE EVEN SAID IT WAS ONE OF HER BEST SHOOTS and put my image ON THE COVER OF THE BOOK. That really means so much to me, and I know her well enough, she really meant what she said.

So this are some of the images from which I was supposed to take inspiration for the lighting, but I have then not used:

And here are the inspirational images I have used, taken by a photographer that I really admire and found on instagram:

I LOVE the use of natural skin colours in these images, although I have found that combining that with some kicks of colour such as the ones that were used in the make-up that Lia did, really helped the images stand out. 

Here's some behind the scenes:

The final images used on the website will be placed under "Celestial Metamorphosis"

As it can probably be observed, I have mentioned less and less social media activity these weeks... I have failed to organise my time properly and post consistently during the development of the project and this can be observed in the decrease of profile visits and engagement towards my posts.