Week 6 - 3 in 1 shoot (no 5, 6, 7)

For this shoot I wanted to try a background that I never tried before, a cream one, that I saw looks really beautiful and clean when it matches the model's skin colour. I wanted to change the looks gradually and get to three different outcomes from one shoot, with the same model.
My model for this one was Lia, as I felt I would feel more at ease to know that she's my friend and she doesn't judge me if I do something that's not good with this shoot, as I haven;t tried to squeeze three looks into my own shoot before and use this type of background and lighting.
Overall I am extremely pleased with how this turned out and I cannot wait to edit the images. One big mistake I did though when photographing it was not to check the format in which the images were taken, and instead of taking them RAW I took them JPEG which will affect the quality probably when retouched.
The ideas for the make-up design were inspired by various sources but one of the main ones were there images:

Here are some initial favourite pictures:

UPDATE

I decided that the way this is going to be presented on the website is under three different themes such as Intrude in the nude, Gold Digger and #MillenialPink, as these seemed to be the most appropriate to describe these images.

Week 6 - Labelle London Shoot 4

I had been in contact with a London photographer for a while and wanted to shoot with her, so I finally had the opportunity to do so today for the launch of their new studio photoshoot. I collaborated with Labelle (labelle.ldn on insta) and today I had travelled to London to their studio with my kit and everything nicely prepared for a shoot with 5 models which I was very excited about and nervous at the same time as this was going to be a very big challenge to me to comply with the time allocated. Thankfully we were two make-up artists to get the job done in time. I really enjoyed this shoot and got to meet nice people and models, which was a good experience for me, also travelling to London by myself for the first time!! I know it sounds crazy but I usually have someone else to guide me through the city as I manage to always get lost :)))). This time all was good, I even arrived earlier at the studio as I have left at like 4 AM... but I was ready to suffer for this as I had very high expectations! The thing that made me a bit skeptical about this guys practices at their studio was that when I arrived, I tried to get hold of the photographer 15 mins prior to the agreed meeting time. Ok it was early but I was there in the middle of nowhere in my mind. I m not going to go into too much detail but it was a bit annoying that she let me wait in front of that gate while texting me that she sees me and I should open the gate and come upstairs. Well sorry but I just don't know how to open a massive gate and I thought the polite thing to do is to meet with everyone in front of the location then guide them to the studio. Anyway maybe I am being weird or something and this is not how things are done..?! After this, I finally entered there, other models arrived and we were waiting for everyone to arrive in the waiting room while the photographers were literally ASSEMBLING the studio........ at 11 am when most people were there and ready. and it was weird that the other make-up artist came like 1.5 hours late..... just in time for them to finish assembling drilling or whatever and when they let us in the studio. I just felt something was fishy although the photographer Labelle excused herself... it's not okay to make a team of people wait for 1.5 hours to start something like a shoot that was planned....

Anyway I got to work on really beautiful and friendly models which contacts I have got in case I will need models in the future. I haven't seen any of the images but by the looks of how the shoot went I was expecting them to be amazing, what was worrying though was that instead of photographer Labelle that I spoke with to shoot, was shooting another guy, the "other" photographer there for some reason. And again, I did not agree to collaborate with that guy but with Labelle herself. Aaaanyway.

Everything finished, all good although instead of shooting three looks at it was planned we only shot one. I was a bit disappointed with the overall professionalism during the shoot to be fair, but after waking up so early and travelling from Southampton and paying for transport food and so on I tried to lie to myself that all was good. During the shoot I also tried to tell Labelle that I needed some portrait shots as well of the models I did make-up on, not only group pictures, and she agreed.

Before I left, I spoke again with Labelle that I needed the images in about two week's time and I will use them for my university project, as per we discussed before the collab, and she agreed.

Here are some images from behind the scened of my make-up on the two models I did:

UPDATE

I decided to exclude this total disaster of a "collaboration" photoshoot from the final FMP submission on the website. I am so disappointed by the overall practice of this "photographer" and I will never collaborate with them AGAIN. I just wasted my time and money... but gained some experience and contacts with models, which I guess it's not a total waste. Apart from the fact that the images were sent like after a month, they were just a few and in bad quality, only group shots and no image of the model's individual look... So here's some images from the shoot that I had managed to get.

................they really had potential

Week 5 - project progression

This week I have researched more about the newest launches when it comes to cruelty free foundations and I wanted to buy a very talked-about new foundation from Tarte just to test it and see what other products it compares to and my plan is to use in in one of the future video tutorials.
Apart from this, I have ordered the newly launched Anastasia Beverly Hills x Amrezy highlighter, which apart from the fact that it looks AMAZING, I will use for my future instagram posts. upon "stalking" other successful beauty gurus on insta, I have noticed that they always use the newest products and this brings people to their page looking for opinions and brands are re-posting their images therefore gaining more popularity. I think adopting this strategy of marketing will not only benefit my followers as I have a less biased opinion on products since nobody sponsors me to review them, but will benefit my brand in growing the audience. I plan on taking still shots of the Anastasia x Amrezy highlighter, this is too beautiful not to be photographed!
Moreover, I have finished my search of video lighting for my youtube channel and I have ordered a lighting kit from Amazon which seemed to be the best deal as it had everything I needed at a price I could actually afford somehow.

When in comes to the plan for shoots, I have booked my studio for the upcoming shoot which will be on the 28th and where I plan on creating three different looks from one.

So far it is going good when it comes to creating the images for the website portfolio, but when in comes to social media... things are not great. This takes so much time...... I never thought about the effort that goes into this and at the moment I am so busy working on these shoots to be better at social media. I should have took some time to stay and schedule posts on a scheduling platform but then again, the purporse of the project was to create new content and apart from the fact that I feel tired and not in my best position to take wonderful images of my own face, making sure to post so often feels exhausting.

Week 5 - My first collaboration shoot, shoot 3 (#Profesh)

Today I did my first collaboration shoot for my FMP. I had to do make-up and hair on two models and create a soft glam look, suitable for wear at work or interviews etc. This was a collaboration for the stylist's own FMP, therefore I had to do a certain look without the need to design a lot.
When we initially agreed to collaborate I had asked if I could receive some closeup photographs of the face as well, not only the styling, or at least if I could take them myself. I was told that they will take care of this as they have a good photographer and everything will be smooth. On the day, the make-up went fine, I had done it with little to no delay for the shoot and everyone was happy, but they were delayed in shooting the clothes for some reason. I was a bit unhappy with this shoot as the rest of the team did not really take the pictures that I needed as well, but lucky I was prepared with my own camera too. I stepped in before I left and said that I really need to take some closeups for myself, and the stylist agreed although you could see that everyone was uncomfortable. I was too but I knew I had to do something to have the images I had planned and discussed about as well, not wasting my time. The photographer then tried to take like 2-3 "beauty style" pics but they were mostly horrendous and I felt like they weren't taking my request seriously so I just took a few myself. I had left the shoot a bit angry and disappointed I kind of wasted my time with this shoot as the overall manner the things were handled were unprofessional, because the whole purpose of a collaboration is that everyone benefits from it, and felt in a way like I was being taken advantage from.

Anyway here are some behind the scenes images of the make-up I did on the models:

UPDATE:
Apart from this, when it came to get the images from the stylist, I had to ask her about 3-4 times until she finally agreed to give them to me. She said stuff like: "I think we should not use the same images as we will be market down" but I know that this is not true, because after checking with my tutor she told me that collaborations are absolutely fine to be used by all the people included in the team as long as everyone is properly credited. I have managed to get hold of a few of the "beauty style" images of the face and portrait ones, but no full body shot of the styling, which was very disappointing. I have been waiting for the images and asking about them for so long, I just got used that I am never going to receive them anymore.

Update before submission:

I still haven't received all the images. Will never work with these people again as they are unprofessional. I have managed to save some of the images though by retouching.

Credits:

Make-up, hair & retouch:

Simona Gabriela

Styling: Meghan Wright

Photography: Nico Westwood, Simona Gabriela

Models: Hannah Prue, Ashleigh Chittick

Week 4 - Project progress

During these weeks I have tried to be as active on instagram as possible, but this proved to be very time consuming and difficult to manage along with working on the other aspects of the project. I never thought it would be such a hassle and would take so much time!
After some research I have found and bought the camera that best suited my needs and my budget. I have found Canon 800D to be an even better alternative to the cameras we could borrow from the hatch, as we are not allowed to borrow the good cameras that the photographers use... which is very inconvenient... So I have bought my own camera, never having to rely on the ones at uni anymore and being able to film my tutorials at home. I have done a few tests with it with natural light just to get used with the settings and I cannot wait to use it in the studio.

Now I only have to research more about the lighting required for filming and to buy it, in order to prepare for filming my first tutorials.

Apart from this, I have looked up new cruelty free brand launches which I could explore, and I have found that some of them have actual shops in London. Me and Lia have decided to go to London on the 17th to swatch make-up, play with textures and refill our kits. ALL IN THE NAME OF RESEARCH! :)) I have therefore been able to purchase a few more cruelty free products that at first glance could be able to replace my old ones. I am yet to test them and use them for shoots and instagram images. Who knew this FMP could actually have super fun parts too?!?! :)))

Week 4 - Shoot 2 (Allure)

This week I wanted to test and improve my photography skills again and this time go for a different, darker lighting, in order to achieve a more mysterious image.
The model I chose for this look was Sophia Mazzolini, and the make-up I was going for was a darker but colorful kind of look. The hair I wanted to be in loose curls but it did not turn out to be as I expected although I have collaborated with another hairstylist, Eloise Robinson. It was a beautiful style tho and I think it worked with the model's hair.
Here are some inspirational images for the kind of hair and make-up style I was going for. I found them on instagram, again, through the posts of my favourite make-up artists:

And here are some of the behind the scenes and results straigh out of the camera:

I am quite pleased with the way the shoot went although I should have probably practiced more with these new lights before. I was happy I could find Chris in the studio and he helped me by showing me some things I was unsure about. I think as a way of improvement this would have looked better if I have used gel lighting to add some accent lights but I could try and retouch this in photoshop later. 

Week 3 - Shoot 1 (#FrecklesForDays)

For my first shoot I decided to go for inspiration from various instagram posts from my favourite beauty & fashion magazines and make-up artists such as cherry_magazine, the.house.of.dita, lanslondon, vanille_magazine and Nikki Make-up Artist, along with other MUAs whose work I found captivating. I wanted to create a very romantic look to be posted just in time for Valentine's day, so I can have a better reach on my social media profiles, but at the same time I wanted to portray a playful look on a model with edgier features. Clear skin was very important for this look, as I wanted to practice some of the techniques learnt from Dominic's workshop.

I instantly thought about a model I have worked with in the past for someone else's shoot, represented by Oxygen Models London, but I decided to contact her directly on instagram. We have agreed to shoot this week and I had paid for her transport from and back to London. 

This is the model:

Chissyana Cali White

After collecting more inspiration, I have made the following moodboard for the shoot just to establish a direction but I have had another idea in mind to be as my main look for which I created facecharts.

Moodboard & inspo images:

My facecharts:

I have created more facecharts with different or slightly altered looks as I have planned to shoot more than one look but on the day I did not actually have time to do all of them. I ended up doing two looks but being my first time experimenting with photography by myself as well it was quite an accomplishment. I felt very nervous and stressed on the day because I was worried about time, but the model was very supportive and nice and we managed to get some beautiful results while having fun.

Here are some of my favourite images I posted on my instagram for Valentine's day following this shoot and what I have posted on my instagram story, which is again, something I still have to experiment with: