makeup Archives - New Jersey, Philadelphia, NYC Personal Branding, Commercial and Editorial Photographer

Back when we lived in Los Angeles, CA, I had a friend who is gorgeous and I asked her to be my fashion model for me. So, I rented a studio downtown, I had another friend created custom jewelry who wanted to have great shots of her stuff. My friends, my husband and I had a fabulous day of creating great images.

We were all so young, in our 2o’s, no kids(except my friend who modeled at the top) and just having fun! It was still difficult because we all were working to pay the rent, the bills, student loans(still have that), eat, and basically survive. I saved up to rent that studio and it was the cheapest one that I could find and I loved that space. Got it for $400 for a full day rate, it was in a loft not too far from us when we lived in downtown L.A. in the Pico Union District. I organized everything for that day, snacks, schedule, and someone makeup. It was all for portfolios, everyone loved the images.

This one was shot in the Sequoia National Forest, we had arrived too late to get further inside to see the larger trees. She made this 12 foot long kimono, so I had her get on top of this large rock. Shot using a Yashica Mat Twin lens camera with Fuji film.

And now for something a little different:

Back in L.A. I worked for a lingerie shop that is famous for it’s fabulous custom pieces of lingerie and costumes that were made of gorgeous fabrics and sewn right there in the same building as the shop itself. Celebrities came all the time to get certain items of clothing because they knew the name and how well they were made, and the designs were so good.

It was a fun job because not only did I do retouching,(on models who required hardly any at all),but I was photographing test models and the regular models as well. Talk about long days, but I loved photographing these women and girls. Some had a lot of tattoos, were cover models on Penthouse and Playboy, I made long lasting friendships, and realized that I loved this type of genre.

My friend Jacqueline owns and operates a cool shoppe here in Bordentown called Phoenix Rising. She brings in a lot of famous pinup and rockabilly clothes, and designer leather boots and shoes. The store smells wonderful with scents by ToyoMilk, Femme Fatale and Fate and Fortune perfumes. Plus, she supports local artists who create jewelry, soaps and hand knitted items.

She approached me with this great concept. The idea was for Valentine’s Day so it was a Pinup Teaser Ladies Night Out. First I did a test run with Jacqui herself and she did an amazing job! And so, I set up everything in her shop…I brought my 9′ seamless paper, background stand, Dynalite strobes, and everything else.

I had a director’s chair, Jacqueline found these suitcases and she also had a a chaise lounge. My friend Randy of Randy Now’s Man Cave let me borrow his rotary phone and a small record player to use as props. He has a bunch a great items in his shop, from vinyl, cds, books, collector items, and cool record players!

Most of clothes are all from Phoenix Rising, some of the shoes and jewelry as well. Hair and makeup were done on site by Jacqueline. My husband was there to help out, I know, right? He’s actually very good with clothing and other things besides photography and gear, (he’s also my business partner). He did keep out of the way during the shooting part. We had food, wine, and the ladies had fun playing dress up and then feeling pretty with me directing them in from of my camera and lights.

And that’s not easy to do, I had them twist and turn to accentuate their best assets and features. My goal was to make everyone feel comfortable. We were laughing, chit chatting, and I can’t tell you everything that was discussed..shhh! Some of the ladies had ideas like applying makeup with a mirror, which was a great concept, so we went with it!