I have been working on some off and on art projects with some very talented people in Austin. One of the teams I have been working with is the ever talented Michael Paolini and It's Eight Darling. One day while working on another project we decide how cool it would be to do a Halloween series. So we rolled around ideas. We came up with recreating a well know musical, however the idea change. Ideas changing are nothing new in the creative process. It just happens. This shoot was totally NOT new to changes from the get go. When we decided to recreate "Adams Family" well, as you see with a twist. So we gathered our team. Michael at the helm shooting the series. Of course the fab Eight playing the roles of the famous family. Rachel Chadwick as stylist (how I love working with that girl). We had to bring in another MUA (which we had decided in the beginning due to schedules) . So Anna Fugate of Anna Lani Makeup joined the team as well. I will note, I never have been blessed to work side by side with her, but I admire her work, especially since she has a theater background. Then of course I added my faithful hair artist Monique Yancey ( I am going to blog about why I have a hair artist another day) then of course myself.
So we scheduled the shoot. I live about an 1.5 hours away from actually Michael's studio. So scheduling shoots in Austin are a big thing, as we all have other things in our life besides our creative craft. It was decided since Anna lives in Austin, that she was going to do certain characters and myself in turn would take on the last 3. I was originally going to do Cousin It, Pugsley and Wednesday. So the shoots went on in Austin, it came time for Monique and I to rock out our day. I was so excited! Especially for the concept we had in mind for Cousin It. We all knew it was going to be a LONG day, after all I was going to hand lay Cousin It's hair. I knew I had my work cut our for me, after all we was going to do 3 different looks and photo shoots all in one day.
Theater taught me time management. I knew exactly what order the makeup looks was going to happen. Wednesday was first, then ending with the longest makeup look I knew I had to do, Cousin It. So, I did Wednesday makeup, Rachael and I bounced ideas for styling her. She was suppose to be this little girl, kinda hipster looking (from call sheet). We created this awesome look, even giving her a crow as her "pet" in her hair. The shoot happen, Eight did an amazing job.
Next was Pugsley, his look required kinda a goth punk. The night before I had sent an image off to the team about an outfit I had bought from J Chan's Designs, after many hell yez of course I had taken it with me to the shoot. Now Eight is by far a thick woman, as a matter of fact she is a healthy thin almost 6 foot. And here we not only had to create her into a teenage boy, but a thicker person. What ensued next, was straight up from working with drag. Let's just say, Eight got a body wrap of saran wrap and towels. We decided to reverse the outfit to make it more like a jacket. Threw in my iPhone headphones, she had taken a rubber rat and literally magic happen when Michael started to photograph her. Especially after we got the shots we needed for the Halloween project. I swear she was channeling the punk boys of 70s/80s it was magical.
So it came time for Cousin It, now Michael is a very good researcher as well as a photographer. It came to our attention, that Cousin It and Thing are both pretty hardcore TM. We collectively thought it would not be best to chance it even if it is our creative visions and was NOT going to look like anything mainstream.
We did a post photo shoot nibbles. Monique and I went back to Copperas Cove.
Fast forward a week or so later, I get a message from Eight asking me if I would not mind that Anna recreate the Wednesday look, cause it did not fit once Michael started putting all the images together. Of course my response what SURE, the scheduling for me to come back was way to short. I was not offended at all. Sometimes in that is just what happens. Art is art. Sometimes the puzzle pieces don't fit together for a look. This just happen to happen this time around.
I have seen people take offense cause images are not used, or people want to change direction. I personally consider this just a change in art vision. Just like this shoot. We had amazing shots, however when the puzzle pieces started to fall in place, the look we created was "to old" it looked awkward. There was no wow factor, even though the pictures may have been WOW. Life happens. Even though in the end only Pugsley made it in the family, cause that is how all the puzzle pieces fitted, I am PROUD to be part of such an amazing project. Huge thank you to the team for pulling it all off in our short time!!
So we scheduled the shoot. I live about an 1.5 hours away from actually Michael's studio. So scheduling shoots in Austin are a big thing, as we all have other things in our life besides our creative craft. It was decided since Anna lives in Austin, that she was going to do certain characters and myself in turn would take on the last 3. I was originally going to do Cousin It, Pugsley and Wednesday. So the shoots went on in Austin, it came time for Monique and I to rock out our day. I was so excited! Especially for the concept we had in mind for Cousin It. We all knew it was going to be a LONG day, after all I was going to hand lay Cousin It's hair. I knew I had my work cut our for me, after all we was going to do 3 different looks and photo shoots all in one day.
Theater taught me time management. I knew exactly what order the makeup looks was going to happen. Wednesday was first, then ending with the longest makeup look I knew I had to do, Cousin It. So, I did Wednesday makeup, Rachael and I bounced ideas for styling her. She was suppose to be this little girl, kinda hipster looking (from call sheet). We created this awesome look, even giving her a crow as her "pet" in her hair. The shoot happen, Eight did an amazing job.
Next was Pugsley, his look required kinda a goth punk. The night before I had sent an image off to the team about an outfit I had bought from J Chan's Designs, after many hell yez of course I had taken it with me to the shoot. Now Eight is by far a thick woman, as a matter of fact she is a healthy thin almost 6 foot. And here we not only had to create her into a teenage boy, but a thicker person. What ensued next, was straight up from working with drag. Let's just say, Eight got a body wrap of saran wrap and towels. We decided to reverse the outfit to make it more like a jacket. Threw in my iPhone headphones, she had taken a rubber rat and literally magic happen when Michael started to photograph her. Especially after we got the shots we needed for the Halloween project. I swear she was channeling the punk boys of 70s/80s it was magical.
So it came time for Cousin It, now Michael is a very good researcher as well as a photographer. It came to our attention, that Cousin It and Thing are both pretty hardcore TM. We collectively thought it would not be best to chance it even if it is our creative visions and was NOT going to look like anything mainstream.
We did a post photo shoot nibbles. Monique and I went back to Copperas Cove.
Fast forward a week or so later, I get a message from Eight asking me if I would not mind that Anna recreate the Wednesday look, cause it did not fit once Michael started putting all the images together. Of course my response what SURE, the scheduling for me to come back was way to short. I was not offended at all. Sometimes in that is just what happens. Art is art. Sometimes the puzzle pieces don't fit together for a look. This just happen to happen this time around.
I have seen people take offense cause images are not used, or people want to change direction. I personally consider this just a change in art vision. Just like this shoot. We had amazing shots, however when the puzzle pieces started to fall in place, the look we created was "to old" it looked awkward. There was no wow factor, even though the pictures may have been WOW. Life happens. Even though in the end only Pugsley made it in the family, cause that is how all the puzzle pieces fitted, I am PROUD to be part of such an amazing project. Huge thank you to the team for pulling it all off in our short time!!