Fantasy Makeup Artistry at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Originally posted on May 17, 2009
Greetings all :). Today’s post is on the fantasy makeup from Viva La Rock.
Just a bit of an update for those of you that just joined me. Last month I was fortunate enough to get to shoot a VIP event at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame called Viva La Rock. One word……AWESOME!! It is rare for me to go on location to shoot, the studio is the place for me. What a special pleasure to work with Elle from Spell Cosmetics again , thank you to Elle for the opportunity. Watching Elle in action applying makeup, is like watching a fine art painter creating a masterpiece. There was also another special guest at the Rock Hall, Makeup Geek, what a pleasure to meet her and see her work in person. Makeup Geek has amazing technique and really turned the model’s face into a canvas before applying wonderful layers of color. One of the highlights of the evening was a fantasy makeup theme “butterfly girl”. It was the job of the makeup artists to tie in the fantasy makeup to the headpiece so the overall butterfly theme would come together. They did a wonderful job. Elle created the butterflies on the model’s arms and chest and Makeup Geek transformed the model’s face into that of a beautiful butterfly. Fresh Hair Salon did the hairstyling and top all that off with a beautiful headpiece from Something New Florist and a masterpiece you have made! I’ve shot several fantasy makeup themes in the studio but this was the first butterfly for me. Another fantasy makeup theme at Viva La Rock was for “Merman”, but he couldn’t make it to the event. I would’ve loved to have taken those pictures.
The shooting situation in this particular venue was challenging. It was a very small back stage room, with an extremely high ceiling (difficult to bounce light off of it) and little room to work. There was a huge conference table that literally took up half the room and was surrounded by hairstylists, makeup artists, models, event coordinators, a florist and me with my gear.
I started out using the camera flash as usual and then a ray of sunlight fell across the room. There was an amazing skylight in the ceiling, a BIG one. So I immediately switched to a higher film speed and started working with the available light. This created a more dynamic, “in the moment” feeling to the images. They now exhibited a three dimensional quality and a feeling of movement. It gives the feeling of being there.
The experience was great! Show girls and butterflies, Fresh Hair guys and girls, makeup artist and hair stylists, that’s the place for me!!!
I hope you get some ideas for your own fantasy makeup theme from these talented artists.
I’ll be posting more from the event but this was done so I wanted to get it out to you.
Nea
