That's a Wrap!

I learned so much doing this project! Fashion photography is so much more difficult than it looks. Looking back, I definitely would've googled poses to give my models, because a lot of our time was spent figuring out how to make the pictures look less awkward. Also, I regret not going thrift shopping for cool pieces, because a lot of fashion photography focuses on really bold clothing items, like the following picture:

Emma Watson for Teen Vogue, August 2013 issue

I also thought a lot about the connections between this project and Christianity. In school we learn about through lines, which are ways to connect the Bible to our lives. Two of the through lines that really have to do with this project are Beauty-Creating, because God wants us to create art and connect to Him through our artwork, and Idolatry-Discerning, because there's a blurry line between loving the art and putting people on a pedestal. Like I said in a previous post, it's possible to create art out of ourselves without idolizing the model, but it can be difficult to discern between the two.

I'd really like to keep doing this, one way or another. I don't know how I can fit this into my life and the plans I have, but if I get the opportunity, I'd love to expand on what I've learned!

On the Edge

So this is my last photo shoot, and it was the one I was the most excited for! I wanted this to be a street style kind of shoot; edgy but kind of relaxed. The pictures didn't turn out exactly the way I hoped they would but I'm still really happy with the results!
My cousin Keziah modelled for me, and it felt weird putting tons of makeup on her since she's only 13!! She was a good sport about it, though.
Since, in my other photo shoots, I had trouble with the makeup not being dark enough, I decided to use the heaviest products I have. I used my regular foundation and bronzer, but then I used gel eyeliner and cream eyeshadow, since they go on so much thicker than eye pencil and powder eyeshadow. I also used my regular mascara since its already pretty heavy-duty.

Here are the product names and colour numbers:
Almay Smart Shade primer (despite rumours, this stuff does wonders for preventing eye makeup from smearing)
M.A.C liquid foundation in pale beige 444
Covergirl bronzer in Golden Tan 104
Rimmel Scandaleyes flex in 003 extreme black
Maybelline cream eyeshadow in Inked in Pink 55
M.A.C gel eyeliner in Blacktrack B43
Covergirl Lipstick in 825 In the Nude

We did this photo shoot in the gravel pits by my house, because I wanted two different locations: in the sand, for very bright, natural photos; and by the graffitied wall, for an edgier look. I finally got to use the tips Carmela gave me about adjusting aperture, shutter speed, and ISO to let in as much sunlight as possible, and that improved the photos sooo much!

I was so mad at myself when I saw this picture because I had been fiddling with the aperture and shutter speed and the picture was darker than I'd wanted. I managed to lighten it a bit using an editing program but its not the same :( 

To get this picture I took like a million pictures while she slowly put the sunglasses on her face, so I could get the optimum placement of the sunglasses (turns out they looked best just fully on like normal haha)

This was in between pictures, so the laugh is au naturale

Post-thunderstorm

So I guess it was about time to do a second photo shoot! Today my friend Katie came over to model for me, and our initial plan was to do it around 7 pm so that it would still be bright out but the sun wouldn't be too strong. However, at 7 pm we were in the middle of a thunderstorm.. but by about 8 it cleared up a bit and I think the pictures turned out better with the almost-sunset just-rained lighting!
Our inspiration for the shoot was from a page in Taylor Swift's Red album.

I was really happy with the way the lighting worked out on this one. My friend Carmela helped me a lot with learning how to adjust the features on my camera for when its really sunny, but since we had to wait til after 8 pm, I wasn't able to use the new settings I'd learned (I ended up putting the settings on auto). I'll definately be using it for my next photo shoot though!

I wanted the pictures to be soft and bright, so I used neutral colours for her eye makeup. I barely had to use any foundation because her skin was basically flawless. I used a bit of powder foundation to avoid glare on her face, and finished off the look with some blush and mascara. I curled her hair but brushed it out a bit to loosen up the curls and give a more natural look. (She also let me trim her bangs!) The lace shirt helped keep her looking soft but the bulky necklace gave her a bit of an edge so she wouldn't look too washed out.

Here are the makeup brands/colours we used:
-M.A.C. liquid foundation
-Physicians Formula Mineral Wear airbrushing loose powder (translucent light) - this stuff is fantastic and I would really recommend it.. I've been on the same container for 3 years and its only half finished, even though I use it every day!
-Revlon Powder Blush in 040 Softspoken Pink
-Rimmel London eyeshadow in 002 Smokey Brun
-Rimmel London Scandal Eyes flex mascara in 003 Extreme Black (my all-time favourite mascara)
-Clinique lip crayon in 06 Woppin' Watermelon (very subtle colour, for your reference.. I'm not sure I'd buy this again but it does apply smoothly)

For this picture, as well as the previous one, I blended the background in an attempt to draw the eye to Katie. The pictures both had a lot of colour and busyness, so I wanted to slow the image down.

The lighting was fantastic for this picture, but I had some trouble with her pallor. Her eyeshadow had gotten smudged a fair bit by this point, causing her face to have a greyish tinge. I had difficulty editing it back to normal, but I did my best.

The flower braid was a spontaneous idea, but I think it turned out. She reminds me of Aphrodite, or else someone from a Jane Austin novel.

Environmentally Friendly??

We've all heard the rants about animal testing, chemical pollution due to makeup, and child labour. I decided to dig in to a few companies and find out if our favourite brands are testing on animals!
I found out that if a product says something along the lines of "only tested on animals when required by law," that tells you absolutely nothing. What you need to find out is what countries this product is sold in, because certain countries require all products to be tested on animals. Anything sold in China has been tested on animals, guaranteed, because it is required by law.

Here is a list of some major cosemtic companies that test on animals:
-M.A.C
-Clinique
-Dove

Here are some companies that aren't tested on animals:
-L'Oreal (Lancome, Armani, Yves Saint Laurence)
-Revlon (both L'Oriel and Revlon used to sell to China but have recently pulled out so that they are no longer required to test on animals)
-Benefit
-Physician's Formula
-Covergirl is a little up in the air, because they used to test on animals, although an unconfirmed rumour has it they no longer do animal testing.
-Avon 

PETA has a great resource for quickly finding out if a company tests on animals. Click here to check it out!

Toxins!

There's a lot of hype about toxins in makeup, so I decided to check it out. Here's what I found:
-Parabens are a preservative, found in makeup, deoderants, and food. Parabens partially mimic a hormone called estrogen, which is known to cause breast cancer. They have been found in some breast cancer tumours.  Parabens have been deemed "practically non-toxic" because the body excretes them quickly... I would still recommend trying to avoid products containing parabens. Its better to be safe than sorry!
-Toluene is a chemical that WHMIS has labelled as "very toxic'. It is believed that toluene may harm the nervous system, the kidneys, and colour vision. It can also harm your baby if you're pregnant. Long term exposure can cause red, cracked skin. Why are we putting this on our faces?? On makeup labels, toluene may also appear as phenylmethane, methylbenzane, and toluol.
-Mineral Oil ... sounds healthy, right? Wrong. Mineral oil clogs pores, which means that the skin has a hard time eliminating toxins. (Remember when I was talking about parabens, and I said that the reason they aren't too dangerous is because your body excretes them? Well, if your pores are clogged, how does your skin get rid of it? Mineral oil can also cause premature aging, because it slows down skin function and cell development.
-Chemical Sunscreens (include Retinyl Palmytate, Oxybenzone, and Octyl Methoxycinnamate). Sunscreen is supposed to protect your skin, but you need to be careful what kind you're using! If your sunscreen has any of the chemicals mentioned, you may be making yourself more susceptible to skin cancer! The list of reasons is long, so I'll hand the explaination over to the website you can access by clicking on the link.

There are so many more harmful products which you can find on the internet, but I've tried to filter out the ones that all say "may cause cancer" because we hear that about Every. Single. Thing. I've tried to find chemicals that have a solid explaination of why they're harmful, but I would recommend taking a look on different websites to see what other people think may be legitimately harmful!

Christianity and the Fashion Industry

I was raised with a really weird view on fashion and the whole works. Being in a Christian home, I was taught not to care about clothes, which is fair enough. I don't believe that it's okay to be obsessing over my appearance, putting my focus off of others and on to myself. However, I was not taught that fashion could be a form of art. Nobody told me that I could express myself with what I wore or how I did my hair and makeup. I always heard in church that God wanted us to use our gifts, no matter what they were, yet fashion never made the list of examples. Why not? Why can't I use fashion to make the world a little bit less cold? Why shouldn't I become a fashion photographer or a cosmetician, and use that as my ministry? Does God not want Christians in that industry? Do models and magazine editors not need Christian coworkers? Do they not need to find God as much as anyone else does?
I'm not saying I'm all for over-glorifying humans, because I'm not. I don't want my life to be just about making people "more beautiful". But the industry doesn't have to be about that. I owned my first lip stick when I was five, and I could apply eye liner when I was seven. Was I over-glorifying myself, or was I my own art project?
Contrary to popular belief, the fashion industry doesn't replace character. Nobody trades compassion for curled hair, or kindness for longer eyelashes. Seeing life as an art doesn't make anyone shallow. If anything, it's shallow to refuse to understand a way of life that's different than your own.
So there's my rant, and there's my reasons why I believe fashion is so misunderstood by the Christian community.

First Photo Shoot

So I got a little bit behind schedule but I finally finished my first group of pictures! My friend Camille Wall modeled for me, and we did the photo shoot in my house (it was still too cold out to do it outdoors!)
I decided to just focus on hair and makeup on this one, getting an idea of how hair and makeup effects the feel of the pictures. I wanted to try something glamourous, so we went with a purple toned smokey eye and red lips. I was worried that a purple smokey eye wouldn't look right, since purple doesn't match very many colours. Also, I wasn't sure purple would go with Camille's green eyes, but I think it worked out. You don't notice the purple that much, it just creates a sort of shadow over her eye.

Here's the makeup that I used on her:
-primer (Almay)
-BB cream (Benefit, light)
-bronzer (Revlon,
-eye shadow (Covergirl sampler palatte:
-mascara (M.A.C.,
-pencil eye liner (NARS, kohl black)
-lip stick (Kate Moss,

I edited the photos a bit, mostly just to add contrast because I found my pictures to be a little faded. My lighting situation wasn't great; there was a window for natural lighting but it wasn't really bright enough. Soo I upped the contrast to try to balance this out.

Looking back, I think I should've gone even more dramatic. Its weird to get used to making the makeup so dark; being used to every day makeup, dramatic styles will take a lot of practice. I kept thinking I was putting on too much, but I probably could've made the smokey eye darker. Fashion pictures usually have really over-the-top makeup and hair, so I need to develop confidence in doing that.

I'm really looking forward to the next shoot, where I can fix all the things I did wrong, and build on what I learned!

I had a difficult time editing this picture because the colours were pretty dull in the original; however, when I increased the contrast, the shadows over her eyes got too dark. I ended up fiddling around with the shadow and highlights levels until I found something that worked. I would've liked some more contrast in this picture, but it was the best I could manage.

Since this is a cropped picture, it turned out pretty blurry, which I couldn't seem to find a way around. However, poor image quality aside, I loved the way this one turned out, so I posted it anyways :)