The Making of a Photoshoot
Our social media feeds are flooded with awe-inspiring shots of gorgeous people rocking fabulous, mind-blowing looks. But these pictures don’t just appear out of thin air, and a lot goes on behind the scenes to make just one photograph come to life.
Recently, I got to experience this process myself. While working this summer to complete my Master Colorist training at the Goldwell Academy in NYC, I got a jolt of inspiration. The Goldwell program gets you thinking like a designer, creating your own collection with a unique point of view, and it sparked a fire in me to do just that. I’m going to share with you, from concept to creation, how I brought my vision to life.
In one of the Academy’s inspirational sessions in the Master Colorist class, we made vision boards. My creative juices were flowing. I felt my idea coming to life, especially as we took our vision boards and converted our concepts into hair color. I was playing around and wanted to do something out of my norm. Typically, my aesthetic in the salon is all about “pretty hair,” which I love. But I wanted to FUNK things up a little bit. With a bit of experimenting, I created this kinda grungy but still beautiful look.
This idea came all the way home to Boston with me, and I knew I had to do a shoot. I had an image in my head of models who were beautiful, glamorous, grungy, and wanting to stand out and fit in all at the same time.
I was poking around on instagram and BAM. I saw a photographer that had the vibe I wanted. I DM’ed the photographer and made a connection right away. But I still needed models, and figured I’d have to do a lot of leg work to find the right people. Little did I know, they were right in my neighborhood.
As I was walking home from work, I spotted two people standing on a stoop, waiting for a food delivery. I stopped in my tracks and doubled back. “Excuse me,” I said, I love your hair, can I ask where you get it done?” The person, Julissa, giggled and said, “my bathroom!” Their friend, Dhruv, said, “Oh everywhere from Singapore, to their bathroom.” I introduced myself and told them about my idea for a shoot and was immediately jazzed that they shared my enthusiasm. We exchanged information and I told them I would be in touch once I nailed down the details.
I had Julissa and Dhruv come into the salon on one of my days off to do their color. I had a wonderful time playing with fun colors (oranges and blues) and also listening to their conversations. They are both college students, musically inclined, and have this candid and intense way of speaking to each other. I admit - I was a little self conscious and wondering if they thought I was cool... or old and super lame!
My third model, was Kat, one of my colleagues. We put 20” GreatLengths bonded extensions in and she rocked the hell out of them. I loved that Julissa and Dhruv had an existing friendship, so they would have great chemistry on camera, and I knew Kat would be a great addition to the mix.
Once the hair was done, it was time to prep and style the shoot to get that beautiful, grungy, and glamorous look.
In my next post, I’ll talk about the day of the shoot and the final touches for bringing the looks to life.
