Picnic! [Kids Photography]

Models: Casey & Kai @ JE Model Management SF

Makeup & Photography & Prop Styling: Elizabeth Chang (Skyla Arts)

Photography Assistant: Erik Leung
Hair: Erika Taniguchi

Wardrobe Styling: Andrea Schultz Igreja

Yayyyy! This photo shoot finally happened! We had to reschedule twice due to the rain during spring time, and finally finally it came together!  While it's not my first time working with kids, it is my first time coming up with my own ideas, finding the locations, getting the props, shooting the photos, and putting together a team! I've done those tasks before, but not all at once. While there's still room for improvement (like always!! ^^), I am very happy with the results! We were blowing bubbles towards the end, and everyone was having fun!

I want to thank Shannon @ JE for being patient with us with the rescheduling..! And of course, my team members Andrea, Erika & Erik.  Casey & Kai are adorable, and are such troopers!  May-June 2011 has definitely been the craziest ... I need to organize my computer, and keep up with my blogging! I'm also super excited to share more photos from weddings/bridal clients when the photos come back! For now please enjoy super cuties Kai & Casey! :)

Behind the Scenes [Beauty shoot - Jordan Part I video]

Makeup & Hair: Elizabeth Chang 
Photography: Novi Angelomio
Model: Jordan @ Scout SF

Woohooo!!! A reel!!! This one I recorded myself with my little CanonS95 and used CS5 After Effects for the first time~~~ It was really intimidating opening that program, so I had to watch a few youtube tutorials and ask Erika for her advice!  Anyhow...the indoor lighting during the shoot was very warm, so I applied a cooling filter to color adjust the video!  Again it's my first time fiddling around with that stuff, so nothing fancy, not effects or anything. 

We did a clean look before this, and I wanted to keep the look very 'classic.'  Jordan's face looks a bit like Rachel McAdams/Kristen Bell/Rachel Evan Woods combined in some of the angles, but she is stunning!  A lot of my work features really clean makeup, and I find that perhaps people might think that's the only look I know how to do...so I really wanted to do the classic smokey eye look and add some variety - I also want to do different colors smokey eyes later, but I  wanted to start off with the "classic" one!  I'm looking forward to see the images! :) 

Because Jordan's skin was a little dry that day, the foundation had a bit of trouble adhering in the nose area...which is why I decided to pull out my airbrush. Now if I didn't tell you that, could you have known and noticed the difference? :)  Like I say..the airbrush is just another brush, another tool in my tool box (Albeit a slightly more expensive one).

The whole shoot had a bit more of a New York vibe to me than the Bay Area...but I feel like it's good to change it up, keep it loose and interesting! 

Outtakes & Behind the scenes

My hands are perfecting Rachel's hair! ;) I'm happy only my hands were in the shot! 

natural WIND in the hair  - not from a fan!~ 

Model: Rachel @ Ford SF

Makeup & Hair: Elizabeth Chang (Skyla Arts)

Photography & Styling: Audre Van Broers Photography

Some outtake shots courtesy of Audre! ;) It was windy!!!! 

"Why are Professional Makeup/Hair Artists so expensive?"

This morning, I woke up and saw a photographer posted this helpful post titled: "Why are Professional Photographers so expensive?" and after reading through it, I feel like if you just switch some words in the sentence around and replace it with words related to makeup/hair services over photography, the article totally works to answer the question "Why are Professional Makeup/Hair Artists so expensive?"  Well...of course as the vendor providing the service, I honestly don't feel it is expensive.  When I was a bride, I also expected my Hair/Makeup services to cost about this - anything less expensive I would start to wonder how they make a living!  I guess this is a post that's a continuation of my previous blog post this year "What you should know before hiring a makeup artist"

I've seen so many threads on wedding forums talking about the 'sticker shock' and I bet a thought that crossed their minds are: "If it only takes 2 hours to complete my hair and makeup, WHY does it cost x?! This is robbery! They are extorting me just because it's my wedding! "

Similar to photographers, the time we spent on one client is not just the few hours we spend performing the makeup and hair service, but additionally, makeup artists need to:

• Administrative (Respond to inquiries, emailing, phone conversations, setting up and confirming appointments, preparing contracts and invoices.)
• Perform makeup & hair services at a trial or consultation appointment.
• Clean & pack kit, double check kit, load it on the car.
• Travel to the session
• Setup, prepare to perform services.
• Perform the services
• Travel from the session/return
• Unload kit from car, pack & clean kit
• etc etc etc.

On average, I spend 6-10 hours min. per client.  If I also take the photos for photography, then the list is the one above, plus the one in the photography article!  Some clients only send you 5-10 emails, and others send 50-60+.  So...while on average I spend 6-10 hours, some I spend double the time.  It depends on the circumstance, and no client is exactly alike! Therefore, in a sense you are always receiving a customized service.

Then, there's experience/expertise.  As wedding coordinator Christine told me during our first meeting about the importance of hiring a professional makeup artist something to think about is: Can the artist complete the service in the specific setting [Bridal]? Can they handle the time pressure, understand time management and also satisfy the demands of my demanding [insert friend/family name here]? 

In the article, they talk about Wal-mart/chain store photo booths that gets the job done fast, with a standard push of a button, and if the child cries, then there is most likely not enough time to care what the outcome is, and "you get what you pay for." But a personalized service provider would take the time to take care of the child, make him/her laugh and deliver a great photo.  On a similar note, if you want to, you can go to a Mall, or to a specific makeup counter, pay $50 in product purchases, and have the "makeup artist"/sales associate do the makeup for you for the occasion.  What if they allocated 30 minutes, but did not completely finish, but there are other customers ready to pay for other products and the makeup artist/sales associate needs to stop the complimentary makeup application, and actually make more sales, as her salary/wage depends on actually making the cosmetic sales, and not how lovely of a makeup job she does for you?  What a sales associate sells is the products, but the makeup artists sell only the service.  On the same note, why not just buy the products, and do it yourself? The authors of the article puts it beautifully: 

"A pair of scissors costs $1.50 at the drugstore. Still, most people will gladly pay a lot more to hire a professional hair dresser to cut their hair."

"

On that note...Do you remember the translucent powder fiasco? You might have seen it on the gossip news or something and the big thing was that it was Makeup Forever's HD powder that caused it but only visible with flash photography.  In the end, if I recall, (feel free to correct me!) it was said that Nicole Kidman did the touch-ups herself in the car, and not the makeup artist.  Makeup artists would have known that you would never use that much translucent powder, whichever the brand!  My point is...is it really worth the risk on an important occasion like your wedding or your very special events to walk out like this by either doing the makeup yourself, or paying a "chain store" for the $50 worth of products and makeup application at the makeup counter?

The bottom line - it's an investment, and there are some things that are worth the investment! 

*New* Makeup & Hair work!

Model: Rachel @ Ford SF

Makeup & Hair: Elizabeth Chang (Skyla Arts)

Photography & Styling: Audre Van Broers Photography

This is my first time working with Audre, and I was really looking forward to the shoot.  She is really awesome at styling and photography! Audre is one of the few photographers I know that does both fashion and wedding photography. I really loved the synergy throughout the whole shoot, and we completed the shoot very efficiently.  I really enjoyed trying out the strong eyebrow look - I thought it would look good with some of the outfits. The changes in the 2.5 makeup looks were subtle, and we did 4 slightly different hair looks.  Can you tell that I had loads of fun?? :)

Sometimes I put a lot of pressure on myself because there are goals I want to achieve, or the client has very specific requirements, and I am racing with the clock - in those situations it's just like any other type of job out there - work.  I'd say  it happens about 50/50, but the other times, I can't believe how quickly time went by because work is very enjoyable! And I tend to prefer blogging about those times, too~! :)  I love making people look & feel beautiful, whatever the occasion. When the client is happy, I get all giddy too! While I worked really hard last weekend, I was super happy through it all, and I need to remember that feeling and let it help me get through challenges I might face in the future...!

Anyways...! I am running out of my comp card (the 4x6 post cards we give out in our industry, mostly artists and photographers) and I think I am going to put one of these on my new comp card! I am excited to have new images on there! :) I think I might make one for my makeup/hair, and one for my photography now - before they were combined just for the ease of passing out one card, but I think because of how separate my target clients are for the 2 categories, it really makes sense to make 2!

Ok ok, enough of me babbling! I hope you enjoy the photos and that everyone had a great memorial weekend! 

Beautiful Morgan + Hair accessory Rental!

Model: Morgan @ Stars SF

Makeup & Hair: Elizabeth Chang (Skyla Arts)

Photography: Rummy Makmur
Makeup & Hair Assistant: Erika Taniguchi

For Bridal makeup, it is trendy to enhance lashes (false lash application) or use an airbrush - but I love love the natural clean look.  It's my style (and it's apparent) but that doesn't mean I cannot deliver smokey eyes for bridal as well! It all depends on what the client wants, and what would look good on them.  I give a lot of options, but sometimes my clients prefer if I just do it on them! ;) 

I am excited to announce that as part of my bridal and special occasion service, I will be providing accessory rentals! Instead of it being an extra expense, renting an accessory is a fraction of the cost.  The only thing I require is a security deposit that I will return to you in its entirety once the accessory is returned safely.  The one on the model is one of my favorites~ I didn't think of myself as a feather person, but as long as it's small and tasteful, I like it on an accessory.

Early rise tomorrow for a wedding gig tomorrow! I knew this was going to happen - spring/summer/early fall months are always the busiest in my industry, but the pace of life went from relatively balanced to woaahhh it's been over a week since my last 'day off'!  Hope everyone is having a lovely memorial day weekend!  :) 

Behind the Scenes [Beauty & Hair Editorial Story]

Model: Morgan @ Stars SF

Makeup & Hair: Elizabeth Chang (Skyla Arts)

Photography: Rummy Makmur
Wardrobe Stylist: Andrea Schultz Igreja
Makeup & Hair Assistant: Erika Taniguchi

Is it me, or is it getting HOT in here? :P  Rummy approached me about submitting to an editorial and I thought...we need a stylist! Fortunately, Andrea whom I've worked with previously came to the rescue! The focus of the editorial is hair accessories, and the theme is the model needs to look hot/bothered/frustrated. & of course sweaty! This photo shoot took place at my humble abode, and I had to REALLY clean my kitchen hard core - it was my own idea to best utilize the cool colors of my kitchen to contrast the neon colors for the wardrobe and makeup.  I have to say...my kitchen never looked so good...and it would never look so good again without gorgeous Morgan sitting on it!  I loved Morgan's look and her energy.  She goes for it, and has a positive aura around her and a pleasure to work with! 

The challenge is to make Morgan look sweaty - but it was actually a cool evening. Not only did we crank up the heat, my special formula to create the "sweaty look" worked fairly well I must say! woohoo!  Since it was an evening shoot, we were running short on time towards the end of the evening - The first look in the photo above (top left), was for my book - I had purchased some hair accessories for bridal and was eager to put it up in a photo, and special thanks to Rummy & Morgan for allowing me to put my vision into reality.  With editorials, sometimes you really have to look at the concept, and the wardrobe, and decide on the spot what you wanted to do for the makeup & hair.  Because of the bright colors, I decided to play with my OCC lip tars that I had purchased from The Makeup Show in LA, and went for a gorgeous orange shade. Morgan had long and voluminous hair, which is exciting to work with, but I decided on the spiral curls which was time consuming. We changed from up-do, to bohemian-chic curls, to sexy teased mane, to side pony, to side fish-tail braid.  We really rocked it, team! :) *high five* Special shout out to Erika, my talented assistant for this shoot! Because I don't have curtains installed, I wondered if my neighbors could peer in, and I wondered what they would think: "Wow there's a GORGEOUS girl sitting on her counter top...not the usual Asian lady cooking in the kitchen today" lol.....! This story will be out in June! Stay tuned for more of beautiful Morgan!