Amy Dunn, Houston Photographer Blog » eyes http://www.amydunn.com/blog Sun, 01 Aug 2010 02:30:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 New York State of Mind http://www.amydunn.com/blog/new-york-state-of-mind/ http://www.amydunn.com/blog/new-york-state-of-mind/#comments Wed, 21 Oct 2009 06:38:34 +0000 amydunn http://www.amydunn.com/blog/new-york-state-of-mind/ During my last week in New York City, I got to squeeze in a shoot with a couple of my favorite people: Erin, the monstrously-talented-force-to-be-reckoned-with-artist at Make Up For Ever and Stephen Eastwood, a freaking Canon Explorer of Light as my companion to b.s. with during breaks. Who’s better than me?!

Erin sent me the files from our shoot, and I suddenly felt nostalgic. Over the last two months, I traveled to Europe and spent a good portion of time in Houston and Austin, TX. Many shoots I organized in the listed cities fell apart for some strange reason, and while Texas boasts some serious beauty and talent, the energy is way too laid back here. I would love for someone to prove me wrong.

I originally intended to crash the Photo Plus Expo in NY; however, I must attend a wedding in Texas this weekend and would not miss it for anything. BUT, I found a ridiculously amazing deal at Jet Blue today and will visit New York City next week! My mind keeps racing over the possibilities of shooting there, and I want to explore some of the ideas I intended to test but could not due to time constraints. I definitely want to shoot with Erin because we always get such amazing beauty work, and I will see if I can get the infamous Mr. Stephen Eastwood to be my “reflector bitch” again. He really does fill in a good shadow, doesn’t he? :)

Photographer: Amy Dunn
Lighting consultant: Stephen Eastwood
Makeup artist: Erin McCarthy
Model: Anka

Make Up For Ever Studios
New York, NY 2009

Gear: Canon 5D Mark II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0 L USM
Hensel Flash Unit and Small Softbox
Reflector for Fill

© Amy Dunn
All rights reserved

]]> http://www.amydunn.com/blog/new-york-state-of-mind/feed/ 2 My First Shoot in Houston http://www.amydunn.com/blog/my-first-shoot-in-houston/ http://www.amydunn.com/blog/my-first-shoot-in-houston/#comments Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:55:25 +0000 amydunn http://www.amydunn.com/blog/?p=1658 I stayed in Houston, TX for approximately 10 days before I decided to dip out of the country. I’m in Ljubljana now, but since I have jet lag, I will share some photos from the one photo shoot I had n Houston before I packed my bags again. Of course, the one shoot I booked would involve macro makeup!

Living in New York City always spoiled me in the sense that I could assemble a team (model, makeup artist, etc.) within 24 hours. In Houston, not so much. When Orit responded to one of my castings, I noticed the beautiful shape of her eyes and eyebrows–not to mention her lovely eyelashes–and booked her to amp up my macro beauty section. I luckily know one brilliantly talented makeup artist in Houston, Charissa Keo, and I knew we would get some dynamic, bold, colorful images.

The great thing about my shooting space in Texas is just that: I have SPACE. Because of that luxury, I tried different lighting for these two shots. In the first, I placed a DynaLite with an attached reflector camera-left to bring out the warm colors in Charissa’s palette. In the second shot with the cooler tones, I placed an Alien Bee 1600 Flash Unit with a snoot attached to focus the light on Orit’s spectacular eye makeup. For my previous macro makeup work, I used Hensels or a continuous spotlight at the Make Up For Ever studio. The DynaLite and Alien Bees produced nice lighting, and I will start playing with fun catch lights in my future macro work. I want to explore more macro makeup and will definitely look out for talented makeup artists across the globe to capture beauty up close.

Photographer: Amy Dunn
Makeup artist: Charissa Keo
Model: Orit

Gear: Canon 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM

Houston, TX 2009
© Amy Dunn
All rights reserved

]]> http://www.amydunn.com/blog/my-first-shoot-in-houston/feed/ 2 Make Up For Ever Workshop http://www.amydunn.com/blog/make-up-for-ever-workshop/ http://www.amydunn.com/blog/make-up-for-ever-workshop/#comments Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:37:58 +0000 amydunn http://www.amydunn.com/blog/?p=1273 Ever since I got my hands on the Canon EF 100 mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens, I have developed a series of closeup makeup shots. I love emphasizing the fine details that a makeup artist lovingly applies to her subjects. The 100 mm allows me to capture those details and forces me to get creative with composition.

I recently booked a Make Up For Ever workshop that included a variety of talented artists and models with intriguing features. It felt like a marathon shoot as I only had 10 minutes to work with each artist and model. I recognized some familiar faces, like Catherine, Tanaya, Jennie, Helly, and Hayley. I got to team up again with the lovely and OMG-super-talented makeup artist, Erin McCarthy. She served as the creative director that day, giving the artists tips on how to improve their technique. Everyone does better work with Erin around, including me.

Erin booked all the models and all the artists for this event. She coordinated the lighting equipment and studio backdrop based on my requests, so I just showed up with my camera (and lens). I love that. Jon helped me set up the background to separate some space between the workshop and the shooting area, and then we set up two Hensels. The models lined up, and I spent approximately 10 minutes with each of them, showing the models and the artists how the images looked on-camera.

As always, I had a ton of fun at this photo shoot. I really enjoy the 100 mm Macro and will definitely keep up with this series.

Photographer: Amy Dunn
Photo assistant: Jon S.
Creative Director: Erin McCarthy

Gear: Canon 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
Hensel Studio Lights

New York City, 2009
© Amy Dunn
All rights reserved

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