Amy Dunn, Houston Photographer Blog » model

Another Photo Added to Fashion Gallery

amydunn — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:44:12 +0000

Modeling Tip of the Day: Don’t be afraid to get dirty.

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Houston, TX 2010

Photographer: Amy Dunn
Hair/Makeup Artist: Sara Eudy
Model: Allyson

Gear: Canon 5D Mark II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4.0 L IS

Amy Dunn: Lawyer, Photographer, Evil Step-Mother?

amydunn — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:55:20 +0000

My First Shoot in Yellow Magazine, circa 2007

amydunn — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 03:34:52 +0000

Do you remember when Myspace was cool? Me, neither. But I used to blog there a lot and remember the times when when I had a ton of friends commenting on my ridiculous posts. In 2007, I had an entry called, “Extracting Wisdom.” Here is an archived blog post from Tuesday, February 13, 2007. (I’m in horror re-reading this. What was I thinking posting this publicly?! Was I on something? LOL)

As a little girl, I always loved the joke, “What time did the Asian man go to the dentist?” When I read the punchline, “Tooth-hurtee,” I giggled and repeated the joke to anyone who would listen. While today the joke may scream “Un-PC,” it still gets a chuckle out of me because of its stupidity.

I tried to maintain that same sense of humor when I had my wisdom tooth extracted last month. Not even that silly little joke could make me smile after the painful surgery. First of all, my Prada-glasses-wearing oral surgeon took a big-ass needle and merely numbed my mouth with Novacaine. I writhed in pain the entire time, clutching a teddy bear Brett had given me hours before the extraction. I could hear my bones crunch, and the drill burned the skin on my lips.

I examined my extracted tooth, the one that once had so many stinky pieces of food lodged in its hard-to-reach crevice. I almost took comfort in taking a hook-shaped pick to thoroughly clean food bits from it. I’d sniff the pick sometimes. I wanted to keep my cracked tooth as a memento or even put it under my pillow and have the Tooth Fairy refund the cost of my surgery. But The Butcher kept my big bloody tooth.

Then my oral surgeon had the audacity to prescribe me wimpy Tylenol 3 with codine. I took the Rx to a local pharmacy, and everyone treated me like I had 3rd degree Cooties. I left and peeked at a mirror. To my horror, I looked like Sloth from The Goonies. I had blood splatters all over my nose, and my mouth was stuffed with gooey gauze. And my cheek started to puff up like a retarded chipmunk.

Tylenol 3 didn’t do squat. After the Novacaine wore off, I sobbed all night long until Brett came to my rescue at 5:00 a.m. I finally fell asleep for a few minutes and woke up with blood all over my face, neck, and clothes. I took more than my prescribed dosage; it hurt my stomach, so I had the dry heaves. I kneeled in front of the toilet and almost vomited for unrelated reasons when I saw a doo-doo chip conveniently left by my roommate.

At 8:00 a.m., I text-messaged my dentist (not the oral surgeon) to save me. He offered to come over and give me some real drugs, and I accepted. A few hours later, my dentist showed up providing eye candy with his rock star get-up and Vicodin, the necessary candy for my unbearable pain.

Even with the meds, I could still feel that massive hole on my bottom left side throbbing. Winter in New York is not pleasant, so the cold only added to my misery. On my puffiest day, I did a photoshoot after work for a magazine called Yellow. I apologized to the photographer, Jhane, and offered to personally retouch the photos. I felt awful. My cheek had swollen to the size of a softball, but my lips looked great! I must give credit to an amazing team consisting of makeup artist, photographer, and retoucher. The stylist, Marc, completely ruled, too.

Here are some samples from the shoot:

The Cover:

My cheek, conveniently hidden by my hair:

Here you can see a soft edge on my cheek from the retouching and the Vicodin wearing off:

***Credits***

Yellow Magazine: www.yellowmags.com

Photographer: Jhane Hoang www.jhanehoang.com

Makeup Artist: Artemis www.makeupbyartemis.com

Stylist: Marc Sifuentes www.marcsifuentes.com

I don’t know who did the retouching, but I LOVE YOU!

Amy Dunn in Yellow Magazine’s 5th Anniversary Issue

amydunn — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 05:52:54 +0000

“Amy Dunn was fun and easy going. I instantly knew that I was working with a model who was professional and fun to work with; I only wish that were were more models like her. She was a pleasure and a delight.” – Jhane Hoang, photographer

Amy Dunn

“Amy is one of the few lawyers you will know who has distinguished herself as a model (in such magazines as Vogue and Cosmopolitan), a photographer with a sold-out exhibition, and interviewed by Canon. Currently a lawyer with a Houston firm with a VERY lucky telephone number of 281.888.888, Amy hopes to open a law practice in New York where she can accommodate her professional and artistic sides.”

Photographer: Collin Kelly
Fashion Stylist: Leslie Rivas
Hair: Bianca Linette
Makeup: Lily Bui
Models: Agatha, Amy Dunn, Yuan Yuan, Jenn, and Christina

A Model’s Sense of Entitlement

amydunn — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 19:24:46 +0000

Filed Under: What NOT to Say to a Casting Director, Photographer or Client

Dear Photographer,

I am assuming that as I have not heard anything from you that I was not fortunate enough to make the cut for the project.

It is another staple of this industry whereby if you make efforts to be punctual, follow up, and show enthusiasm – in the end if somebody else is chosen you will more times than not receive no communication from anyone involved to give the news.

Many companies do not even have the courtesy or humanity to disclose the fact in an email thanking the participant for answering the audition call and informing of the fact that you were unsuccessful. You are left with that ‘Up in the air’ feeling, and it turns out to be another wasted morning or afternoon of preparing yourself and traveling to the location, attending the shoot or audition, and returning – in the end to not only not get the chosen spot but not be contacted again as a courtesy.

Well, it was good to meet you. I have heard from you many times that you ‘want to work with me’ but I am not expecting to hear anything further from you or the project.

I am seriously weary of the modeling industry and the many disappointments and let-downs that occur, and I am going to push ahead with my acting training and concentrate in that area.

Signed, Model

Author’s Note: I sent a response, and then she deleted her modeling profile. It takes a thick skin to make it in modeling.

** I know people will have a variety of opinions regarding this issue. I would love to hear your comments and will follow up with a subsequent post.

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Elizabeth Waite, the “High-Ratio” Model

amydunn — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:01:05 +0000

Meet Elizabeth. She’s an up-and-coming commercial model, and I had the pleasure of shooting her for a second time during my last trip to New York. Elizabeth is what I call a “high-ratio” model: whenever we shoot, 90% of her images look amazing. Very few models can boast that kind of accomplishment.

Elizabeth is naturally gorgeous with flawless, creamy skin and a mega-watt smile. With each click of the shutter, she gives me slight variations in her poses and subtly angles her face and alters her expression. This provides a fascinating shoot for the photographer and offers dozens of choices in the editing process. Whenever I shoot Elizabeth, I tell her, “Yeah, good luck picking your favorite–they’re all gorgeous.” Luckily, I had the help of Anthony Pichette, a kick-ass casting director in New York. I narrowed down the selects as best I could (starred anything that looked good, then went over those and applied two stars to the ones that stood out from that bunch and so forth), and Anthony picked the top one or two.

Here, we got the pictures down to these two. See how hard it is to pick a favorite? Sometimes it boils down to a flip of a coin.

Photographer: Amy Dunn
Makeup artist: Alice An for Candifiend Studios

Brooklyn, NY 2009

Gear: Canon 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM Lens, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM

Solitude of Self

amydunn — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:14:09 +0000

I shot this in my kitchen. I did not intend such a moody, introspective self-portrait, but rather, I wanted to shoot a kitchen scene while baking cookies. I goofed on my lighting but liked the way this overhead light highlighted my bone structure. A quick change of clothing, and I embraced a secondary self-portrait setting.

I enjoyed shooting this self-portrait much more than my previous one for a couple of reasons: (1) while Houston had yet another thunderstorm tonight, I did not have to run outside in the spooky weather, and (2) I finally replaced my remote switch so I could shoot from afar. This time, I did not break a sweat other than setting up the lighting which consisted of a beauty dish and grid placed on a boom stand. The remote facilitated the shoot, and after a handful of shots (16 to be exact), I went with the classic, “Good enough.”

Other than a little dodging and burning to bring out textures, I did not do much in post-production. If all self-portraits were this easy, I would shoot them more often. I do have some set-ups that I want to try soon—including the one I missed this evening—so please keep up the support as I fumble my way through these ideas.

Houston, TX 2009

Gear: Canon 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM Lens
Lighting: AB 1600 Beauty Dish + Grid on boom

New Photo Added to Beauty Section

amydunn — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:08:53 +0000

Photographer: Amy Dunn
Photo assistant: Jon S.
Makeup artist: Erin McCarthy
Model: Fania

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

Make Up For Ever
New York City, 2009

The Glamorous Life

amydunn — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:41:10 +0000

The lyrics to Fergie’s song, “Glamorous,” make me smile. She sings about her rise to success, about wearing gold and diamond rings, shopping for expensive things, being in magazines and bougie scenes—but she still goes to Taco Bell, “raw as hell.” I find that hilarious that she can have pretty much anything she wants, but she keeps it real. I can relate.

It feels like my life has come full circle since I left Texas nearly 10 years ago. When I left home for modeling, I traveled to exotic destinations, appeared in glossy magazines, and popped up in TV commercials worldwide. I wore expensive clothes in expensive cities and have even had intimate conversations with celebrities. But it is all a façade. Underneath all the glamour and perfection belies a young lady that loves Red Lobster and a damn good fart joke. When people get to know me, they almost always say, “You’re not at all what I expected.” I come from a loud, quirky family, but I guess I hide it well.

For this self-portrait, I got in the mood by listening to Lenny Kravitz’s “Lady,” and conjured up the adjectives in the song: sophisticated, chic, pretty, and refined—pretty much my polar opposite. I found Chanel accessories from a lifetime ago and wore them for this portrait only. It reminded me how much I have changed throughout the years, but at the end of the day, I still cry laughing at Dirty Sanchez jokes.

Houston, TX 2009

Gear: Canon 5D Mark II
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 a.k.a. “The Nifty Fifty”
AB1600 with black/white umbrella

Fergie’s “Glamorous” video:

Fergie – New Music – More Music Videos

New York State of Mind

amydunn — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 06:38:34 +0000

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