Storyboards are always a great way to start the creative process when planning a fashion or hair photo shoot, and talk about a salon team building experience! Recently, at Keter Salon, where I am coordinating their 2nd photo shoot, everybody presented their boards, and spoke of what is inspiring them. When the last person finished, there were nine boards. Beautiful!
Oscar's 2012
Behind the Scenes at SNOW 3
SNOW 3 Another white fashion event! January 28th, 2012- We were cooking backstage with 36 models, irons, back brushing, pins, and plenty of L'Oreal Professionnel Densite, Mousse Volupte, and Infinium #3!
Thanks to Scott Smith, Heather Jassem, Aviva Morger for their assistance, and expertise. Thank you to Cari Borja, and Julie Schindler for their lovely designs. And a great big thank you to Joseph Domingo, and all the others who made this event go smoothly.
SNOW 3 A White Fashion Event 2012
I joined SFBAfn this year, and have loved getting to know these local designers and those that work behind the scenes of SNOW, an annual event. We are crazy in love with creating beauty!
Warren Difranco Hsu photographer
Beyond Chef Wear by Daniel Sudar
Christophe Tomatis Photography
On December 4, 2011, Daniel Sudar debuted his chef wear line at San Francisco's Mercury lounge. I felt honored to participate in hairstyling the models for this show. Not only is Daniel humble, but a great talent! With only two years, officially, in the design industry, he is off to an amazing career. Why shouldn't chefs look fabulous as they create their tasty morsels? Makeup Sara Dashty
SFBAfn - The Collection 2011
A few shots from The Collection 2011, produced by SFBAfn, of which I am a current member, and helped with the makeup. Hairstyling by Umbrella Salon. The designs were stunning! I am so proud to be working with such a fine group of talented artists.
Daniel Sudar
L'Oreal Session Styling Team
Okay. September proved to be an unbelievable month. For five years, I have been pursuing editorial work, building a book, and working many hours in exchange for the picture. Through www.hairbrained.com, I learned of the L'Oreal Professionnel Session Styling Team audition. I couldn't pass up the opportunity. I submitted this video and got to go to NYC for the live audition. All the folks at L'Oreal Professionnel made me and 15 others feel right at home, Joseph DiMaggio, Amit Abraham, and Kate Oechsle, set the tone with the vision of this team, and of not competing, but to share of ourselves. At the end of the day, one brave soul, asked, "When will we know if we are part of the team or not?" The answer is, "You are all part of the team." I had to pinch myself!
The common thread of those present is humility. I knew right away this was a team I wanted to create with and support.
Indian Rock
Angie Awayan Photography
Beauty shoot, then fashion outdoors at Indain Rock in Berkeley, CA. Thanks to the team!
Cari Borja / Berkeley / Fashion
Photographer Gabriel Harber
Working with Cari Borja again, reminded me of the love of creating beauty. .
Cari Borja Designs Photo Shoot
Tear sheets were laid out for me. Each of the three models, which included Cari, needed to look different from the other.
I set up at 9:00 am, and started on the task of styling hair and applying make-up on our first model, finishing at 1:00 pm.
Cari's Designs are feminine, fanciful, and flirtatious, so we played with the idea of keeping the hair simple, casual, and approachable.
Cari's ease, charm, and adept storytelling skill made me realize she has crafted her life into one that is creative, and full, and that she is doing none other than what she is meant to do. How fantastic to be a part of the endeavor.
Spring Green
After a year of letting my natural color show, I decided to color my hair. Mostly, themetamorphosis came about because of the count down to NAHA. We used powder lightener with 20 vol, and level 4 Luo color with 25Vol as a base, then toned with P01-P02, creating a bit more drama.
I thought, "Hm, I am going to be surrounded with my peers, and the idea of showing some creativity on my own head felt right. The extreme is always so invigorating. I tell myself, "Just as long as you work that out on your head, rather than in your life."
Sometimes I look at myself, and think it looks great. Or, "too dark against your aging skin." I'll say. Does it look to severe? My clients remarked, "You look less tired," as if my own questions lined my forehead.
Overall, I feel it is a nice change. Color feels like a fresh start. And this new be- ginning seems to be popping up in a lot of areas of my life, like the green of Spring emerging from the tilled soil.
And now, the maintenance begins. I already feel like I need a toner.
However, the expectations of women are at an all time high. More on that later.
NAHA Awards 2009
Just got back from Las Vegas. I attended the NAHA awards ceremony at Mandalay Bay. I saw beautiful images of hair by some of the greats in the industry, like Vivienne Mackinder, Lucie Doughty, and Maureen Anlauf.
I felt inspired by these hair artists who are driven to execute their work to the level at which they do, and who then want to pass on their knowledge to those who are hungry to know. I would love nothing more than to take a walk with a few of them, and hear about their creative process, see what they notice in their surroundings, what do their dreams reveal about their work.
I sat in the audience, sometimes sad that there were not a more enthusiastic applause for the hard work, and hours of combing, teasing, and polishing hair that these stylists have spent on their creations.
And yet, the number of students present left me remembering the early days of my career, and wanting to be at every hair show possible. They couldn't have chosen a more high caliber event on the West Coast.
Diana and I, the owner at Keter Hair Salon, shared in our mixed feelings of overwhelm, awe, and humility at the idea of even trying to compete next year.
Another Dee Conway Shoot
This time we shot with Trina. What a fun model...by the end of the evening, Trina was just warming up, she could have continued long past sundown. Dee, followed and calmly suggested her own ideas as well.
April 18th. Amtrak station in Berkeley, blocks from Keter Hair Salon. The chill left me hugging my jacket shut, in between holding up the reflector for Dee. Trina was playful, and able to accomodate Dee's gentle instructions of laying down on the tracks, sitting and standing on them, between trains.
A few onlookers stood around, but basically we had the place to ourselves. I think our shots worked. As usual, Dee is a complete pleasure to work with, and always so prompt in her delivery of images.
Make-up by Pheakdey Bun.
Inspiration at Sassoons
Okay, I'm breaking the mini-chronological order I had going.
I just found some photos, from November of last year. A few of us from Keter Salon went down to LA for Sassoon's 2009 Fall Collection Release.
Very Inspirational to say the least.
Like I said, masters of any trade, make it look effortless, but the actual skill level takes years to develop. I love the texture and the soft colors on some of the blonde models. Of course, the execution by this team is nothing less than phenomenal
The Up-Do Class that Re-Awakened Everything
Kiki, our manager at Keter Salon, taught an updo styling class back in April.I thought, "Fine, let's do it." I always look for the next inspiration to get my creativity fired up.
Kiki, who comes from a family of stylists, and worked as a platform artist, is not only a master at exectuting an idea, but in teaching the idea.
I'm whipping through, my hands moving way to fast, and there she is, smoothing, refining, slowly, precisely placing the hair in place.
I have not been able to stop since then. This driving force inside me to learn how to build hair is unrelenting. And now, I have it in my head to compete in the NAHA awards.
I have a lot to learn!
This is what I came up with that day. The beginning of using hair pieces.
Audacity of Change- An Inaugural Fashion Benefit
In order to celebrate the election of President Barack Obama, we thought what better waythan to express it through nonconformity in a fashion show.
Girl Talk Band set the tone for the evening, and gave generously by playing melodic blues, latin, world jazz. We were quite fortunate to have Angie Coiro MC our show, also giving her time for the cause. She added flare, fun, humor and a feeling of generosity. Denise Pate of Destiny Arts gave a brief introduction to the great work the organization offers in the Oakland schools. To find out more about the great work Destiny Arts offers, check out www.destinyarts.org.
Our sixteen models represented our coummunity; women of all ages, backgrounds, and body type. The show felt global as the first models walked to the chant from the Nicherin Daishonin Buddhism out of Japan, wearing masks that we had made, shedding them as they left the room. They then sashayed to Gypsy Jazz.
What I enjoyed most about this event was the gathering of creative people. In the salon that day, there was a feeling of excitement and love of our craft, not to mention pure creativity as the stylsits, and owner of Keter Salon came together to contribute to something larger than the everyday at the salon.
Our stepping out to the community was met with the community coming to us...130 people filled the space, standing room only. At the end of the day, we raised some money, Giselle Shepatin gave generously as well. She sold clothing before and after the event, and donated a percentage of her sales to the cause. She also offered beautiful, handmade scarves as gifts for the raffle.
I want to thank some of the Fourth Street merchants in Berkeley, CA, and the people listed for their donations: The Nail Lounge GirlTalkBand - www.girltalkband.com Angie Coiro Peet's Tea & Coffee Bette's Diner George's Bare Minerals The Vivarium Patrick Gilligan Lori Cheung - www.theportraitphotographer.com Marcia Walden Skin Care Dee Conway - Photography Earl Crabb - www.humbeadenterprises.com Cordelia DeVere - www.renegadeart.com Molly B Clothing Store Castle in the Air Scarlett Garcia Cafe M Another Planet Simma Leiberman Dana Argenzana Stacy Appel
Audacity of Change
This year has been all about the visual. I coordinated an Inaugural Fashion Benefit, called the Audacity of Change, for Destiny Arts in Oakland, California, Giselled Shepatin, and Keter Hair Salon. I had six weeks to plan an event I had dreamt of doing for years. Giselle Shepatin sat in my chair one night, and we talked about new ways for her to market herself, and so I suggested she come to the salon and have an event...before I knew it, I volunteered to create a benefit.
Thank you friends, loyal clients, and coworkers for all your support!
Chop Wood, Carry Water
I’ve been under a bit of unusual stress the last three weeks, I would have been better off taking time to assimilate life’s latest serving of chewy bits. But life goes on, and as a Buddhists have said, “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.” Cutting hair, even though a family member may have been on her death bed, seemed odd.
And yet, my clients were there for me. At first, I did not think I could work. The salon environment, albeit quieter than usual that day felt too overwhelming. I had no intention of laying it out for everybody, nor did I need to become maudlin, or ignore my reality. At times, I felt as though I walked a tight rope. On one side was my life, on the other, my profession, and when I engaged in conversation about myself, I began to falter, and the net below swung in all directions.
At home I placed a platic bag on a hot burner, walked in three directions at once, not remembering what I was doing. At work, during a weave, I turned my clients hair a pale violet in a few packets. The flashing light inside strobed, sending a warning to refocus, and bring the conversation back to the client.
My family member felt better today, we all could sigh with relief. The road to healing is still long, and perhaps even questionable. Meanwhile, I am grateful for my life, and for my clients who continue to awe me in their respect, concern, and kind words.
The Hair Left Behind
I think of all the thousands of heads of hair I have cut in my career, and all the hair left behind, and the clients who, walk out the door with a bit more bounce in their step. I think of all the things I could do with the millions of strands that fall to the ground. I imagine how heavy that pile would it have accumulated into one massive hair ball, or creating walls, tunnels, out the door and onto the street. I could stand the piles up, side by side, the difference in textures, and colors would be as disparaging as the clients who have sat in my chair. Some piles would be 1/2 inch by 1'', some would me 5" deep, depending on the client.
If I could flatten out the piles, I could make squares, like a quilt, connecting their lives. I could create a time line with the squares from when I began, til' now, building a path laid out into infinity. If I could stack the flattened squares, I would stand on top and feel how tall these clients have helped to make me feel. If that quilt of hair could float, it would surely buoy me a long ways out on a turbulent ocean, and keep me safe. If these piles could tell the stories of the clients that leave the salon, carrying on in their day, and into their lives, as a new person, in their new look, it would be a very interesting story. If I could jumble the pile up, mixing, tossing, like a summer vegetable salad, I would have a very colorful, unique, wondrous, and very deep mix of personalities, experiences and preferences.
HairColor Maven in Once Again
Miss Cordelia DeVere, as generous as always, brought me a cappuccino before we began to the all-too-fun task of creating a new color for her. The window was open at my new station, the summer fog had lifted allowing the sun to light up the greenery out my window, the breeze a nice welcome in the heat of the afternoon. She exclaimed joy at my short hair, and congratulated me on my new spot in the salon. Inspiration percolated inside of me, as she spoke about wanting her hair richer, deeper in color to allow for the fadage. As I conjured up her color combination, level 4, with some red violet, with some accents no doubt. I applied slices of lightener with 9% developer. We talked about what other artists are sculpting, painting, and her staging. We talked about her thoughts on color.
She is still making her creative, fun, and extremely sassy Gissy Dolls too.
It's always a pleasure to create for Cordelia. The accent colors were candy apple with a couple of squirts of pimpin' purple, and some orange.
She called a couple of days later, and said, "I just wanted to let you know, I love my #@*#%& hair!"
Here are some other Cordelia works of art.
