Those of you devoted to this blog (hi mom!) will remember that I posted a few weeks ago with some "life renovation" plans for the new year-- 1) Get my artistic shit together, and 2) re-paint my bedroom. Well, I'm very proud to announce that great advancements have been made over the last month in both of these areas! I did, in fact, re-paint my bedroom just a few weeks ago and it is now a lovely shade of dark grey (specifically, Behr's "Creek Bend")... before and after pictures to be revealed in a subsequent blog post- stay tuned. AND, last Friday I had professional headshots taken with Tammy Swales, who is probably the BEST photographer in Rochester.
I have never had headshots taken before. The shot I've been using pretty much my entire adult life was a black & white snapshot that I took of myself in the hallway outside of my bedroom at 1am. Definitely not professional, but passable. I've been lusting after real headshots these last couple of years, silently admiring and envying the colorful, glossy prints of my colleagues (which, hung next to my lazy shot, made mine look even more amateurish). I really wanted a colorful, glossy professional shot of my own and I wanted to unveil it at the opening of The Little Dog Laughed on March 3rd. The time had come. I took my rewards check from my health insurance company (thanks, MVP!) and scheduled an appointment with Ms. Swales.
Of course, my thoughts immediately turned to "ohmygahdwhatshouldiwear?" and "jesuschristihopemyfacedoesn'tbreakoutthedaybeforetheshoot" and "shouldiwhitenmyteeth?" and "ooohishouldhavestuckwiththatpersonaltrainer"... and "doipartmyhairinthecenteranddobluntbangsorpartitonthesideanddoasoftswoopbang?"... so many decisions. I'm not qualified to make all of these decisions. So I enlisted the help of professionals where I could, booking a hair appointment for the morning of the shoot (because I should not be left to my own devices) and persuading my friend Robyn Fazio to do my makeup (cause Robyn is a professional, yo'). Now all I really had to worry about was clothes. Being the redhead that I am, I packed a suitcase full of greens, blues, purples and a token coral shirt just in case. Also, a pair of bright blue peep-toe pumps... because shoes are important... when you're shooting a headshot... ?
I awoke that morning, dragged my lazy ass to my car with my suitcase in tow, and made my way to the hair salon. My usual hairwizard, Stephanie, wasn't there that morning. Neither was my go-to back-up hairmaster, Valentina (who is Bosnian and beautiful, but only ever nods and says "yes. good." in a soft and deep accent). So I had Joyce. Ohhhhhh Joyce. Never again, Joyce. It's not that you were bad, you just... you just didn't get me, Joyce. Or my bangs.
Then I sped off to Tammy's studio, where I was to meet Robyn for "face-fixing". This was the best-- I got to sit in a comfy chair and drink coffee through a straw while Robyn tickled my face with her brushes and gossiped with me. I could do that forever! We got all caught up and laughed a lot, and she did things to my face that I didn't even think were necessary to beauty but so definitely are I now realize. Then Tammy pulled up a chair and gabbed with us for a while. I performed my Hamlet rap for them while Robyn spray-painted my face. I confided in them my doubts about Joyce and her ability with my bangs. They assured me I was fine.
Until we started shooting... THEN they started cursing Joyce. "Damn you, Joyce!" was bellowed more than once as Robyn repeatedly popped into the shot to adjust my wayward fringe between camera clicks. We shot for two hours, accompanied by an underscore of disco classics and JLo jams. Tammy was awesome and Robyn was an all-star, wielding a blowdryer at the perfect angle for a little Beyonce hair-fanning action where necessary, hiding unruly bra straps, and employing the use of clamps on the back of my shirt to "tighten that shit"! We finished the shoot with a series outside of Tammy's building. As I posed on the sidewalk, a Waste Management truck drove up and parked right behind me. The drivers winked and pointed. I hope Tammy managed to get that truck in the shot... it would be very "me", I suppose. Homeless Steve walked by, but we did not invite him to join the shoot. Poor Steve. He just wants to be a part of the art.
So now I have to wait till Monday to go through all the shots and pick which ones I want. In the meantime, Tammy sent me this teaser....
Sha-ZAM! Can't wait to see what the rest look like! I'll report back once I get the final digital files of the ones I pick! In the meantime, I encourage everyone to check out http://www.tammyswales.com/ to see more of Tammy's work (and I recommend any Rochester actors work with her for headshots... she's awesome!) and http://www.robynfazio.com/ to see Robyn's makeup artistry (DO IT!). AWESOME!
