Mercy Delights

Don't miss her video!  See below.


There are at least three things I love about working with model, Mercy Clark not the least of which is her Mother Earthliness.  She even wanted to be photographed with a gang of bees she found but I'll get back to that later.

The goal was branding images for Pretty Muse and for this shoot our styling was intended to be Pocahontas-ish slash hippie chick enjoying nature.  If you know Mercy there really is no better person for this gig than her.  Within minutes of meeting her she conjures images of the free spirited chicks from the 70's and the urge to photograph her is overwhelming.  I wasn't the first photographer to 'discover' her at her job and ask her if she'd model.  We've been shooting Mercy for almost a year now. So, if you like her images you can type her name in the search feature on the home page to find lots more of her!  She's a popular download.  She has that certain je ne sais quoi.

I'm not sure which came first the inspiration to make a suede-like dress with fringe or the location I found filled with Spanish Moss, but both were made for each other. Then, add one half hippie chick, one half Pocahontas and a whole dose of Mercy and you got a full blown shoot on your hands.

During our shoot while exploring this field of tall grass and Spanish moss she found a gaggle (sounds better than swarm) of bees sitting quietly on the grass and of all things she asked me if I could photograph her with them.  Yep.  Bees.  They are hard to spot but if you look real hard you'll see a bunch of brown dots on the tips of the grass.  So we obliged.  Can't photograph something in the shade and something in harsh sunlight at the same time very well but that's what this is.

Another thing about Mercy I like is that she's prone to blissful happiness at any given moment.  Sometimes this results in a brief and delightful dance.  Hopefully you have your camera ready when it happens because it's always camera-worthy.

She also has a great sense of humor and can roar or attack at will.  You never know what you'll get with Mercy but it will alway, always be charming and delightful.

This is our 100th post. Yay!  I wasn't sure I could commit to this whole blogging idea. It was just too much of a commitment.  I wasn't sure anybody would even come.  It's like starting a journal but telling everybody your going to do it and make it public.  No easy promise.  But 100 posts later and 15,000 page views I'll admit I find it rewarding.  A secret?  Every morning before I get out of bed I grab my phone and hit the app that is the counter for the blog to check to see how many people have visited and from what country.  It's a little kiss from the blogosphere to see a number there.  Thank you to those faithful readers who come here regularly and to the occassional visitor.  I appreciate it.

Don't miss her video!

Her video: ---> http://animoto.com/play/gAyWG1eJ2z0WfrqP4ihoJg

Before and After 

Here Mercy with HMUA, Lindsay LaSalla.  Lindsay was given an inspiration picture of a woman with tanned, dewy skin look and Lindsay nailed the look, if not, made it better than the original.  Great work.

CREDITS:
Pretty Muse Photography
Featuring:  Mercy Clark (who did her own hair)
Makeup:  Lindsay LaSalla
Styling:  Clothing designed and made by Lj Masty
Music:  Dylan in the Movies - August Moon

Keywords:  Mercy clark, pocahontas, hippie chick, hippie chicks, spanish moss, bees, tall grass, lindsay lasalla, glamour shoot, beauty shoot, glamour makeup, big hair, stuart florida, martin county, stuart, florida, jensen beach, linifotto, beauty and the beach photography, treasure coast, treasure coast florida, tcf, psl, port st lucie, fun photography, female photographer, idea for beauty shoot, ideas for glamour shoot, pretty muse, pretty muse photography, lj masty, sewells point park.

Mercy Plays Pocahantas

Here's a little sneak peek at Mercy Clark.  More to come soon!

The Red Dress

Video link is at the bottom in red!

The Red Dress was one of those inspired moments I had when trying to set up a shoot and none of the dresses were good enough.  I had it in my head it had to be a BIG, important dress.  So that's how it started.  And without a pattern, I managed to wrangle 120 feet of tulle, a full bolt and 6 rolls of 6" tulle for a grand total of something like 240 yards of tulle.  Yeah....then there was the rest of the dress.

I really wasn't sure the dress was all that until I showed Karissa and few other friends.  Just the look on their faces alone said this was indeed a dress.  The dress, was a DRESS!  A dress to behold.  A dress to make a girl fawn and feel incredibly special.  When I had Karissa try it on she was barely breathing, which meant there was no way she wasn't going to wear it.  Then the question was where does one shoot such a dress?   Fortunately, downtown Stuart offered the perfect venue.

As for hair and makeup?  Well, Donna Devlin, HMUA, who styles many of our shoots, had no problem, she came up with a smoky eye look and gorgeous red lips that fit the glamour of the dress.  As for hair,  I just said "BIG" and "SEXY" she knew exactly what we needed.  During the shoot Donna does this little trick of just swooping in and whipping up another new hairdo with just a couple magic pins or something which never fails to amaze me.

Karissa, a long time muse, had no problem modeling this grand look.  She has a certain quality about her that is very surreal and doll-like, she can step into a casual shoot in jeans just as easy as a glamour shoot.  She knows her looks.  Her go-to poses and on shooting day she slipped into character and we all just followed 'the plan'.  (The plan is something I can talk about another time - its the method on how we plan and direct a shoot, something I get asked about a great deal.)  And with a good plan a little magic always happens, some intangible thing that makes everybody's heart sing and we instinctively know what to do and why.

The goal for this shoot was to inspire future clients to want to be photographed wearing this dress.  Why not wear a glamourous dress and get a makeover and feel like you just walked off a magazine photoshoot?  Our makeovers are truly amazing (see the Before & After's section!).

 How cute is this second hair look?  This took Donna all of 60 seconds to whip up.

Don't miss the video!
Video link: ------->  http://animoto.com/play/kxxrLjfJIbqUS48KGxzFoQ

 
Credits:
Photography:  Pretty Muse
Featuring:  Karissa Ferguson
HMUA:  Donna Devlin
Dress:  Designed and made by me, Lj Masty


Keywords:  red dress, big red dress, tulle dress, fun tulle dress, glamour shoot, beauty shoot, tulle dress in the park, pretty updo, glamour makeup, big hair, balloons, stuart florida, martin county, stuart, florida, jensen beach, linifotto, beauty and the beach photography, karissa ferguson, donna devlin, hmua, handmade evening dress, handmade tulle dress, handmade corset, treasure coast, treasure coast florida, tcf, psl, port st lucie, fun photography, female photographer, idea for beauty shoot, ideas for glamour shoot, pretty muse, pretty muse photography, lj masty

Sneak Peek - The Red Dress

Here's a little peek at the shoot we just wrapped last night with model Karissa Ferguson and hair and makeup artist Donna Devlin.

The dress was designed and made by me.  Every single girl I've shown this dress to has swooned, moaned and groaned that they want to wear it.  Well, that's why I made it, so any woman can be photographed in it.  It has over 120 feet of tulle fabric and well over 200 yards of tulle strips and then there's a monster slip underneath it all, so it's a BIG dress with lots of romantic attitude, just waiting for the next client to put her on.  Is that you?

Meanwhile, the post to the shoot will be up very shortly along with the video.  ;)

Here's a BTS shot of Donna refreshing Karissa's makeup.

Lindsay LaSalla

This is Lindsay LaSalla, she's a new hair and makeup artist in South Florida.   After working with her on the Shay Hummel (see link below) boudoir shoot we just wanted to get to know her better because this girl is amazing.   So we invited her for a shoot and asked her for a little interview.  (Check out her video of this shoot! See below)

For this shoot we went for an old Hollywood vibe.  The goal was to add another shoot to the Chicks with Bow series but the red bow kinda disappeared when this bombshell took the stage, so I thought forget the bow!  So it's there if you look hard....but I understand if you don't notice.  :D

Lindsay's video of our shoot:  http://animoto.com/play/iIIonswKzGR0VrjkdcBAfg

I asked Lindsay some questions.  What's the best part of giving people makeovers? The best part of giving people makeovers is me feeling the goodness of how good they feel after their all made up. Its just like if you had a girls day and got a facial, nails done, hair done, did your makeup, got all sexy to go for a night out. The feeling after getting all the girly stuff done is amazing!! 

Do you like doing makeup more than hair?  I am torn between which I love more makeup or hair but if I absolutely had to choose it would be makeup over lets say hair cutting. But when it comes to coloring hair I love it just as much! I love anything that has to do with color...it makes all the difference.

Would you share a cool tip for our readers?  A good tip is if your trying to hide a bigger nose, I always put a cream highlighter right in the crease of your outer nostril and cheek. It makes your cheeks look a little plumper and it hides your nose! I also like to put a little highlighter over my concealer in the inner corners the eye. It really helps with the dark circles!  (Ohhhh, good tip!!!)

What was it like doing Fashion Week in Miami?  Fashion week in Miami was a great experience. I loved how you sat and waited on all the models to get to your chair all day but 10 minutes before the show was on they all show up lol!! It definitely was a lot of fun though and a great accomplishment. 

What do most girls do or don't do that would really help them with the makeup? Most people to me don't understand that whenever you put a cream base on your face such as foundation, concealer, cream blush, cream highlighter...You should always powder after or else the makeup will just move and slide right out of where you placed it. I suggest anything from a translucent powder or even a foundation powder for more coverage!  (Oh!  Another excellent tip!)

What's it like modeling for Pretty Muse?  Modeling for pretty muse was amazing! I felt so comfortable and could be myself. Knowing it was my first photo shoot, I didn't feel nervous at all and that has a lot to do with the environment and people your around. Pretty Muse made me feel right at home and I think that is what makes Pretty Muse's work one of a kind!  (Thank you Lindsay, we know it's important to get people to relax and show them how to move in and out of poses and even when to look somber or silly.  But you were absolutely fabulous girl!)

What got you into hair and makeup?   I always loved doing other people's hair and makeup if they were going out. I wanted to expand on it and learn more. Attending Cosmix School of Makeup Artistry taught me that there is so much more than just beauty makeup. You can do so much more with it like special effects, airbrushing, body art, face painting, bridal, high fashion...Once I learned how fascinating makeup was I thought to myself the more under my belt the better. Why wouldn't I love doing hair to? Now involved in Cosmetology school I found that I do love it, and as long as your doing something you love its never another day of work in your life. 

One of the things I like about working with Lindsay is how calming she is to everyone around her.  She has that touch that I want from a HMUA, someone gentle yet confident.  Soothing and like a spa on legs. Lol.  No seriously she clearly LOVES what she's doing and it shows.  Her attention to detail is impeccable.  She cares a great deal that everything is exactly as I want it.  Now, having her as a model was a double surprise, she really has something special that the camera loves.  Thank you Lindsay, looking forward to our next shoot together!  And you can tell any photographer that I can't recommend you higher.  You are top notch and going places!!!!

If you'd like to see more of Lindsay's work please visit her at:
www.wix.com/lindsaylasalla/makeupbyll

Her video of our shoot:  http://animoto.com/play/iIIonswKzGR0VrjkdcBAfg

Would you like to see Shay Hummel's shoot?  http://beautyandthebeachphotography.blogspot.com/2012/07/shays-bourdoir-shoot.html





Keywords:
South Florida HMUA, Treasure Coast HMUA, hair and makeup artist, Treasure Coast Beauty Photographer, stuart florida photographer, beauty photographer stuart, lindsay lasalla, martin country beauty photographer, cool new photographers stuart florida, cool new martin county photographers, linifotto, beauty and the beach photography, beauty & the beach photography, glamour photography, old hollywood vibe, old hollywood glamour

Teaser - Lindsay LaSalla

Here's a sneak peek at our upcoming shoot and interview of new hair and makeup artist Lindsay LaSalla.  We did a little old Hollywood Glam look and wow!!!  Stay tuned!