The various goings-on of media makeup artist Tania D. Russell. Tania is based in Los Angeles, and works in LA, San Francisco and wherever else this wacky world may take her…
Fabulous Beauty/Commercial photographer, Richard Radstone is turning his finely tuned eye towards directing and invited me to work on a part of his project. This is a small part of a larger whole that he is putting together for his Director’s Reel. It was shot in HD… makeup and hair by moi
Hello hello, long time no write. It’s not been for lack things to write about, trust me, but I’m in good ole “Waiting for Pictures” mode. I worked straight through the holidays and will have a lot of groovy stuff to share in the coming months.
In the meantime, something I shot clear at the end of 2008 for designer Susana Mercedes is now in use on the designers’ website. I worked as a pinch-hit replacement for a last minute shoot and look at those results! Great team, and I had a great time. There are several different shoots on the site, but I had the pleasure of working on the shoot from which all of the opening shots are taken
Also on the exciting tip is I am now proudly represented by Ennis, Inc.. Ennis has been in the industry for quite some time with offices in New York, Boston and Los Angeles and servicing clients around the Globe. I’m very proud and happy to be included amongst such a talented roster and very excited for the coming new year.
Here’s to a Happy and Prosperous New Year for everyone!
Haven’t been able to post to much because I’ve been waiting for images, etc. These are from a recent portraiture session with one of my favorite photographers. I had the pleasure of working with actress Elise Neal right before the Daytime Emmy awards.
This is one shot from a fun shoot I did a while ago for the service Apartment.com . These ads are geared towards property owners/trade magazines, so you won’t see them in your local mags…
The third of the three designers whose advertising campaigns I recently worked on is now out. Like Duh is a very cute t-shirt line started by teen model and designer Rebekah A. She’s already got herself a celebrity following (see on her site) and is apparently on route to stores soon!
Then I recently did work for the store and online catalog for E.K. Clothing which offers specialty clothing for dancers, and in particular the latin american/salsa dance crowd. Visit e.k. clothing to see more of our shots (note I only did the shots with the fabulous Kirby, who is the african american model on the site). E. K. Clothing is only a couple of years old and has already had to move into larger digs for their brick-and-mortar store so sounds like this young designer/owner is on her way up as well.
Beauty Schooled is a fab beauty blog founded by Ms. Rashida B. - aesthetician and eyebrow artist extraordinare. The focus of BeautySchooled is, as the name implies, continued education and learning resources for professionals in the salon and media ends of the Beauty Biz. It’s a great blog. One of the main features of the blog are interviews with professionals in various aspects of the biz and she was so kind as to include me as one of her interviews! Check out the interview here:
Been working on advertising for some local designers. It’s so exciting to see great fashion originating here in Los Angeles, and both lines are owned and designed by women.
The first shoot is for the vintage/antique clothing store Parker Petit (located in Venice, CA).
Can’t quite show the clothes on Popomomo just yet as the ads have yet to come out. Even with the close-ups, however, you can see the two designers couldn’t be more different from one another which is the joy of working on these kinds of projects. I get to try out all types of newfangled ideas and tricks! Makeup and hair by moi on both.
Actually, I have a 3rd designer I did some work for that I’ll post when I get the All Clear. Also a female designer. Sistas are doin’ it for themselves…
Ah Heeb…Heeb, Heeb, Heeb you little vantz you, stirring up trouble yet again. And how did a Nice Black Girl like myself become involved in all of this? Well, because I said yes to a photo shoot with Roseanne.
I said yes, because I LOVE Roseanne. She’s not perfect, and I don’t always agree with her but I do think she’s one of the more important celebs to happen in my time. So I said yes. And then I found out the concept of the shoot. Ah boy Heeb… you’ve gone and done it this time. I was involved in two previous minor-ly controversial Heeb photoshoots (Bob Saget reading “Diary of Anne Frank” to two little girls for Heeb’s Kid Issue, and the Sarah Silverman’s cover shoot - a play on the myth of the fornication sheet - for the Sex issue), but to say this one tops the cake would be an understatement. Once I found out our concept, I knew this one was going to be off the richter scale.
Not only have there been non-stop comments at the Heeb site that prompted the Publisher to make a statement about the photos, the controversy actually made it to national TV when Extra had a feature about the photos
Who is to say whether or not a lot of people will ever entirely understand where she was coming from, or why she did the shoot. For myself, I could understand the intentions of the shoot and definitely the vibe on the shoot itself was one of serious lampooning and clowning (and no, those cookies were nowhere NEAR edible!). Much as Mel Brooks entire career was to use comedy to look at painful past events, I saw this shoot as doing the same. As someone whose own cultural history is complicated and often difficult, I admire Heeb’s stance of not shying away from topics that make us uncomfortable. All the world’s “isms” may look different but they are all - alas - still there, so, for one, am happy that there are artists still willing to look at these issues and magazines still willing to give these artists a place to be seen and heard.
EDIT: There’s a more thoughtful discussion of it on The View
Bill O’Reilly apparently discusses the shoot as well, but I won’t be watching much less embedding his comments on the matter…
A book I worked on is now out in stores. Actually, it’s apparently been out for a while, I just had no idea. LOL! Apparently there was a book signing and everything. LOL!
Curves Rule and Flat is Fabulous - is the book and here’s a little news feature that happened here on one of the Los Angeles morning shows
I didn’t work on the news segment, but I did all the makeup and hair for all the portraits in the book. Let’s hope I got a mention … I gotta track down a copy off Amazon and see…