News Update

So much going on at the moment. Lots of work projects and also lots of tests cropping up. This always seems to come about towards the end of the year when the industry winds down to a slower pace. I’ve always been a little hesitant to throw myself into testing, but I’ve been lucky enough to be asked by some amazing talent if I’d like to collaborate. I think for now I will have to say no to anymore until the new year so I can concentrate and give my all to the ones I’m currently working on.

I have a conceptual shoot in mind for the New Year, a real fantasy idea based loosely on the works of some of the fantasy artist’s books I collect and drool over. If you have read my interview in NinebyZero Magazine below, you may remember me talking about how I love films with a strong female lead. I can’t say too much at this point as it would give the game away. Amy Finnimore , one of my favourite models I have worked previously with will be the leading lady featured in this shoot. I have worked with Amy a few times now; one of the times was on one of my concept ideas called “Chastity” where I made the costume and headdress. The story behind Chastity was a girl who was trapped in an old ruin searching for the key that would free her from the life’s constraints and find love, (symbolic statement was the chastity belt and padlock she wore, life’s constraints a play on words meaning to change her life for the better). Cruelly tormented by the many keys that lay around her costume, heavy headdress and above her head. The images were shot by Andrew Farrington www.andrewf.com in a secret location in Lancashire!

This year I have been dabbling on and off with photography. It all started when I met a bride who I was doing a wedding trial for, mentioned that she hadn’t had time to source a photographer for the day and it was a matter of a few days before the actual wedding! A moment of madness and sympathy took over and the words just flew out of my mouth “Would you like me to shoot your wedding?” She was delighted and said yes, I have no training in photography at all, just an enthusiastic crazy person with a Nikon D80 and a bunch of lenses. When I returned home, I announced the news to my partner Steve and said “Help! Teach me what you know about the technical side of photography”. Over the next 3 days I practiced like crazy! The morning of the Wedding day my mind went blank, it seemed I’d forgotten everything I had been shown, fear set in and I was feeling sick to my stomach. After the hours drive via the scariest steep roads known to mankind, I arrived trembling at my brides home to do her hair and makeup, then I was taken by family members to the old mill where the ceremony was about to take place. Before the bride entered the room, the registrar announced “Could everyone refrain from taking any shots while the service was in progress” My first thought was, “Oh bugger..eerrrm”.. but after a pregnant pause, she uttered (as if it were an after thought) “Oh, only the designated photographer can take pictures” (Urrg, that would be me then, I thought to myself, and blushed from the impending mind crumbling doom that I had to try and pull off) Long story short (I’ll save the longer version for my book ;) ), it all worked out to be fine, I did panic a little at the start and changed lenses in a panic a few times… See the shots below! The 2nd wedding shot is of my friend and jewellery designer, Carly Petitt Taylor, which leads me into the rest of my photography encounter!.. I also met Carly on a visit to her home for a wedding trial, we got on straight away and found out we had a lot in common, so much so that the trial took 4 hours! She told me all about her career leading up to the present time and how she was a tutor teaching at a University in Manchester. It was nice to talk about jewellery as I also had a stint at making and selling jewellery, but was only self taught and no were near the level of expertise of Carly’s pieces! I mentioned to her that it could be a good idea if we collaborated on a project in the near future. The first shoot we did was for one of her students, also called Carly (Carly Townsend), Miss Townsend was in her final year at Uni and needed some shots taken of her work, they arranged another student to model the work and come to our home for the shoot. Steve originally had planned to take the shots and I would do the hair and makeup, but Steve had been suffering with sciatica that week but still said he would be fine to do the shots! 1 hour before the model was ready to have her pics taken, Steve said, I’m really not going to be able to do it, he was in so much pain her could hardly crack a smile, There was no other option than for me to take over! Steve set up the lighting and set our camera ready to go! For the next few hours, I worked my way directing the model and talking my way through expressions and feelings to draw out emotion and feel, I was exhausted by the end of it, but satisfied! The 2nd Jewellery shoot was of Carly P-T’s work but this time for a fashion editorial in one of Manchesters magazines, www.chimpmagazine.co.uk shot by the lovely Shirlaine Forrest www.shirlainephotos.co.uk The magazine is aimed at showcasing talent in the Manchester area and they wanted to try jewellery this time, perfect, I had to put Carly up for this, the concept was to be done underwater, so Shirlaine teamed up with Orca Divers and Manchester Aquatics Centre – Here’s the behind the scenes video from the shoot shot by Jo, see end of the video for credits.




( I will post another blog soon all about the underwater shoot) The latest shoot with Carly P-T was shot at our home again where I took the shots and did the edit on it also, the model was Amy Finnimore, here are a few of the shots up to now:



I could go on, but will have to continue this later on this week, but I will leave you with a look into tomorrow’s event. My good friend Donna Mills who is a fantastic photographer and zombie enthusiast is getting MARRIED to her beloved Steve Craddock in the worlds first ZOMBIE WEDDING!!!! I have offered to do her makeup as a gift and a SPFX makeup artist from the states will be doing the blood and guts. Really looking forward to it. I will do a full write up with pics after the event!

That’s all for now folks!

Andrea x

My Interview in NinebyZero Magazine - November Issue

The lovely Francesca of NinebyZero Magazine asked me a year ago if I would like to be a featured makeup artist for the month, but at the time I was unable to contribute because I had a lot of projects going on. In a way I'm pleased it happened a year later as I have gained a years worth of amazing collaborations and new challenges to share. I enjoyed the experience of answering the questions Francesca gave me, it really made me think back to the start of my career and how it all came about. I set about constructing my answers in a 2 hour time scale, but as the 2 hour mark approached I looked back and realised I was only a 1/4 way through the questions, I could see this was going to take quite some time. In all, after writing then re writing and adding extra parts to the original version, it took 10 hours to complete!! Since then I've realised there is so much more I could write about, not just talking about cosmetics, but life, career, experiences of the job, pro's, con's and inspirations - The drive that keeps pushing you forward to create something new! NinebyZero magazine is an online, eco friendly format, for Fashion, Beauty, Advice and Lifestyle! Pop over to view the magazine here http://www.ninebyzero.com/ You can also find NinebyZero on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/ninebyzero?ref=ts and Twitter http://twitter.com/ninebyzero add and say hello! Featuring collaborations by the following photographers: Andrew Farrington www.andrewf.com Shirlaine Forrest www.shirlainephotos.co.uk Steve Bevan http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevebevanphotography/ For more news updates and featured artists, follow my blog: http://andreaperrybevan.blogspot.com/ Andrea x

Amazing featured photographers of the day

Just browsing the internet today to see what beautiful images we could find and drool over:

Melvin Sokolsky http://www.sokolsky.com/


Melvin Sokolsky was born and raised in Manhattan's Lower East Side during the lean years of the pre-war era. Here he witnessed the entire spectrum of the human condition played out across a tough and tight-knit community. This experience was countered by a universe of visual riches found in the museums and books he regularly devoured. Melvin spent his days framing and logging precise mental and emotional images long before he had a camera to capture them. At age ten he began taking pictures using a box camera, though he was frustrated by his inability to create prints that had the "nice pearly finish" of his father’s old photos. "It was then that I realized the importance of the emulsion of the day," he recalls. Never satisfied, always questioning, and fiercely creative, young Melvin Sokolsky began to live from one private epiphany to the next.

With no formal training, his photographic education came purely from instinct, desire, and careful observation. Upon learning that photographers could make $4000 for "shooting a box of Jell-O," Sokolsky was seized by visions of a previously unimaginable career path. "The idea of escaping from my tenement dwelling and living by my creative inspirations became a powerful motivator," he notes. He took up an all-consuming regimen of photographic experimentation with a singular focus and determination that have since become his trademark process.

At twenty-one these efforts paid off when he was invited to join the photo staff of Harper's Bazaar by Henry Wolf, the magazine's visionary art director. Though he was learning on his feet, Sokolsky was rebellious by nature and would couple his street smarts with his deeply vivid imagination to challenge the aesthetic conventions of the advertising and editorial worlds. He was friendly but equally competitive with fellow star-photographers of his day, Art Kane and Richard Avedon. This tension contributed greatly to what is now considered the golden age of the American magazine.

The work that put Sokolsky on the map was his 1963 Bubble series in which impeccably dressed models float dreamily over urban land and waterscapes. "I’d have to credit Hieronymus Bosch for those images," he notes, "if you look at his painting The Garden of Earthly Delights you will come across a nude couple in a bubble. That image stayed with me from childhood." This and other wildly inspired fashion editorials caught the eye of many advertising creatives, and soon he was shooting much more than Jell-O. The Digital Journalist states that he was the most successful advertising photographer of the 1960s.

As most advertising work goes uncredited, Sokolsky became known primarily for his groundbreaking editorial work and celebrity portraiture. Drawing upon his fascination with Surrealist art (and encouraged to do so by a visit to his studio from Salvador Dalí), Sokolsky was fearless in upending all notions of scale, proportion, visual rationality, and the laws of physics. Not one to be pinned down to a single style, he was equally comfortable shooting elegant, minimal studies against white backdrops. Regardless of context, Sokolsky’s work always pops and provokes. "Really, I'm only interested in photography as a tool for exploring and visualizing psychological and emotional conditions," he says.

In the 1970s Sokolsky expanded his visual repertoire to film and, fittingly, he moved to Los Angeles. He became a prolific shooter of striking television commercials that bore all the innovation and grammar of his photographic work. He has continued to shoot fashion photography and other editorial assignments, and his work has moved towards an increasingly cinematic style. Sokolsky thinks in big questions that inspire a visceral visual narrative. One hopes that he will bring this skill to the big screen in the form of a feature film, for yet another chapter in his creative evolution.

Melvin Sokolsky is one of the great pioneers in the creation of visual imagery. Admired, awarded, and relentlessly copied, he remains steadfastly ahead of the curve and thoroughly ignited in his seventies. His legacy cemented, Sokolsky is left with a seemingly limitless well of creative energy. One senses several more pages of trailblazing accomplishments being added to this bio.

Sabine Liewald http://www.sabineliewald.com

Chanel Pro Lumiere Review

I decided to try out the Chanel Pro Lumiere foundation in in shade 02- Clair. I have been using it for about 3 weeks now and I have to say I've really fallen in love with the product, and intend getting more shades for my kit.

Here's the description of the product direct from the Chanel site:

This foundation provides you effortless perfection with professional looking results. This breakthrough oil-free formula imparts an unprecedented semi-matte finish that can be blended for a soft, natural look or built up for greater sophistication

Personally for my own skin, I don't like my face to feel weighed down by a product and always go for something that glides onto my skin and doesn't go chalky after a few hours. I have spoken to people in the past who have sworn by a foundation, but to me it's still very heavy and mask like. This foundation gives a semi to full coverage depending on the method of application. My favourite way to use this for myself is to prep my skin with a good water based moisturiser first using a foundatation brush, then using a small amount of the foundation with the same brush as I've used to apply the moisturiser, all over the face in light motions, just to give a natural light finish, then with a smaller brush, take a little more of the foundation and use in the areas that may need extra cover, doing it this way I don't have to resort to any heavy concealers. Finishing off with a very light dusting of traslucent powder to set the makeup. It lasts all day!!

Metallics - Costume Design - Lighting

I recently did a creative shoot with the amazing Andrew Farrington and my partner Steve Bevan as Andrew's assistant. The model here is Janine McCauley from Nemesis Models.

For this shoot I wanted to use alot of Metallics as I knew Andrew would be using some amazing lighting. Steve and I came up with the idea of creating a collar (Ruff) to be a bold statement drawing attention to the face. I like to make the eye makeup a focal point in my work so for this I used a bold colour pallette in shades of bright Green and and highlighted areas with a light reflective pale Blue, using alot of shimmer and glitter to accent the metallics of the costume.

All the parts of the costume are hand made by myself and Steve.

You can see more of this shoot here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/album.php?aid=308953&id=128171355330

Wayne Rooney Street Striker

I was approached a few weeks ago to be the makeup and hair artist for this years Street Striker with Wayne Rooney for Sky1 and Coca-Cola

I have just finished working on the 2nd installment with one more to happen next week, Having a really great time working on this project, everyone is so easy going and friendly on set.