Well the 1-day workshop is over, what a great group of people–one team, one great effort! We kept everything small on purpose as we did this one at home, normally my workshops have at least five models, but it worked even with replacing a model at the last minute that failed to show. That’s why a list of great team members, like models, assistants and stylists are important–you never know when Murphy will hit.
Claudia, Lola and Devon were wonderful models along with Wendy for make-up too! I’ve worked with many, many make-up artists over the years, and very few are as wonderful and professional as Wendy. Elise, Kelly, Travis and Stephanie are others I’ll tip my hat for too–few cut the mustard! I expect my make-up artists to be professionals, not act professional. If I want an actor I’ll go to the local drama club. Many MUA’s, as they are known in this business, often have a false-sense about their role and often forget that while an MUA can make a model look good, great post-production can make an MUA look better.
Ultimately it’s a combination of talents, great photography, great models, great assistants, great MUA’s, the latter are scarce, sometimes, just when you think you have found one you like and have helped out tremendously, you learn they have another side and just mark them off the list.
Sometimes hairstylists can be the same. I once had a hairstylist, a male, who would never put the toilet seat down–and when you live in a house full of girls, that’s a no-no. I warned and warned him, finally one day I said enough is enough, now he’s history, and that was after a cover shoot. I had one MUA who argued unprofessionally in front of my clients with my paid talent once, well she’s history too–more her choice then mine because she failed to understand she was unprofessional with paying clients. It’s always about professionalism, not who wins or who is right–ultimately it’s art, but art doesn’t pay for the groceries, so as a photographer you must remember, it’s a business too.
Many employees can become complacent in this business, often that leads to departures, some are done gracefully, others are done unprofessionally and hastily by the hired-help themselves, but what many fail to realize, this is a very small industry and you do nothing good, but harm yourself. Again, I’ve had some great talent work for me, and then I’ve had what I thought was great talent turn into unprofessionals because they soon thought the only person that mattered was themselves, they forgot there is no “I” in team.
I close by quoting Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, “Shit happens. Bad Shit happens. When it does, there are two options. Cry over it and do nothing or recognize the problem and do the best you possibly can to not only fix it, but make the entire organization stronger…Calamity can be a catalyst for significant change.”
Wishing you the best, more soon, rg sends!
