Opinions please

[MisStarrlight]

I'm reorganizing my book & getting a bunch of new pics printed. I have these photos from very early shoots (the ones I did while in school)...I'm torn as to whether or not I should include them with the rest of my book or not. I left them out so far, but I figured now is a good time to revisit them.
I'm getting mixed responses from people in real life so I was wondering what you girlies (and guys, too, of course) thought about them....

(obviously better retouching on this first one)

 

[Beauty Mark]

I like the one with the blonde and the red lips the best. I'm not a fan of the pale lips/eyes look, but that's just a personal opinion. I don't understand the other ones, honestly. I'm not quite sure what you were trying to go for with them.

 

[martygreene]

What's your target audience for your portfolio? That would determine what you put in your book. Looking at these, I'd say only #4 is book worthy, and even that one isn't terribly strong. The brows could use a little work, and the shot itself isn't the best.

 

[MisStarrlight]

As far as what I was going for...the first set was an avant garde type shoot-mermaid/water-ish & the last was mostly a hair project, but Queen of Hearts inspired.

My target audience would be anyone that will frikin pay....pretty much. I'm done with testing & busting my ass for free-honestly, I don't have the time to deal with the bs and the drama involved in getting pics & other related issues (even with a contract it's still driving me nuts)....but yeah, it's mostly fashion-type work that I'm looking for at this point, possibly crossing into some basic Film/TV work so I wanted to show "a variety".

 

[Hilly]

The pale lips and eyes one reminds me of a pic from one of the Bobbi Brown books.
I do like the last and very first pics.

 

[ChrisChick]

Honestly, I probably wouldn't include any. They're not strong and since I'm pretty sure you've been a grad for a while, I'll bet your work has made leaps and bounds since these shots.

What does the rest of your port look like??

 

[faifai]

I like the one with the red lips. I was confused as to what the others were supposed to represent.

And it'd be AMAZING if you and other MUAs here would post images from their portfolios, I've never seen any of martygreene's or Lara's or most other MUAs work either! It's always so fun and informative to see other people's work.

 

[martygreene]

"I'm done with testing"

unfortunately, if this is true then you're also pretty much done with your career. What I think you mean is that you're done doing the internet-famous "trade-for-prints/time" work, and testing down. You need to remember: test up! Don't take a test unless you're getting something for YOUR benefit as well. Not just portfolio, but experience, networking, etc.

 

[MisStarrlight]

Quote:

Originally Posted by martygreene "I'm done with testing" unfortunately, if this is true then you're also pretty much done with your career. What I think you mean is that you're done doing the internet-famous "trade-for-prints/time" work, and testing down. You need to remember: test up! Don't take a test unless you're getting something for YOUR benefit as well. Not just portfolio, but experience, networking, etc.

Yeah, I understand that. You're right in that I just mean that I'm done exclusively testing, it seems that for the past year, unless its a wedding or a prom no one is willing to pay even a kit fee.
I'll always work with friends or on something that I'm interested in/can gain experience from, but I'm done taking every tfp shoot that every shitty photographer wants me to do hair and makeup for....and another thing, I'm a makeup artist, not a hair stylist, so I'm done doing hair too. Every shoot from now on needs to hire a hair person because I feel like it's short-changing my makeup skills/time as well.

(Haha, sorry I just got on a rampage there, I just got home from an actual real-life professional gig & I'm on a kick from that & that way things "should be")

 

[amoona]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MisStarrlight Yeah, I understand that. You're right in that I just mean that I'm done exclusively testing, it seems that for the past year, unless its a wedding or a prom no one is willing to pay even a kit fee. I'll always work with friends or on something that I'm interested in/can gain experience from, but I'm done taking every tfp shoot that every shitty photographer wants me to do hair and makeup for....and another thing, I'm a makeup artist, not a hair stylist, so I'm done doing hair too. Every shoot from now on needs to hire a hair person because I feel like it's short-changing my makeup skills/time as well. (Haha, sorry I just got on a rampage there, I just got home from an actual real-life professional gig & I'm on a kick from that & that way things "should be")

I hear you girl that's why I don't freelance anymore and I'm strickly at the counter. At least I get paid for doing what I love instead of spending money to do what I love. But you're in NYC so you have much more of a chance of getting paid for freelancing. I'd say if you want to add any add the one with the red lips and the last one. I've seen your recent work so I know you've improved drastically (everyone does with time and practice right) so I think it's good to have some of your previous work to show your improvement. Then as you progress and get morework to add you can take those out.

 

[martygreene]

Two things I'm noticing that you're saying which I think are worth bringing up.

First, you mention that no-one wants to pay a kit fee. That's actually 100% correct, unless you're doing SFX work for film or somesuch. The "kit fee" is something which is new, along with all the "tfp" stuff, since the inception of sites like Model Mayhem and the like. If you're testing, you're testing. No money changes hands. Your expenses, the models expenses, and the photographers expenses cancel each other out (and yes, they have expenses too). This is part of why one doesn't accept every test gig presented to them, and why one should always "test up".

The other thing is your comment about hair. The best thing I can reccomend for you is to get some training for light hairstyling. To maximize your appeal, and until you get rich and famous, you run the risk of being overlooked for someone who does hair. You are welcome to make whatever call you wish, but this is my experiance and suggestion.

 

[MisStarrlight]

I guess you're not getting what I'm saying about testing, but I don't know how to explain it otherwise, so I guess we'll agree to disagree on that one (although I'm not sure we're exactly disagreeing...hehehe)

I do have training in hair styling, but it's not my strength or my passion (at this moment). It helps out for things like booking weddings & proms, but for shoots I feel like not having a hair person takes a lot away from the shoot. When it comes down to it, I will do hair because I am not about to let my shots look like crap & I will not let myself loose a paid job simply because of that, but I am becoming much more selective about it all.