Last Saturday I had a shoot with Shannon Brooke of Shannon Brooke Imagery, with makeup and hair by the talented Jennifer Corona. If you haven’t looked at either of their portfolios, I recommend it because these are some up and coming women in their fields and I guarantee you’re going to see their names more often!

We met Saturday morning at cbarnes photography’s studio in a warehouse near the St. Louis Botanical Gardens, and lots of cool lofts. My husband came with me because he was interested to see Shannon work, and to help me carry everything! I also had him take the camera phone photos I have for you. I showed Shannon the wardrobe I brought with me, then she and Jennifer planned out what I would wear for each set. Then while Jennifer started my makeup, Shannon ran around getting props positioned. Her excitement and enthusiasm instantly took away any nervousness I had.

Shannon gave us the latest issue of Deadbeat magazine to flip though during makeup and hair. It’s like Juxtapoz crossed with a kustom kulture magazine, covering art, tattoos, pin up and  hot rods. She and Jennifer often work on the magazine’s shoots together.

I was really impressed with how prepared these ladies were for the shoot. We’d had a good conversation via email before the shoot, and while we were working she mentioned that she had a spreadsheet with ideas for each girl she was shooting in St. Louis. I love that she treats her pinup clients as well as her commercial and editorial clients. That to me is the sign of a real professional. When she’s shooting pinup clients, she only shoots 3 girls a day at the most, so she puts a lot of thought into each model’s shoot.

I had a great time talking with Jennifer during makeup and hair. She didn’t just train to be a makeup artist, she’s trained to do special effects makeup for film! It was cool talking to her about being a woman trying to break into that industry, because there aren’t many. She points to special effects makeup artist Ve Neill as one of her idols.

Jennifer uses the Temptu airbrush foundation system, which is something I’d never experienced before. She airbrushed my entire face, then used a second color to contour. It doesn’t require blending when done correctly and feels so light on the skin. I wore it the rest of the day, and upon returning to Kansas City at 1:30 a.m., the foundation was still as fresh as when she applied it. No caking, no settling into creases. Totally amazing. Even the Sephora employees at West County Center were impressed when I was in there dropping a little cash later in the day.

I felt relaxed working with these ladies right away, and shooting was really fun. Shannon’s approach to the shoot was really refreshing. The studio space provided a clean backdrop which we used several different ways, incorporating props or just the architecture itself.

I really enjoyed meeting these ladies and look forward to following their successes. Now I am left with the difficult task of figuring out what photos to have edited! I did a preliminary pick last night, but I like to get away from them for a few days and return with fresh eyes. There are so many good ones, I think I’ll be giving Shannon a lot of work to do! This was such a fun experience, I hope I have the opportunity to hang out with these ladies again someday!