My makeup muscles are tired!

This year has been makeup madness, here are a few pictures to show what's been keeping me so busy with brushes in my hand... not to mention all the work I did on Jozi's Next Super Model which I'm not allowed to upload as of yet before the show airs. Please Note: None of these photographs were taken by MissFitz Studio, but individually creditted back to the photographer of said images.

Jackie Van Staden for Tegan Leigh and Storm Thomas' Wedding in February...

Nola Schreuder photographed by Nicholas Goldsworthy of NGD Photography

Roxanne Meiring for a modern pin-up shoot with Nicholas Goldsworthy of NGD Photography

Megan for a test shoot with Nicholas Goldsworthy of NGD Photography

Ceri-Leigh with a shoot with Graphic Art

Lara for a shoot with Turtlephin Photography

Beauty Files Shoot with Ana shot by the one and only Sinforme Industries

Modern Pin Up Shoot with Caylin by Nicholas Goldsworthy of NGD Photography

Water Shoot with Kirsten, shot by Nicholas Goldsworthy of NGD Photography

Modern Pin Up Shoot with Caylin by Nicholas Goldsworthy of NGD Photography

There you have it, a couple of images of what I've been up to with my makeup brushes... there are loads more but I simply don't have time to wait for them to upload! Maybe some more later :)

Peace love and cupcakes,

Flea

Magnificent Mashadi

I had the pleasure of getting to play with the one and only Mashadi Motsogi in my studio on Sunday also with Liam Fagan, here are some of the results. Makeup by Missfitz Studio and shot by myself too!

Some beauty shots with Liam :)

So I've been slowly working on my beauty makeup portfolio, trying to shoot it myself and getting some help here and there from an awesomely amazing photographer who doesn't do beauty shots often but does them so well, Liam Fagan, of Sinforme Industries!
Here is some of my makeup and his wonderful photography... I think he should do beauty work more often :)
Sinforme Industries       

I also managed to break in my new MAC Cosmestics products, lots of fun on these shoots shot at my studio in Bedfordview!

Model: Ana
Makeup: www.missfitzstudio.co.za

Photography: http://sinformeindustries.daportfolio.com/

Model: Carissa Webster
Makeup: www.missfitzstudio.co.za

Photography: http://sinformeindustries.daportfolio.com/

Model: Carissa Webster
Makeup: www.missfitzstudio.co.za

Photography: http://sinformeindustries.daportfolio.com/

Model: Ana
Makeup: www.missfitzstudio.co.za

Photography: http://sinformeindustries.daportfolio.com/

We have done quite a lot of work together, and I'm sure I will post more work as we get onto to all our editing!

Pout out,

Flea,

MissFitz Studio

Working for free... TFCD and my shit experiences!

“Looking for photographers/makeup artists looking to expand
their portfolios and get great exposure… for xyz publication”

This has to be one of the most frustrating things as a
makeup artist and photographer, although I’m learning it is a big part of the
business and a big reason why the “business” is not a majorly profitable one,
or a get rich quick job as a lot of people seem to think it is.

I have even fallen for certain advertisements like this, to
work for free in order for exposure, but in reality, I know that deep down
inside, I just shouldn’t be doing it, at all. And as such, I have now  become extremely picky about “working for
free” or as people like sugar coat it “TFCD”. I am sick to death of delivering
top quality work and never getting anything in return. I have agreed to work
for exposure on my makeup once more at the end of this month and that will
surely be my last month of working for free. Exposure, my friends, will not pay
the bills, however good, hard cash in your bank account will definitely pay one
or two bills, or Edgars store accounts from the latest shopping spree at MAC.

For example, sometime in October, one of South Africa’s
extremely talented photographers (in my opinion) asked me to come and do a TFCD
with three very credible models that are all signed to great agencies and have
done a lot of high quality work. After the shoot, I emailed him and thanked him
for such a great opportunity and to no avail, had absolutely no response, I tried
sms’s, emails, messages on Facebook but to no avail and I left it for a while. In
the past 3 weeks or so, I sent him an email asking why I hadn’t heard back from
him as it felt like he was avoiding me. I know the crap that comes with doing
TFCD shoots as a photographer, and I understand, he may not have even opened
the RAW files on his pc, but I just wanted to be informed about what was
actually going on with these said images that I had given my time, kit and
petrol to work on.

He did reply, I was shocked, and said that all the images he
had edited were on his facebook page. I didn’t respond to this as I thought
that was shocking, that he couldn’t take 2 minutes out of his day to email them
to me before uploading them to a social network and secondly if he could only
upload them and for whatever reason had forgotten  my email address, why the hell did he not tag
me in the said images that he had uploaded on facebook? It takes about 2
seconds per photograph, and I spend at least three hours doing the three models
makeup. Frustrating ethics indeed, for someone who is so good at their craft. Writing
this now, I think I may just go and tag myself in these images and then at
least I have some sort of “credit”.

Working for free for publications – free publications and
why I think its bullshit. Once I had bought my new set of lights last year, I decided
I needed to test these bad boys out, and as it was towards the end of the year
all my general culprits and guinea pigs were busy with exams, on holiday, or
for whatever reason unavailable at that moment in time. I had received an email
from the acting “manager” of photography of LT Mag and asked me if I’d be
interested in shooting a band from Edenvale for their publication. I agreed,
and I continued chatting to this guy about the what the publication would like
from this particular shoot and he told me not to worry, as he would tag along
and make sure we got the desired shots.

Anyway, long story short, the band had arrived at the said
time that they were meant to be at my studio, along with their own manager. They
were just as clueless as me as to what the publication wanted out of the
magazine, and they thought I was already briefed, and I thought that they would
have already been briefed, but neither of us were briefed about this shoot as
the acting “manager” of the publication was absent, nowhere to be seen and had
somewhat vanished off the face of the earth, and had not given us any contact
details for himself other than… an email address.

This was on a Sunday afternoon, so I wanted to get out of
the studio and back to my life as soon as possible. Did a couple of happy
snappies in the studio, played outside with some natural light and voila we were
done.

Then it came to be new year, and I had still NOT heard from
the acting “manager” of photography of the magazine, so I still hadn’t bothered
to edit these images. And the second week in January, this guy emails me saying
he needs the images urgently as the publication requires them. I then informed
him of how upset I was with the unprofessionalism he had shown by saying he would
have been there and for whatever reason didn’t have the decency to at least
phone/email/sms/send a carrier pidgin to explain that he would not attend, and
then brief me on what was required. So on this email, I asked him what format
does he require the edited images in, what size does he require the edited
images to be, what method must I get these images to him and lastly – how many
images of the band does he require.

He replied and told me, but I in the mean time had 7 paid
model portfolios, all were my gold and platinum packages which require at least
more than 20 edited images to be sent to the client within 3 weeks of the
shoot, obviously, you can image what my priority was, and as such it upset the
magazine staff even more to which the editor emailed me and asked me what was
going on, she was under the impression that the acting “manager” had taken the
photographs and somehow I’d taken them off him and she wanted to know what the
story was. It turned out that he wanted to use MY images and have himself credited
as the photographer of the images. In all honesty, the images were terrible,
and I’m rather embarrassed about the quality of them and would prefer them to
not be published under my name but, yes, they are MY images and not this acting
“manager” of photography at said publication of the time.

After I had explained the situation to the editor, who is
such a darling, and has to deal with this crap all the time *takes hat off to
Roz!*, he proceeded to delete me off Facebook, as his ego must have been bruised
somewhat by the fact that his stupid scheme had come out that he is actually
such a shit photographer he has to use someone elses images to credit himself
in a free publication.

What I learnt from that drama was that firstly, if someone
is working under an editor for a free publication and do I happen to offer my
services I will make sure that I speak to the editor before, and after the
shoot to confirm this person “working” under them is actually doing their job
correctly and not just trying to get their grubby little paws on my RAW images.

The world is going crazy for “free” work, but then again, so
is the gold price. Work for gold, it will put lots of food on your table.

Until then, don’t work for too much exposure!

Flea

oooh busy-ness!!!!! -.-

February came around in no time, and has flown before my eyes. Yes, I am aware it is the shortest month of them all, but seriously!? I've had absolutely no time for myself! ha ha I am exhausted as I type this little blog post, because I feel like I have been neglecting my online prescense recently, and thought I better mark my territory online, especially in honour of finally buying my own domain and domain email addresses this week! And a wee little break to Cape Town on Sunday for some chill time! Wohoo!

From starting filming of Jozi's Next Super Model with Model TV, to my personal projects, learning how to airbrush and body paint and makeup for other fabulous people like Graphic Art Photography, NGD Photography & Turtlephin Photography. WHERE HAS MY "ME" TIME DISAPPEARED TO?!

I cannot complain really, I've had a great month. I kicked off my "Beauty Files" project and have had a couple of paid shoots in between, always nice to have paid shoots, it makes me feel like I'm doing something right :)

Sooo, since I have been neglecting my blog the priveledge of having images up... here is some recent work from the past 2 months!

Would love to hear all your thoughts :)

Caylin Anderson - "Beauty Files"

Makeup & Photography by missfitz

Stacey Lee - "Beauty Files"

Makeup & Photography by missfitz

Leigh - "Beauty Files"

Makeup & Photography by missfitz

Maxine - "Beauty Files"

Makeup & Photography by missfitz

That's all for now, once I'm back from Cape Town next Wednesday I have Beauty Files shoots coming out my ears, so I will keep the web posted with my latest work!!

And one updated picture of me :O only taken cos they needed it for some work I've done for an online magazine! ha ha...

Peace, love & Cupcakes

Flea

xxx 

Rub me the wrong way?

Anyone that knows me in the industry know that I can't stand the whole TFCD thing... but sometimes it has to be done, if its done correctly.

Saw this really awesome profile on modelbase, and they posted a bulletin saying:
"Hey guys, Check out my profile.. Keen on some new photographs done. Let me know If anyone is interested :) "

This girl had a decent portfolio and had a decent look, but clearly as we unfortunately learn so often in this industry - NEVER JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER...

Anyway, back to my story... I thought she had a decent look for an idea I've been dying to try for a long time now so I sent her a message it said:

"Hiya!
Saw your post... dont know if you'd be keen to work with me but I'm in Bedfordview and looking to revamp my beauty portfolio especially for my makeup side of things.
Drop me a mail if you wanna join me :)
[insert my email here...]

Enjoy the rest of your day

Fi "               

Then she does email me and it says:

"Hi there,

Thanks so much for contacting me,

I would love to work with you, Just to make things clear
in the beginning, I don't do TFCD shoots because my time is very limited at the
moment.

Would you still be interested to shoot for a reasonable
price?

[insert models name here]"

So, this actually irritated me, no where on her post did it say that she wanted paid shoots but anyway I think I responded friendly enough to her question. I refuse to pay models for pictures as its my time, my makeup, my ideas that they will get paid to receive... anyone who has worked with me before knows this. In my opinion the only person who wins when it comes to TFCD is first the model, second the photographer and third the makeup artist.

My response read:

"Hiya,

I don't do TFCD's either recently as this is a living not
a hobby nor pocket money, just wanted to revamp my portfolio especially for my
makeup as I am in the processing of being signed to 3 different agencies and
want my beauty portfolio to be made over.

No worries.

Good luck!

Regards,

Fi"

Which I think was a semi-justified response to the email where a model is trying to give me shit about not having time. I wrote the bloody book about not having time to respond and so she mailed me back with a simple: "Oh so did you want me to pay you? Haha"

Which I justifed back to her that NO, I offered a shoot for one of my ideas which is going to be for my major makeover to my beauty and makeup portfolio in which I'm looking at using for applying to agencies. Haven't received a response yet - but I'd love to know if I am in the wrong here for stating that I will not pay to use her?

Grr... She seriously rubbed me up the wrong way. Frustrating!

All for now,

A Very Frustrated Flea

2011 is rocking!

I ended off the year last year with my makeup work at an awesome little spot doing makeup for 2 girls and 1 guy which was to be shot by the awesome Mo from SAMOKA Photography. We had a seriously grunge feel to what we shot, so it was hectic makeup for both the girls and boy - which was an experience for this guy... Never having worn makeup before!
I laugh so hard everytime I steal a guys makeup virginity... Its the most amusing thing putting brushes to their faces, when that doesn't phase the girls much at all, it really bothers and tickles their faces. Very cute, but very sadistic of me in a sick way, but it is amusing to watch... Look out for it next time, the faces they pull are rather hilarious!
I then hung up my brushes for a small break, as I did work my butt off with my makeup and photography last year - amongst all the other things I have on my plate. I had a small 10 day break in Cape Town with my gorgeous boyfriend and one of our friends George. Was an absolutely fabulous holiday... We arrived back in Johannesburg at about 5:30pm after leaving Cape Town at 3am in the morning and having, as Jamiroquai would call it... a white knuckle ride. We dodged a few bullets because my Brett's car is a little bit sick - actually its in need of triple bypass but she did us well to get us back home safely.
Cape Town was absolutely beautiful weather, we were super spoilt! If I could pack Brett up with me, I would move down there in a heartbeat... I mean I've even got my accomodation and work sorted down there!
Back to business now though, lots of great and exciting projects lined up. And I am pretty fully booked until March with makeup jobs as well the odd photography job/ model portfolio in the studio here.
So stoked for all the possibilites that are lined up my way this year, not to even mention how excited I get whenever I think about doing the makeup for Jozi's Next Top Model - starting sometime in February.

Gotta get back to this workload, as soon as I figure it out I need to spam my own blog with some updated images of EVERYTHING I've been busy with - but since upgrading to IE9 I have no idea how to!
Peace, love & cupcakes
Flea