Let's Hear It for MUAs and Hair Stylists!

If there's one thing that will--just about always--take your glamour images to the next level, it's great MUAs and hair stylists! A lot of times, the MUA and hair stylist are one and the same person and that makes them an even greater asset to your team because that's just one person getting one paycheck instead of two getting two... I mean two, each getting one. You know what I mean.

I don't care how clever you are with lighting, how brilliantly you direct the model, or even--at times--how smokin' hot your model might be. Nothing, and I mean nothing, will improve your images more than MUAs and hair stylists who are on their game. That's not to say there aren't models who are just about as competent doing their own hair and makeup as a whole lot of MUAs and hair stylists, there are. But, mostly, they're not. And if you really want to capture images that stand out, "just about as competent" doesn't cut it.

You know what makes MUAs even greater? They contribute so much to your images and yet YOU (or ME), i.e., the SHOOTER, gets the lion's share of the credit! How cool is that? Well, for us, the shooters, I mean. Ya gotta love when that happens even if it doesn't seem fair.

Check it out-- A hot and experienced model shows up, the MUA works her fantastic magic on the model's already beautiful face and she or he provocatively styles her mane. I, we, the shooters, set up a few lights, sip some coffee or a Coke, take some readings, and decide what music to put on the CD player. Finally, the smokin' hot model who now, thanks to the MUA, is even more smokin' and more hot gets in front of the camera. I, we, say, "Say cheese," and BAM! Our clients are all patting us on the backs and telling us what great shooters we are as they write the check. How cool is that?

Okay, maybe, at least in my case, I don't actually say, "Say cheese," unless I'm acting like the village idiot which I sometimes am... I mean I sometimes do. And maybe there's a little more to my job than those few things I mentioned. And maybe I still have to chase my clients for that check. But you get my point, right? I get most of the credit for other peoples contributions and, so often, the biggest contributor was that gal or guy with the make-up box, the brushes, the hair rollers, the bottles and jars and vials and cans of this and that, and the keen eye and gifted skills.

In a perfect world, shooters would get a little less credit for their best images when an MUAs hand was in the mix. Or, at the very least, MUAs would get more credit. But it ain't a perfect world. And, I suppose, from where shooters sit, right or wrong, that's a pretty good thing.

The smokin' hot model you were ogling in this post is Charmane. The keen and gifted MUA who also did Charmane's hair (which I kind of messed up with my Stanley Tools wind machine) and who didn't get as much credit as she deserved as well as only earning one check (I got most of the credit and Charmane got most of the dough) was Terese Heddon.