If you are a photographer and you don't know what this acronym is then I am going to tell you! MAKE UP ARTIST. Emphasis on artist. If you are, or would like to be, a professional photographer you need to start working with these incredibly talented people. Sometimes their job reminds me of retouching, they do so much for the photo and process, yet they receive very little credit for what they do.
The other half of this team, and some of them do both, is a hairstylist. They are also unsung heroes of our industry. I've noticed that a good hairstylist will not only make your model look better but they will put them at ease. What better way to start a shoot than to make a beautiful model look even more beautiful and be relaxed?!
I have been blessed to work with a handful of very talented artists and I wanted to take the time to encourage you to do the same. If you want to start elevating what you do as a photographer they can certainly help you do that. It will not only save you time in post production, but it will make your images look better straight out of the camera.
I will mention this below as well, but make sure you do a test shoot if you've never worked with someone before. Not only will it be good to see how your personalities work, but you can see how they work with models and with your team. Lastly, you will be able to see very quickly if they know what they're doing when you see the pictures :)
How do you find a good MUA? Here's how I do it:
1. Model Mayhem - Let me start with a disclaimer, Model Mayhem is not my favorite place to meet other artists, and it can be really sketchy. However, if you're careful, and you screen your contacts it can be a great place to meet models, MUA's, and hairstylists.
2. Your Friends! - A lot of MUA's and hairstylists have normal jobs at salons and such...you probably know one if you really think about it. I will say that just because they do hair/make up doesn't mean they are good for photography, but it can definitely be a good place to start.
3. Facebook - This is probably non conventional, but I have a lot of friends who are already in the industry, so I will post on Facebook and see who's out there...always do a test shoot!
4. Agencies - If you have the budget in your shoot for a MUA you can go to an agency, most modeling agencies will have them on the roster. They will sometimes charge you more for finding them...so if you have one you like just stick with that!
Hope this is helpful, and if you think you can do without these people on your team then you probably won't make it far in the industry. Here are some bts of the awesome people I have worked with...now go be awesome!
P.S. So much love to the awesome ladies below: Ash, Kelly, Missy, Tasha, Lena and Ainsley... and the many I don't have photos of! I owe a lot of my success to you, and I appreciate all of you.
Photo Credit: Scott Jung - soulgrapher.com