Photo Session Styling Secrets: Hair with Joshua Hohweiler

I’m finishing up the final edits to a session I did a while back at a warehouse location (that just happens to be a favorite of mine), and I’m reminded of a post that I’ve been meaning to share.  It’s a styling tips and tricks of sorts… and its name is Drybar… (btw, this is a completely unendorsed post).

Clearly, technique, lighting, posing and experience are the obvious necessities to creating a beautifully composed image, but one, often overlooked, component is styling.  In my experience, the styling that goes into a session is actually incredibly important in helping me achieve the overall image quality I want.  Unfortunately for me, I’m a guy, with no skills in this area.  (Little known fact:  My wife, Mrs. Gatsby, tends to do the majority of the clothing styling for our shoots… but where it comes to MUAH “Makeup and Hair,” Mrs. Gatsby says she’s out of her element.)

When I’m working on a larger planned shoot, I tend to bring in an onsite stylist to handle hair and makeup (Sidebar: For shoots with children, we don’t use any makeup; in my opinion, they show up much better in camera with the natural glow their skin already has.).  For smaller shoots, where budget is more of a concern, or for more impromptu shoots I turn to my not so secret, secret… Drybar.

Drybar is simply what the name describes, a styling bar.  They have a menu of hairstyles you can choose from if you don’t have a pre-determined look you’re going for, or, like I typically do, you can bring in a photo of a hairstyle you’ve pre-selected to fit the theme of the shoot.  It’s a much more cost-effective approach to getting a fully styled look, and in my opinion, a much more polished image.  It really is all in the details, and it doesn’t have to cost a fortune to address those details.  (Sidebar: There are many different chains offering these styling services, so I’m sure if there isn’t a Drybar in your area, there’s probably something similar).

Now, back to the session I’m finishing up.  We chose (or I should say, Mrs. Gastby, chose) an airy Tutu Du Monde dress and paired it with a blush floral crown for the shoot.  The blush pink hues really worked well with our model, Kennedy’s, olive skin tone and dark hair, and our Drybar stylist did a beautiful job of working the floral crown into the long curls we wanted for the shoot.  Here are a few of my favorite images from this session edited with actions from the Innocence Collection.

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