Sure there’s little blurbs on our site. But here’s some things maybe you didn’t know, that could help you to know us better:
My wife, Jojo is an award winning makeup artist from Guangzhou, China and does the makeup for most of my sessions. In China, she studied makeup at Beauty Tech Makeup school and worked on several film and many TV productions (Let The Bullets Fly and Conspirators). Later, she attended at Cinema Makeup School here in L.A. (where we initially met), where she built upon the knowledge and experience she had in China. Almost 3 years ago, she won 1st place IMATS Battle of the Brushes, an international makeup competition, in the Character/Prosthetic division. Needless to say, I am very proud of her!
More recently, Jojo is CEO of OA Makeup in Guangzhou, a SFX makeup school she founded last year. This is a bit rough as she’s away a lot, making sure everything is running smoothly on the other side of the world. Jojo will be there to make you look your best and get you ready for the camera! You can even see a number of her portraits by Michael on our site, included the home page. On the occasion that she may not be available for your shoot, we have a number of amazing artists that I’ve personally trained that will take care of you.
Me? I’ve been a photographer in Los Angeles for nearly 30 years. I specialize in photography of women, but have done everything from baby and children’s photography, to actor’s headshot, to weddings. Over time, I decided the area that brings me the most joy, and I feel I excel at is Boudoir. This is what I specialize in!
Things you probably didn’t know- I have one son, who is 21 and in his senior year of college. I grew up in New Jersey, and had a newspaper route to earn money from 11-16 years old. Besides being a Boudoir Photographer, I am also a makeup artists with multiple "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Makeup" EMMY and "Best Makeup" CABLE ACE Award nominations, I worked on Terminator 2, Return of the Living Dead, Iron Man 3, and multiple nominations for HBO’s Tales From The Crypt.
I’ve written 6 books on Makeup, including the popular Monstrous Makeup Manual Series and 3 textbooks for Cinema Makeup School, where I served as Chief Academic Officer for many years. I started my makeup career at a haunted house called The Brigantine Castle in 1978, and still love the haunted house business! I studied Hapkido (Korean martial art) for 20 years. Oh- and I was a professional Magician and performed on the stages of several of the Atlantic City casinos.
I guess creating illusion is the thing that ties everything together- in the movies, illusions of creatures and fx, and on stage as a magician. With photography, I use light to create a mood, as well as sculpt the face and figure. Using proper makeup to perfect the facial features. Experience, to know how to put our clients at ease, so the subjects not only appears confident, they are confident, they feel sexy, and they HAVE FUN. Finally, using the right amount of photo enhancement through Lightroom and Photoshop to perfect the images. All these things come together to make your images look spectacular.
Whenever you do business with someone, I feel it's good to know a little bit about them. I hope this helps you to know us a bit better! :)
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