7 Hues Beauty

Model: Katherine Schule
Makeup: Becky Rothmaler
Hair: Damian Monzillo
Creative Director: William Mydell
Photographer: Anthony Rhoades

Heidi: Did you pitch them work or was this assigned?
Anthony: I submitted the story as a completed project. When testing, I like to conceptualize a bit beforehand with the team, pitch the idea with a mood board to the modeling agencies and go after publication later in the game—the more eyes on a project the better. I try to create new work as often as possible and editorials allow for more creative control and show my artistic range.

How did the collaboration come about with you and the hair and make up team?
Becky Rothmaler, the makeup artist, had written a kind note to me about my work and inquired about the possibility of collaborating on a project. This happens to me a lot, and generally I take people up on it. I’ve been fortunate enough to work with a variety of talented people. One of the best parts about being in New York City is coming across so many creatives who are all trying really hard to be their best artist selves.

How often do you test, are the projects focused to specific clients?
I’m always testing and open to new ideas and people. Whenever I’m looking to shoot something, it’s either to produce new work focused on a specific client, fill a hole in my portfolio or push the boundaries a bit. Clean beauty is great, but it can be boring. For me, creating imagery that is aspirational to potential clients is key versus trying to produce work that is exactly what they already do; fit the clients’ needs with my signature on it, without straying too much outside of what fits their demographic target or brand.

How has your use of social media expanded your business? 
I’ve stopped with the mass emails. I’ll still send updates occasionally to a select few, but for the most part I’ve ceased the database email blasts. Because, I have heard from several entities that not only many of those emails don’t get opened but they are also an intrusion and often distracting. Their emails are for work and getting what’s often considered photographers’ spam keeps art buyers and producers from doing their jobs. It’s a tough balance of trying to get your work seen, kept, bookmarked and not put in the junk folder.

I don’t maintain a business page on Facebook but I do have a lot of connections to people relevant to my work on my personal profile. My main inspiration and collaboration comes from Instagram and Linkedin. It just sort of happened with Instagram, I didn’t pursue it as a way to grow my business, and in many ways I still don’t, but I’m constantly inspired. It’s also a great way to keep up with the work of those you admire and to find new artists. Similarly, I’ve made many connections on LinkedIn though I don’t know how helpful it is, I’m working on putting more times into that platform.

For this shoot Damian Monzillo and I initially started chatting on Instagram about working on a project awhile back.  Prior to this shoot, he wrote to me about some of my hair advertising work. I mentioned last-minute that I was shooting the next day and asked if he’d like to join us. Becky, the makeup artist, and I were going to do a macro story but the addition of a hair artist opened things up and let the bird of paradise theme shine.

When developing mood boards for your own projects, are the images sourced from your own archive?
Generally no—I do a lot of research, look at artists, photographers and nature for inspiration and then draw upon the team and their vision as well. When I’m working on a personal project or editorial I’m mostly trying to convey an idea that I haven’t expressed yet or seen through this specific lens in other people’s work. For this particular shoot, I made my usual mood board, showed it to the hair and makeup team and started shopping it around to my go-to modeling agencies to see about who might be interested in our concept. Luckily the package from Q Models contained Katherine Schule, who has great features for beauty and is really a consummate pro.