Charlie Price: Flowering

I have been taking pictures since high school in the 1980s. I was always very interested in art and fashion - photography plays a key role in both so it was an obvious and gratifying medium for me to employ along with hair, makeup, painting and drawing.

My first photo shoots were of my beauty school muses. I have been a hairdresser since 1986. I’ve been a salon owner - worked around the world representing hair companies and backstage for two decades at New York Fashion Week. I have always dabbled in photography using what I learned from countless photographers over the years- now that I have retired from clients I’m fully embracing my photography.

I wouldn’t consider myself an expert I’m more of an enthusiast or connoisseur. As for what makes me different - I use my iPhone - very simple lighting and edit on my iPad.

I have kept journals of tear sheets with imagery that inspires me - since smart phones this ritual has become digital but I still have physical journals as well. I distill and prioritize the ideas until they gradually crystallize into focused shoot concepts. I consider each on as I imagine a movie director would consider a film or the way an artist might divine a painting. That sounds pretentious but I consider it more of a way to express and exercise my imagination.

There is such an exciting moment at a shoot when you know you have the shot. That ecstasy is what drives me - it is incredibly intoxicating.

It was probably when I had some photos I shot for my salon appear in a national hair magazine. It gave me the confidence that I had the ability to produce quality imagery.

Everywhere. I always look to high fashion, art, pop culture, music and my travels as a bottomless well of inspirations. One thing that is equally omnipresent is an obsession with fashion history and different eras. It is endless pleasure to explore a decade or place in time and mix it all up with contemporary elements.

I don’t have clients - I work purely for pleasure. This is not to say I would refuse commissions but I primarily view photography the way an artist views their tools- it’s my art - my vision - my creative outlet. Since I am more or less retired this is luxurious and incredibly liberating.

More than all the technical considerations I think all great photographs have a sense of intimacy with the subject - even if it’s a still life or architecture. An unguarded fleeting moment of poetry shared with the world.

I am completely open to any post production- from very simple editing all the way to extensive stylized retouching and AI. I consider every tool a viable option to bring a vision to life.

I am informed and eternally in awe of the work by fashion masters like Steven Meisel, Steven Klein, Sheila Metzner, Sarah Moon, Avedon, Penn etc. etc. - all the Hollywood masters- all the art masters such as Imogen Cunningham and Lee Miller both of who’s work I happen to own prints of.

The same thing I always told hairdressers as an educator. Get the best education you can - and explore the options- the opportunities are endless keep going until you find a niche that brings you the most happiness and satisfaction.

I photographed a model by a fancy car which was incredibly challenging conceptually- I didn’t want it to be cheesy or hopelessly cliche and then technically the car had tons of reflections all over it that were a nightmare to retouch. I would do this again only with a lot more time to prepare and practice in advance.

Flowering began as a shoot for my colleague, makeup artist Michelle Martinez. We wanted to use both real and artificial flowers and to do a straightforward “Summer” beauty shoot. Of course the pitfall is that it’s a relentlessly cliche idea so we strived to make the images as achingly pretty as possible. I was also intrigued by attempting to make them timeless but also timely. Bathing the pictures in color and positioning the models in unexpected hopefully dynamic compositions was the way I saw those disparate components finding harmony together.

I have about 5 shoots in the works - a few of them involve creating a set- I’m looking forward to creating a physical environment.

I could never pick one - that’s like picking a favorite child or comparing lovers. LOL

Facebook: Charlie Price

Instagram: @charliepricehair

Social media is my portfolio.

My hair website is charliepricehair.com

Model: Jodean Amen @jodean_amen

Wardrobe Stylist/Creative Director/Makeup Artist/Hair Stylist/Retoucher/Photographer: Charlie Price @charliepricehair

Model: Jensyn Murray @jensynmurray

Model: Evelyn McClellan @evelynmclellan_

Makeup Artist: Michelle Martinez @beautybybellalicious