#instagrids
On Instagram @ava.cast
Taking the perfect selfie, with all the right filters, when your hair is working, and your makeup is on point, for that one perfectly post-able image.
As a xennial experiencing life in the limbo of a pre and post social media era I felt a need to understand the allure, effort, pressure, and reward that drives the world of insta personas and avatars.
The process for this work involved hours of research, make-up application, and performance that concluded with the images and hashtags being posted to the
@ava.cast Instagram page.
The individual portrait sizes in these single edition prints have been created to roughly mimic the image scale of the photo booth photos I took throughout my childhood and into my teens. By the time I was 22 years old the cell-phone/social media “selfie” culture had begun.
Research Resources: Instagram-Beauty Looks, Influencers, and Beauty Hashtags, Google-Trending: Beauty Looks, Selfie angles, expressions and filters, Hashtags, Instagram Influencers, Make-up trend tutorials, YouTube-Makeup Trends and Tutorials, and Books-History of Beauty.
Trending looks used: Contouring made popular by Kim Kardashian, Lip plumping device via Kylie Jenner lip challenge and Candy Lipz enhancing device, Long straight hair-extensions/wig look inspired by Huda Kattan.
Products and tools used: 25- Candy Lipz lip enhancing device, Make-up primer, Contouring foundation set of 3, Bronzer, Highlighter, Blush, 3 shades of eyeshadow, Black Liquid eyeliner, White eyeliner pencil, False eyelashes with glue, Eyebrows-stencil with cream color, powder, and pencil, Lip balm, Lip liner, 2 shades of lipstick, Make-up setting powder, Wig cap, and Lace front wig, Face Lift Tape.
Application Time: 1.5 - 2 hours
Lighting: Natural diffused window light and camera ring light.
Camera: Cell phone-Samsung Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 8
Shoot time: 45 - 60 mins
Shots taken: 69 - 132
Filters used: 4- 6 “Beauty” for skin smoothing and blurring, “Face correction”- Face shaping, Grid layout, Instagram filters
Number of hashtags used on posts: 10 - 12
