The Male Coiffeur

 My project seeks to analyze and explore a type of 'anomaly' in (Utah) culture: the male hairstylist.

When I went to cosmetology school, there wasn't a single man in any of my classes the 3 years I studied. Consequently, in the salons I've been to and worked at across the Salt Lake and Utah Valleys, no males were to be found. I didn't even think twice about it- hairstyling is a women's profession...right?

As I started to think about what I wanted to shoot for my final, I knew I wanted to do something intriguing, different, and that I had a unique interest in.

I began calling all hair schools within an hour radius of me. I had figured out that I wanted to talk to male hair stylists and hair school students to get their perspective on the industry, now I just needed to find them. I knew that this was a far-fetched idea, but I was going to focus in on a minority that doesn't often get noticed or thought about. As I suspected, very few hair schools had any male students at all. Out of 10 schools that I scouted, 2 of them had 2 male students each. Al and Jake attended Paul Mitchell-Provo, and Greg and Hero went to Cameo College in Murray. I took what I could get.

When I arrived at each of the schools, the guys were actually quite willing to talk to me about their decision to enter the beauty industry and how they felt about being very, very outnumbered in their chosen profession and location. As a bonus, I also came across 2 cosmetology instructors that were male and had many interesting insights.

I asked each guy a series of questions:
-What made you decide to enter the beauty industry?
-Do you feel like there is a negative connotation associated with males that do hair in Utah? Do you feel like you fit in at school?
-What do you want to do when you graduate? (Work in a full service salon, do events, etc)
-What do women and your fellow students think about you doing cosmetology?

As I was talking to them, I photographed them doing their thing at school. These are things that I, along with countless other girls, did in hair school: learned how to style hair and use product, played with manikin heads, studied big books of cutting and hairstyling, roundbrushed a million times, and stared in the mirror. These are things that most people probably haven't seen men doing on a regular basis. For that reason, I wanted to get inside their heads for a minute, to see what makes them so dedicated to this profession that they would forge ahead in a sea of women to make a living doing something they obviously must love. I got some great answers, great insights, and had some great laughs.

Al: "Girls actually love that I'm style-conscious. My sister studied at Taylor Andrews Hair Academy, and going there and feeling the fun atmosphere was what really made me want to be a part of the industry."

Jake: "I'm gay, so I'm already a minority in Utah as it is. I just embrace it. I like the versatility of doing hair- there's so many things you can do."

Greg: "I'm obsessed with making things look good-mostly my own hair. That's how I knew I wanted to go into this industry. Being a guy makes it so everyone knows who you are because you're the only one."

Hero: "I went into hair because of the creativity aspect, and because I have family in the business. [his dad owns a prominent salon in downtown SLC]. At first it was weird going to school with a bunch of girls, like what did I get myself into."

Justin: "I really didn't want to go into hair. I was a theater major, but my roommate convinced me that I would be good at this. He said men get rich doing hair, but he was wrong. I love teaching though. I think there is more pressure on men in this industry to be a true professional and to do well for the sake of supporting a family." 

Jake: "I was getting a degree in Geology but I got bored. Doing hair is so much fun every day that I wouldn't want to do anything else."

Greg: "I eventually want to do event hairstyles, like specialize in up-dos for weddings."

Justin: "The industry was actually started by males like Vidal Sassoon. It doesn't bother me much that I'm a minority for that reason- it is mainly just in Utah."

Cause

 

 

The Community Action Provo Food Bank is an organization that has teamed up with local grocery stores and do-gooders to make food available for impoverished people in the area. 80-100 families cycle through the food pantry daily, stocking up on what they need but can't provide for themselves. The Food Bank gets its food from stores like Smith's and Macey's, who donate about-to-expire or slightly damaged food that cannot be sold anymore but is still perfectly useful. Individuals can also donate food items by bringing whatever they want to give away into the center. The Food Bank also supports group food drives and receives abundant amounts around the holidays. All helpers at Community Action are volunteers. They do everything from retrieving large food donations from incoming trucks, unloading and categorizing food items, and arranging food on the shelves in the pantry. Clients of the Food Bank meet with a case worker before being able to shop in the free food pantry. The worker analyzes the customer's situation with them and creates a plan to help them get back on their feet. This part of Community Action's contribution to helping the needy is called stabilization. Clients are able to come and shop for food for their families, feeling a sense of empowerment and dignity as they choose their own groceries, instead of having to accept a handout or pre-packaged care kit. As clients receive help from the Food Bank and begin to stabilize their situation, they progress to a stage that Community Action calls rebuilding. The hope is that clients will become increasingly independent as they obtain the necessities while also making an effort to gain permanent security, and someday making steps towards retaining and saving money, purchasing a home, etc. The Community Action Food Bank not only provides a way for struggling families to obtain sustenance, but also believes in making lasting changes and building better futures for people.

Typology

Magnum Inspiration

Cornell Capa

  

     In researching aspects of Magnum photographers that I possibly wanted to emulate, I came across Cornell Capa’s work. The brother of the famous war photographer Robert Capa, Cornell stated that one war photographer in the family was enough, and that he would instead document peace. The work in his magnum portfolio spans almost 4 decades, from 1939 to 1973. He captured images of a little of everything, ranging from prominent political powers like JFK and Adlai Stevenson, to celebrities on set like Marilyn Monroe, to prisoners and protesters, to everyday, serendipity happenings on the street. Capa’s work was featured in Life magazine, where he was employed for several years, as well as in his exhibits called The Concerned Photographer. After his brother’s death, he joined the Magnum photography agency, and eventually became the director. The capstone of his photographic career was his initiation of the International Center of Photography in New York.
    The thing that captured my attention, and eventually drew me back to Capa, was not his skillful use of black and white. Nor was it the dramatic or subtle effects he was able to achieve with light. It wasn’t his choice of subject matter, or even the way he captured his subjects as if they were in the middle of a sentence. The aspect of Capa’s photography that I wanted to emulate was the fact that a significant amount of his pictures are taken from behind the subject. Instead of always standing in front of those he wanted to photograph, he decided, for whatever reason, to take the less-traveled approach and photograph their backs, and by so doing, capturing the point of view of that subject and what lay in front of them. I found it very interesting that Capa would photograph President Kennedy in the oval office, not from the front of his desk, but from behind his chair, capturing just a portion of Kennedy’s head peaking up from the backrest. I found it intriguing that Capa got behind Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip to capture their interactions, instead of doing what would be considered normal and going out to get a frontal view of their faces.
    Although I agree that the face is the most expressive feature of the body for many reasons, I also believe that there is a different, more reserved expression that comes from viewing things from behind. We may not get to see the subject’s faces, but we do get to see their body language, what the environment in front and around them is like, and how they are interacting with it. Perhaps it’s possible to capture more private, intimate moments from behind, because the camera isn’t facing off with the subject and creating possible tension. I wanted to experiment with this curious technique and find out for myself what Capa’s visual intent could have been, and to see what kind of images come from standing behind a subject.

How To Hunt An Animal

1. Suit up in orange clothing.

2. Load your gun. 

3. Get in the truck and drive around to find a good location.

 4. Get out of the car and walk into the woods. 

5. Look for tracks and follow fresh trails. 

 

6. Look through your binoculars to see if there are animals close by. 

7. Use your cow call and listen to see if any animals nearby call back. 

8. Identify a clearing where animals are sure to pass through and sit and wait for them. 

 9. Once you spot an animal you can shoot, sight it in your scope. 

10. Aim and shoot.