Behind the Chair + Shanell

I’ve always been inspired by Shanell…so it was only fitting that I had her grace the 2nd cover of Twenty7. During the beginning of my whole “magazine” idea I basically had nothing but a shit load of inspiration to go off of. As you’ve previously read …I filmed Ming Lee’s feature on my iphone and my road dog @rebeccannemorgan took the pics for me… I filmed Dawn’s interview with my macbook and Iphone, I did the hair, make up and styling in the 1st ones. Mannnnn I gorilla styled so many of these early shoots it’s not even funny lol… but…. some kinda magical way they always turned out just how I had imagined, and the inspiration and power that we all got from what we were doing just fueled me even more.

Shanell’s shoot was no different. I was in Atlanta for a few days and I decided to just go for it. I hit up Derek Blanks to see if he was available and interested in shooting Shanell for the cover of my mag for me and he was! I had Derek in mind because I wanted to shoot Shanell in a more clean, editorial fashion, and I wanted to capture her in motion because she’s such an exceptional dancer and I feel like not a lot of people know that.

I love working with people that I’ve always vibed and created with so I reached out to Ebony to do hair….Teneshia for wardrobe…and because I didn’t want to have to film on my iphone again I reached out to a few friends looking for a videographer and Dawn Montgomery referred me to Antwan….and wa laa…. my amazing team of super talented creatives was birthed! lol

I’ve been Shanell’s make up artist for about 4 years now… so this shoot was very comfortable for me…yet at the same time different for both of us. In most cases… Shanell pretty much got to direct me on how she wanted her make up for shows, red carpets, photo shoots and press… but in this case… I asked her to give me full creative control so that I could bring MY vision to life lol. It didn’t go super smooth but…. we made it through. Shanell allowed us to play with the length of her hair,and  try new looks with the clothes and make up. You may think that doesn’t sound like too much but anybody that knows Shanell knows she loves her hair down her back!

Anywho…. we shot the Cover at Derek’s studio and had a damn blast doing so. If you check out Shanell’s 27 Questions videos you can get a great idea of the fun we had on set of the cover shoot and in other settings.

IG / Twitter @twenty7magazine
Photography: Derek Blanks / @mrdblanks
Make up: Melanesa / @melanesia_
Hair: Erica / @ebeauty404
Wardrobe: Teneshia Martin / @dirty_marteeni for #dirtyego @_dirtyego_
Videographer: Antwan : @twaneebaby
Editor: Jru / @ajrucreation