Rant Pack: Makeup Artist & Photographer, Jena Spano

Rant Pack:
Jena Spano

Makeup Artist & Photographer

How often to you look at yourself and think about everything thats wrong with you? How often when you tell a friend your thoughts they tell you that you're crazy because they see so many amazing things about you? 

This next Ranter is here to emphasize that we should LISTEN TO OUR FRIENDS. 

Rant Pack 3: 

Jena Spano - Make up Artist & Photographer 

 

Who is Jena:

Jena is an incredibly talented woman! She is 28 years young and sky rocketing in multiple creative industries at once! From Flossmor, IL she has been building her career professionally for over five years now as a Makeup and Special Effects Makeup artist and two years for Photography. Photographer and make up from one woman? Winning! 

She knew from when she was younger that she wanted to cultivate her creative skills from being influenced by her parents who were both artistic and imaginative in many aspects. She shared that when she was younger she felt as if she was her own paparazzi and really enjoyed filming and photographing anyone who came into her life. It began as a “release” while she was dealing with insecurities throughout her teenage years. She developed an analogy of her growth in these fields and compared them to being a video gamer where through more experience, more constructive criticism and more challenges she has continued to “level up” from her younger years. In turn, she found confidence and love for herself and her expression. She continues to lose herself in her creative outlets, especially in Special Effects Makeup where she explained she feels like an author and is able to create characters that she can bring to life and give them identities. “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time” is a quote by Thomas Merton and it is a foundational saying for Jena’s mentality and, obviously, she personifies this expression to it's fullest.

Of course, with every growth, there are always obstacles. For Jena, she explained how all artists defeat daily challenges. However, if you accept these struggles and use them to your advantage you will continue to grow. This calls for strong self-reliability. She recalled an experience where she learned that sometimes you will find in life that not everyone is rooting for you. It’s a hard lesson to learn but by focusing on those who support you and being open to new positive relationships will make up for the hardships and losses. 

Ultimately, she wants to help people fall in love with themselves. She shared that we never see ourselves as other people see us. We are harder on ourselves than we are on anyone else. We need to remind ourselves to “hold on and aim high.” This depth of our being has become a source of inspiration for her. She is constantly finding new people, places and treasures that are unique in their own way. 

What makes Makeup & Photography art forms? 

1. Emotional Reaction

How we see ourselves is an emotional experience. When someone sees us as more than what we are then it’s even more emotional. We don’t always know how or why people see us in different ways, but it is normally a feeling of relief and excitement that we are more than what we think we are. Makeup artists and photographers, to my understanding, are striving to show the world the beauty of our souls and genuinely express who we are to their fullest abilities.
I know that when someone takes a nice picture of me and I have a good hair day with the proper color foundation (which is Snow White for me, by the way) it is a good feeling to know that my emotions, feelings and thoughts are being taken into account and are being enhanced and radiated through my stance, my confidence and comfort, all of which my makeup artist and photographer friends catch onto quickly. They see something deeper than we do. That, to me, is beautiful.  

2. Public Consumption 

We don’t often wear makeup for ourselves, we don’t always take pictures for ourselves. We make efforts and take pictures in order to share memories and moments with others. Makeup artists and photographers are always taking into consideration these intentions for themselves and their models and customers and so on. I believe they want to provide their best works so that when we look back on them we are happy and satisfied and enjoy reflecting on these experiences and sharing them with our families and friends. 

3. Sensory Experience

When makeup artists are putting the makeup on our faces it is always an interesting experience. It physically feels different when someone is adding eye shadows, mascaras, blushes and creams that we don’t normally think of. When you think about everything that goes into makeup, its incredible to understand all of the different combinations they can use for so many different occasions. When someone else is putting makeup on it’s a surreal feeling. Someone else is touching our face. We can’t see it, we can’t control it, we don’t know what’s going on. Our face is something we rely on because we recognize our identity with how we look and when we give someone else the power to emphasize it differently than we normally would it’s a bizarre feeling physically, mentally and emotionally. The same goes for when someone is taking our picture for a formal reason rather than a candid, fun, “going out” mindset. It gives us a whole new feeling and we become aware of our stance, our posture, whether we’re coming off as professional, as too strong, as approachable and so forth. It triggers several different senses that we don’t regularly encounter and it is exciting! 

4. Expression of Passion

I think it is apparent from my interview with Jena that she is incredibly passionate about what she does and how she helps people find their beauty and see the best in themselves. She does this from a deep knowledge and fierce drive motivated by her passion for helping others be happy. When you experience sadness or low self-confidence and don’t know how to find your identity or what expressions you are sharing with the world it can be relieving and inspiring to go to someone who believes in our inner beauty and has the ability to help us focus on it and share it. It can be life changing. Passion is an encouraging force that drives makeup artists and photographers to see what we don’t normally see in our everyday lives. For this, I am grateful and excited to see what comes next.

You’re an artist, Jena Thanks for ranting with me! 

Have you ever had a photo shoot with your makeup done? How did it make you feel to see yourself through the eyes of someone else? Did it emphasize the most beautiful parts of who you are? Let me know below what your personal experiences have been in these moments! 

Check out Jena on Social Media: 

Instagram: @jenmarieartistry @jenurrrrz
Facebook: Jena Marie Makeup Artist

Thanks for checking out Rant Pack Jena and remember:
Life is art & we are all artists. 

-Ranting Rose

Coming up next on the rant pack, its a delayed teacher appreciation day! Rant Pack 4: Special Education Teacher, Elizabeth Monterosso.