Reynaldo Belgado, a hairstylist/makeup artist at the Hair Dimension salon on Middle Road starts a regular workday at 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. seven days a week. He deftly juggles his unique mix of work tools—a pair of scissors and make-up kit and his Canon SLR camera with its accessories as a professional photographer on the side.
Unlike other ordinary guys, Belgado’s fingers itch when he looks at people’s hair and his imagination starts working on what he can do to give an individual a new look with a few snips of his scissors or artistic strokes of the brush.
Belgado brings with him over two decades of experience as a hairstylist and makeup artist. He started his career back in the Philippines in his own salon before coming to Saipan in 2002.
“I’ve been taking care of people’s hair and makeup since then, and I find great satisfaction in seeing transformations taking place at our salon every day,” Belgado said.
Attending to clients in various special occasions such as weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, debuts and other events spurred Belgado’s interest to take up photography sometime in 2005, and he gave in to the temptation after getting his very first camera, an Olympus point-and-shoot. Inspired by his new hobby, he bought a Pentax SLR camera and that made his work more interesting every day.
When not at the salon or photographing weddings and other events, you can see Belgado usually late in the afternoons with his photography gear at any of the beautiful locations in the island, standing behind a tripod and peering through a viewfinder as he talks to his models to make them feel relaxed. He then captures their captivating smiles and poses through the lens. Among Belgado’s favorite subjects are female models and children.
Asked how he manages to juggle his daily work and hobby together, Belgado said that the two oftentimes go hand in hand.
“When I style people’s hair and make them up, capturing the effect on camera seems to come naturally, and I often end up on a photo shoot with them later,” Belgado said.
Belgado said challenges are present at work every day, like clients who say one thing and change their minds after a haircut is done, ranting and raving about it.
“It’s always part of the job. You cannot please everybody, but I do my best to satisfy my clients,” Belgado said.
If you were to choose one lifetime career between hairstyling and photography, Belgado said this is the hardest question to answer and he cannot choose one.
“I want to do both, and hope to be following the same path for the next years,” he said.
Check out Belgado’s photography on his Facebook page or call the Hair Dimensions at 234-5471 for inquiries and appointments.{jcomments off}
