Except when it’s wrong. Here’s what I mean.

Evolutionarily, if someone points a box at us with a trigger, we run away or – at best – back away.
Models are supposed to be comfortable with the whole thing and move TOWARD the camera.

As photographers, we use gun metaphors all the time.

“Shoot”
“Shooter”
“Actor HeadSHOT”

And silly slogans, which I love to use. Such as…

“I shoot people for Money.”
“Oh Crop. I got shot by TRP”
…..and on & on.

This is definitely a time when your better instincts need to be squashed so that you can get the shot.

But as a model – you should know that it’s a business first and a fun thing second. While the 2 can exist together, be aware of where your pictures are going and who’s going to look at them before you even book your shoot. Here’s some examples.

A model comp card: Should have 3-4 different looks. This greatly depends on your market, aka where you are located. If you are in a commercial market, then you should be doing fun, laughing, brightly colored shots that show lots of personality, props, and locations. As a matter of fact, every model should have a commercial card – unless you are the rare model who only works on the runway. Then, unless you are doing the runway in Paris & Milan, you probably should have another job. Runway alone usually doesn’t pay the bills, unfortunately. (Don’t write me up on that – there are exceptions to every rule)

If you are in a major market, and it’s your first or 2nd comp card – then it should be whatever your agent says. In effect, your agent is your client in this situation. If they are any good, they will guide you and tell you the kind of test shoots that you need to sell yourself to the kind of clients that you are capable of getting.

Sidebar: “Any job that you are capable of getting” has a great deal to do with your look AND your personality. Please be agreeable and fun to be around. Enough said.

In the major markets, comp cards are compiled from a number of test shoots. In the smaller market, usually one test will do the job.

And finally, the Big-Time Working Model (all capitals, because it’s a thing of beauty) will have a comp card & portfolio of almost all tear sheets from magazines, or catalogues or whatever print jobs she/he has done. That’s the ultimate goal, because all those tears represent money and the fact that clients have put their faith and dollars behind you.

So when a photographer tells you that it might not be a good idea to wear sparkly eyelashes and carry a goat; they are looking out for you. Because 9 times out of 10, that will not go on your comp card and you’ll probably just have to shoot again. True, the example is extreme here, but you would be surprised.

As a commercial AND fashion print photographer, I get to do both. True, the fun stuff is amazing. But truly, and I kid you NOT: laugh on camera. It’s freeing.

It’s kind of like the saying “Dress for the job you want, not the job you have.” Model for the gig that’s going to get you the most money. Trust me on this one.

Most models like the wacky. Mostly because almost all the jobs involve them carrying groceries or pretending to jog. That’s good & all, but most people get into modeling because they like the crazy stuff they see in magazines or on TV.

While it doesn’t look good on EVERYONE, sometimes we have some fun. You should be SO flattered if a published fashion photographer asks you to do a free test. It’s a big compliment.

By the way, DON’T do it the other way around. Asking a published photographer to do a test is kind of an insult. It really needs to be their idea. LOL

Have a great Saturday!

I get asked this all the time. Frankly, it’s a very good question. Becoming a fashion photographer is not the same as becoming ANYTHING else. It’s not as if you take 4 years of college and then hang a sign out. Here’s my story:

When I was 15 or 16, my Dad was a preacher at a small Baptist church in KY. For his birthday that year, they had given him a 35mm camera. It was a very small church, so an expensive gift like that one was very cool. He was very touched, because apparently photography was one of those hidden passions of his, and he took pictures of EVERYTHING. Not long afterwards, he was pushing the camera into my hands. He was a big hunter too, so I was eventually taking pictures of him with his latest ‘trophies.’ Yep, my first images were of dead deer and squirrels. Not long after, my brother and his wife had the first grandchild, and the camera was given to me again; this time to take pictures of my new niece. Those were pretty good, if I do say so myself.

After high school, I went into radio. I know, that sounds weird. But my brothers had been dj’s, my mom a radio reporter, and my dad had a Sunday morning ministry show. Therefore, it was the easy path to take at the time while I was going to college. But, like a lot of jobs, I kinda got stuck. I was a radio dj for 17 years. It’s fair to say that I did really well at that, but I hated it. Being on the radio seems like such a glamorous job, and to some I suppose it is. To me, it was just sitting in a box and talking to yourself for 5 hours a day.

When I was 25, I married a wonderful man who happened to have 3 children. His oldest daughter, Bobette was 9 when we married. As she entered her teenage years, I was trying to think of ways to keep her out of trouble. (feel free to grin at that, I do) My Dad had died several years before and had left me that camera. So I started taking her picture. Let me be clear: I did NOT know what I was doing. Not at all. However, it was a fun pastime, and it was something that us girls could do together. If you are a step-parent, you probably know what I’m talking about.

As she grew, we started getting better at what we were doing. I created a little “studio” in my garage: a black tablecloth tacked to the wall, some lightbulbs in cans hooked all around, and sometimes a kitchen chair draped with a sheet. We shot and shot and shot. Eventually, by the time Bobette turned 16, I had made her a sizeable (and not half-bad) modeling portfolio.

Having a portfolio is great, but now what to do?

You see, I knew nothing of the fashion industry. We lived in Evansville, IN – a sizeable city with no modeling agencies. So we just didn’t know what to do. As a result, I just held on to the portfolio for a year or so and kept playing at being a photographer.

One day, my program director walked into my studio with a visitor. Her name was Tina Naughton, and she was coming by to look at the studio; thinking about doing air personality work part-time. You know how it is when you first meet someone and you just CLICK? That’s how it was that day. We talked for hours, there in the studio and became fast friends. It turns out that Tina was from Phoenix, was an actress, had been a tv news anchor, etc. Suffice it to say she knew a lot of people. One day, I showed her the portfolio I had taken of Bobette. She was very excited. Tina’s enthusiasm for life in general knew no bounds, but it was great to see her excited about something I had done. She asked if she could borrow the portfolio and send it to a friend of hers in Phoenix who was a stylist. He might know somebody, you never knew. Well, duh. Of course. So the book was off on it’s first trip: To Phoenix. The stylist friend (forgive me dude, cannot remember your name) made an appointment to go see Robert Black, head of the Phoenix office of Ford Models. He showed Robert the book and …. well, things started happening. The book made it’s second trip: To New York.

Ford Models in NY loved Bobette’s book, but decided since she had absolutely no experience whatsoever; that she should start in Chicago. Get her feet wet in a friendlier town. So the book made it’s 3rd trip; to Ford Models Chicago. That’s when we got the call. “Can you come up for the weekend? Let’s talk about Bobette’s career.” Again I say duh, of course.

So, in February of 2000, Bobette and I made the roadtrip to Chicago. We stayed the weekend, and on Monday sat down with the new faces director. During this meeting, the director asked Bobette “Who is your photographer?” Bobette, being 17, just hooked a thumb at me and said “her.”

“Oh.” said the director, “You’re a photographer?”

“No. I’m a radio personality.”

“Well, you should be doing this. You are very good at it. There’s a lot of money to be made in fashion photography.”

After getting her Ford Models contract and heading home, both our heads were swimming with possibilities. Hers with her upcoming career (which was phenomenal by the way. She had major clients such as Victoria’s Secret, American Eagle, Aeropostale,Bath & Body Works; and was on the cover or featured in dozens of major magazines) and me with the idea of changing my entire career to do something that I actually loved.

There’s more to the story, but it’s not nearly as interesting. She went off on her adventures, and I started learning my craft in earnest. It took me years to get to the point where I was entirely comfortable having clients, but those years of hard work have paid off. Not just monetarily, either. Now I do what I love and am passionate about. I DON’T work for free anymore, but if I did I don’t think I would mind so much.

It’s a MARKETING plan to make you buy bras and panties, girls.  Once you recognize that, you can move the frack on, ok?

Well, that’s just dandy for them.  But what are the consequences for the rest of us?

* Girls as young as 10 years old tell me they want to model for VS.

*All models now want to be shot in an over-sexualized way, that in NO WAY has any relationship to the real world of modeling

*I’m not going to even go into the body-image stuff.  You know that already.

Am I blaming the company for an entire country’s female gullibility?  NO.  I blame us.  Women.  We admire the wrong things. We care too much about our waistline and don’t give a fig about our IQ.  How does this help with modeling, you think – shaking your pretty little head in digust – that woman can NOT be talking to me.  Oh yes, sugar.  You.  We give way too much of a SHIT about how men perceive us too.

FASHION magazines aren’t all about the bombshell.  Sexy is one thing, That brand of sexy is a whole different, manufactured, unattainable thing.  It’s great to be a fantasy – as long as it’s clear that it’s not real.  IT’S NOT REAL.  As someone who’s stepdaughter WAS a VS model, I can tell you – and so would she – that all THAT, is gorgeous.  And manufactured.  And unattainable.

Models who get work, and get paid – can show a flaw or 2.  There are high fashion models with gapped teeth, chopped bleached hair, crooked noses, etc.  And there is beauty to be found in that. Commercial models (also called money girls!) sell everything from toothpaste to blue jeans, and we have no earthly idea who the heck they are.

I can’t wait for the day when that 10 year old wants to one day model like Coca Rocha.

Yes, I would love to wear that wacky outfit.

Yes, how fun it would be to stand on one foot.

Yes, I think this is a really fun photo shoot.

“Yes” is said in other ways too.  A positive expression, a lack of excuses.  It’s not that I insist upon being agreed with.  But it sure is nice.

WORD.

This image is straight out of the camera. No retouching.  Of course I don’t do a ton of that anyway, but that’s a blog post for another day.  THIS chick is editorial.  Effortless.  Didn’t have to try to look cool. She just does.  She’s also probably one of those girls who gets picked on for being too tall in the 7th grade.  Because she is.  In the 7th grade.  I know.  That’s my reaction too.  Holy cow.

So of COURSE we had to take some commercial stuff for her comp card, and we did.  Don’t worry.  But I’m seriously considering asking her & her mom to come to the studio for some magazine submission work soon.  The clothing will be entirely appropriate, you know.

Have a great night!!

*The choices of clothing that is provided for the photographer.  Sometimes not so great.

*A model that was booked by someone else that maybe is not so good.

*A location!

The reason we are talking about location is that a lot of people tend to mess this up.  Here are some common misconceptions.

Assumption:    That beautiful beach must be on an island somewhere in the caribbean.

Truth:  That beach is in South Alabama, tucked away in a wildlife preserve.

Assumption:  That charming open grassy field looks like it’s way out in the country!

Truth:  It’s a vacant lot beside the highway

Assumption: That clever little motel looks like it’s straight out of the 50′s.

Truth: it’s in a really bad part of town, and it IS from the 50′s.  Oh, and it’s stinky.

See?  Isn’t this fun?  By the way, it’s the same for any kind of production:  Still photo, movies, television….

So take a peek behind the curtain (even if it’s only in your mind) and imagine the possibilities in your area.  Heck you might even have a pretty ditch you can work with.

But for Heaven’s sake, let’s let the railroad tracks GO, people.  Please?

I know, right? It sounds wrong. However, the truth is that modeling takes ENERGY. Lots of it. Even if you’re doing a passive type of modeling, like sitting down or lying on a sofa. The energy to project personality (IF you’re doing it right) is kind of hard to muster if you’re starving.

There’s a weird myth going around that if you eat ANYTHING before a model shoot, then you’ll look fat in your pictures. Maybe that’s true in the 2 WEEKS leading up to your shoot, but definitely NOT on the day of.

Seriously.

Make it easier on yourself. You have to be able to enjoy your time in front of the camera. The crew is a bunch of silly people, who love LOVE love to laugh. If you come to laugh and play, then we definitely can find some magic there.

It just makes the whole thing better. EAT. Please.

And remember we are all rooting for you.