Hello everyone, and welcome again to another edition of
Terrific Tuesday blog, I am your Ambassador today and every Tuesday!
If you are in the field of photography, there will be times
that you are going to need a model to complete an assignment or homework from
one of your classes. If you are in your
first year and have not have the pleasure to have living subjects in your
compositions, well, just wait it is around the corner. Courses such as Lighting, Portraiture,
Portraiture II, Advertising Photography 1 & 2, Creative Concepts, Advanced
Studio Techniques, will have the need for living subjects. So by know you might be wondering; where do I
find models to help me with school?
The answer is simple: everywhere and anywhere!
Let me share how some of my models came out to be part of my
experience with the school, you might find that you are in the same position as
I was when I first started.
The first area that you might explore will be family and
friends. That is great, they might say
that they don’t have experience, you could say that you don’t have the
experience working with models either. I
started with pictures using my wife as a model, she was very shy at the start
and now she helps me by giving me opinions about my ideas and serves as someone
that I can share my vision, after all, she knows me better than anyone else.
That followed by using my daughters who have modeled for me
for fun and for classes. Once their
friends saw some of the pictures I took of them, some of them asked if I could
take pictures of them too! Ok, so now I
have more people that I can use for assignments, which brings me back to one
important statement: don’t let the models run YOUR show, the object is for them
to have images for themselves but you also need to do your work at school!
Once my co-workers saw the images that I was creating, some
of them decided that they would help me too (see the pattern?). I have now taken images of co-workers,
families and friends, and it all started with creating great images that were
admired by others.
Ok, you might be wondering how to coordinate all the people
that I have mentioned here. Well,
remember that every course is 5.5 weeks long so you do not need to use all your
resources at once, look forward to what you need in the next classes (if you
can) and figure out who in your pool would work for what you have to do. It is
not always going to work out with a limited pool of people and that is when you
need to branch out and seek new models.
Once you are comfortable with your skill directing others and
you have a better understanding of how your vision, your brand and your concept
can work together, you might want to venture out and become a member of Model
Mayhem. This website provides an area
where you can search for photographers, models, stylist and other professionals
that can help you with your work. Becoming
a member is free and the process takes about a week to complete. If you want to look more into this website and
what it has to offer, here is a link for you to follow.
So, there you go, finding models is not as hard as it sounds as when you began your studies. The more people you photograph, the better you will get. The more new people you photograph the better the chances that your vision and work will be seen around the world!
Just keep shooting and don't be afraid to ask new people to pose for you, who knows you might be taking images of the next supermodel!
Drop me a line and share any of your experiences with models, we all can share and learn from each other. Until then, this is your Tuesday Ambassador signing off for now. You all have a great and wonderful day!
Tuesday Ambassador
Something I still find difficult is passing on shoots for non-profit organizations. I dedicate time to giving rescue dogs photo shoots to help them find homes and also shoot certain events for organizations I've built a relationship with over the past few years. If I agreed to provide my services for free every time I was asked, though, I would soon go bankrupt. If you face a similar situation and aren't sure how to say no, I find it best to be totally honest and state that you are honored to be asked but provide your services pro bono to select groups already and cannot afford to assist this time. I'll usually point the person asking in the direction of a local photography school where I know students are looking for event experience as well.
