Why shouldn’t I shoot my family and friends for class?

Just finishing up my Portraiture class and I must say its been the toughest one yet. Not tough because the assignments where hard but tough in the fact that each assignment required a new person. In total I needed to photograph 25 different people in 6 weeks. It was hard to find all these different people and keep them to your schedule. Everyone has family they could always use but the problem with that is your family wont end up as a paying customer later on.  They will always expect you to shoot them for free. It seems pretty sad but that is the way it works.

In all of my assignment this past 6 weeks the hardest was to find 8 people to photograph together. To accomplish this I put some feelers out weeks in advanced but most of those options fell through. My last and final option was to ask a friend if she knew of anyone that I could get to photograph. I figured since she has 3 kids and herself that would kill off half of my requirements right there. However this particular week none of her kids could show up for the event. I was lucky though because she know a lot of other people and found me the 8 I needed in the nick of time. By the end of my shooting I had people asking for a card, wondering if I could shoot an up coming event.

I was grateful that these people who I didn’t know was asking me if could do other work and that they would be contacting me in the future. Without shooting these strangers I would have never got my name or my information out there like I did. I learned the in the end it might pay off to shoot people you don’t know because they may want your services in the future. The event that I was asked about is for the republicans in town so they will probably want a hand out, however it might be one of those handouts that gets your name out there for paying work. These politicians might need head shots or things like that. While doing the event for free might make them think you will do everything for free, you can quickly let them know what you charge for those types of services.

So I recommend getting yourself out there and looking for ways to network and find potential future clients. You obviously wont get paid to shoot them for your class assignments but if they can see the quality of work you can provide them, then you might very well have made a connection to turn them into a client.

Here is my funny face shot of my 8 people. In the end this probably was my best assignment. 

TBT

Thursday Ambassador

Where are the Models?

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!

http://www.modelmayhem.com/411651 Ajani Photography

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.

http://www.modelmayhem.com/

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