I’ve been an avid photographer my
entire life. My interest mostly centered
on street-type photography. About 2
years my interest moved into portrait photography. I have no clue what took me this direction,
but this has been my primary focus. This
has taken me into the world of model photography & blog posting. I enjoy every aspect of the genre from
arranging a shoot all the way through writing about it. It’s been great.
Obviously, to photograph models,
you need to hire & work with models.
It’s a true partnership. Both
have to come to the session prepared. This
has been a learning experience for me. I
essentially started the process from scratch first working with other
photographers who hired the model, shooting with local camera clubs during
portrait sessions, attending workshops, arranging TFP shoots with friends of
friends (mainly just helping me out), and then finally hiring models myself for
paid gigs. I’ve now done this about 20+
times over the past year.
One thing I’ve found is the process
of arranging a model all the way through the point of taking the photo has been
the most challenging part of my model photography experience. Therefore, I am constantly reading about the
genre, following photographers I respect, and reading blogs / articles that
other model / fashion photographers write.
Yesterday I was reading a
Facebook post by Los Angeles based photographer, Bill Jones. I’ve followed Bill for the past year or so
primarily because he started here in the Midwest and has maintained contact
with the local scene. His photography style
is amazing, and his images are great. He describes himself as an “editorial
fashion” photographer. His FB post he
talked about his experience with models.
I thought it was excellent. He
agreed to let me repost it on this blog.
Here is a repost of Bill’s
wisdom:
“On a daily basis I receive 3-5
messages from girls who want to become models. Less than 3% of these girls understand how
much hard work and commitment it takes to become an agency represented model so
for the other 97% here is a list of things you don't know about the industry:
1. Most
successful models begin their day before 6:00 am,
2. Models
follow a very strict diet and live a healthy lifestyle,
3. Modeling
is acting in a single frame; models use body language and expressions to convey
their story lines to the viewer,
4. Many
successful models take acting classes to enhance their talent,
5. Some
models begin their day with a 4-8 mile run followed by 1-2 hours in the gym
later that evening,
6. Castings
and meetings consume over 60% of a successful models day,
7. Models
are very independent, I know of many 16 year old models that travel
internationally on their own for several months at a time,
8. Personality
and confidence are very important qualities to a model,
9. Understanding
body angles and posing is critical to the success of a model, new models will
spend several hours each day working on this,
10. Highly
successful models learn to understand lighting and generate poses that works
with the lighting that is given to them.
These are just a few things that
separate agency models from internet models. Everybody wants to shoot but
shooting makes up a very small part of a true models day. All my industry
friends are welcome to add to this list.”
I agree with everything Bill
says. I am by no means in the same
league as many local model photographers or anyone like Bill Jones, but I am
starting to get a handle on the model side of the genre. Every time I come to a shoot my goal is make
it an enjoyable and successful shoot for everyone involved. I’ve been very lucky that most of the model’s
I’ve worked for have done the same thing.
BTW, check out Bill at:
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