Would You Like To Model For Us?
A Typical Modeling Shoot
Winter is here now in Northern Indiana, most of the birds have flown South for the winter including the Canadian Geese but since they are from Canada, South for them is here (I never understood why the just don’t keep flying South until there is no more snow).
Our normal outside locations are now covered with snow, and as beautiful as they still are, they are also quite cold. Not a good thing for a model, well most of the time. So we are now photographing indoors, and this year we have a new indoor location to photograph in. Our good friend and fellow photographer Rob Miller has received permission from his company to use their facility on the weekends. His employer Cutters Foam Inc. is, as the name implies, a company that cuts foam for seating for the RV and Boat industry which is prevalent in Elkhart Indiana.
(Update:...we now have our own dedicated studio! 700 South Main STreet, Elkhart)
We had our first photography session there last weekend and I wanted to write about it so that people could get a better understanding of how a shoot goes. The first thing that happens is that we actually ask you to model for us. Sometimes you ask to model for us, and we really like it when you do! After you say “Yes!” (you will say “Yes!” won’t you??) we talk about what the shoot will be about. Typically a shoot will be either “themed” meaning their is a “story” behind it, like a “bank heist” or “zombie walk,” or will be done on what is called “white seamless” paper and as the name implies it is a very large sheet of continuous paper with no seams or creases or wrinkles. We will also do “head & shoulder” portraits where we are getting up close portrait images of you, don’t worry will will edit out the blemishes and wrinkles (if you are nice to us, that is).
After we talk about what type of shoot it will be we will talk with you about what you should wear. Mostly we just tell you to bring several different outfits related to if we are doing a “high fashion/glamour” shoot or a “night out at the club” shoot, or a “relaxed evening at home” shoot, or whatever strikes your or our fancy at that time. We are also slowly building up our own wardrobe, so we will also have some articles of clothing for you to wear. And yes, we do wash everything after a shoot! Ooo, gross!
Dawn helping the model with her poses.
Sometimes we make the suggestion that you bring some sort of “prop” with you. Nothing in particular, just something that you feel might be interesting to have in the picture. Some examples that others have brought with them are: hats, funny glasses, scarves, cowboy boots with spurs (one of our favorites), toys, a chair, and umbrella.
Another thing that we talk about with you, is that it is more than acceptable to bring a friend with you. In fact, if they want to be photographed too, then great, more the merrier! It is also OK to bring a “chaperon” with you if you feel that would make you more comfortable. Generally we find that bringing a parent isn’t the best form of a chaperon, as that tends to make the model on edge or guarded, most of our models bring another family member or close friend or boy/girlfriend with them. It does not matter to us who you bring, as long as you are comfortable with them.
After we talk either in person or on the phone we agree on a date and time, generally it is on the weekends in the early afternoon, but we have had very early and late shoots as well. Now, the very next step in this process is the most crucial...you showing up! We have not been stood up yet, but we have during some of our outside shoots, and it is a bummer! Just know, that if you can’t make it we just want you to call us and let us know, we won’t get upset, disappointed yes, but not upset. We can always reschedule, but it is a pain to be at a location and waiting and waiting for a model to show up, so don’t let it happen. Pretty please.
OK, now that all the preliminary stuff has finished and you now are at the front door (you did show up right?) the photography staff meets and greets you. Most likely it will be Dawn, Michael (yours truly) and one or more other photographers like Rob Miller or Leslie Kolodziej, Sara Herzog, Mike Davis or Amber Taylor and the list could go on, but you get the drift that people will be happy to see you when you arrive. We will all introduce ourselves to you. We really should have name tags on, as I for one, can’t remember anyone’s name after I meet them for some reason, so I think we just might do that next time.
Dawn, our “model wrangler” helping the model with her poses.
Once the meet and greet is over, we will show you around the studio (shop) and you can see where the photo shoots will take place. Dawn, who is not only a photographer but is also our primary “model wrangler” will show you the changing area and go through some of the outfits with you.
After the tour, we will go over the “model release” with you, which is just a document that says that you gave us permission to take your picture and the pictures we take of you we can display and post or upload to the Internet as well use in anything that we commercially produce, like a book or training video.
Since I get hungry when I photograph, we will have food and beverage on-site for all to enjoy, so if there is some sort of food or treat that you fancy just let us know and we will try to accommodate you. However, if you fancy caviar then you will have to supply that yourself, as I can’t stand “fishy” anything. LOL If you want anything alcoholic you will have to bring that yourself, we don’t have anything against that, but we can’t supply it. (Just in case you want to know, Dawn & I love bourbon, and Rob likes Heineken beer)
We like having music playing in the background while we photograph, so if you would like to bring any MP3s or CDs be our guest, we will play anything you like. If not, be warned that my iPod is full of music from The Monkies, Men At Work, Prince, Genesis and Jimmy Buffet, oh ya, and Devo.
This time it is our photographer Michael’s turn to help with the poses.
Generally we try to have different “stations” set up especially when we have multiple photographers and models on set, that way everyone gets to shoot and be shot and the standing around doing nothing is eliminated. So, we will show you around the various stations that we have set up.
After all the pleasantries are finished, it is time to get to work. First stop is Wardrobe. Dawn and probably the photographers will go over your wardrobe and together we will put together what we think will look good on print (or screen for you Facebookers). After the outfits are selected, on to Makeup. Generally the models will put their own makeup on, but if they need assistance Dawn will help out, she does a really good job with that. We try to tell our models, well, the females that is, that when they put on their makeup, to put it on more heavily then they are used to as it will show up on film better. We had this one model, who I won’t name...a hem, Leslie...who was almost in tears at how she looked coming out of makeup, saying she looked like a clown. However, when she saw the images on the screen she was flabbergasted to see how good she looked. So, don’t be alarmed at how your makeup looks, remember that the bright strobe lights that we use makes you look different then you would normally under house lights. In fact one of the images from that shoot got blown up to poster size and is in one of the photographers offices.
Lets see now;
Greatings...check
Show you around...check
Food and music...check
Model Release signed...check
Wardrobe and Makeup...check
Lets start making great images!
When we ask someone to model for us, generally they will tell us that they have never modeled before and don’t know how to pose. We always say that is OK, and that Dawn will be there helping them to pose, that way they just have to mimic what she does. Once in a while the photographer will do a pose for them as well, but we normally aren’t that “poseable” guess that is why we are behind the camera and not in front of it.
One thing we want you to know up front, is that the photographer will never touch the model (except for maybe the hug when you leave), if some article of clothing or your hair needs to be fixed, our model wrangler will help you, or we will just tell you to do it, other than that you will just be mimicking what Dawn or the photographer does.
Michael and Rob setting up one of the photo locations.
As we progress through he photography session, we try to give you constant feedback, so if you think we are talking too much, we apologize now for it. One of the ways that we give you feedback is by showing you the images we take of you as we take them, either on the back of the camera or on a computer screen. We will often shoot “tethered” which means that our cameras are directly attached to a computer and as we take a picture it pops up on the computer screen big enough for you to see from a distance. We encourage the models to talk about their poses or expressions, we really do. We want your feedback, it helps us both! Tell us what you think and together we will make the best images possible.
The model and photographer will stay at each station for about 10-20 minutes, then you will change outfits and or move on to a different shooting station. We don’t want you getting board by just staying in one spot for too long. At any time you have the freedom to tell us that you are getting board (or annoyed at our dumb jokes) and want to move on or change wardrobe or maybe just go in a different direction with your posses. Remember, you have the ultimate say during the shooting process.
At some point all this fun and excitement has to come to a close, and at some point we will ask you if you want to stop or go on, again it is up to you. If you say you want to go on, we will, if you want to stop that is what we will do. After we stop, you will go back and change into your street cloths and then we will get together and tell you where you can see your images.
Rob shooting “tethered” with a laptop so that the model can see what her poses look like.
After the photo shoot, the photographers will go back and do a quick process of your images, basically just deleting the ones that did not come out or where you had your eyes closed or where the seam in your pants ripped (that last one never happened, yet). Then we will upload them to our web site in a private album where you can then look at them and pick out your favorites. When picking our your favorites, you just have to give us the file name and then we will edit those images. After we edit them, we will upload them again to our web page into a new album and also to Facebook (unless you tell us not to) and we will tag you in them. We will also upload them to our Google+ site, you do use Google+ don’t you?
We will give you the images that we edit, you simply download them from our web site, and you can do with them as you wish, please just give us credit when you post them or show them to people. If you actually want any printed by our professional labs, then you can order them on-line a la carte. But at no time are you to feel that you have to pay for anything, that is not why we asked you to model for us!
Rob, Dawn, the model and her chaperon all working together.
Well, that is about it. We all try to keep the atmosphere light hearted and we try to make it fun for you and also us. We really are having fun during these photo shoots and we want you to be having as much fun as we do. So again, forgive all the bad jokes.
As you can see, we like to keep the photo shoot a happy one!
When Winter is over, and the sun and warm temperatures come back, we will again be shooting outside on location, but until then it is nice to know we have a place that is inside and cosy to photograph in.
See you soon!
Here are some of the finished images from the shoot
Keywords:
modeling
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