Advice for New Models

Pic from one of our recent shoots.

Being new to the photography world ourselves, we tend to work with a lot of new models – and we love it!

Though, something that we have noticed about new models is that they’re very shy in front of the camera.

This is understandable, as it can be intimidating being thrown in front of a camera and being expected to perform.

I’ve always been very photogenic, but have never actually done a ‘photoshoot’ like in a studio and whatever.

But the other day I stepped in front of the camera and I could really feel how intimidating and demanding it was to be in that position!

As a photographer, we have high expectations of our models. We need them to perform so that we can focus on capturing beautiful pictures.

So here’s are some tips for new models:

Pose in front of the mirror – constantly be striking new poses in front of the mirror  to get to know what looks good and what doesn’t.

Know your body – knowing which angles your body looks good in and how to pose your body is going to be extremely helpful.

Practice quick posing – as a rule of thumb with most photographers, whenever the lights flash, you should be in a new pose. That means that you’re going to have to pose differently very quickly. So you’ll have to think quick!

Don’t be shy, learn to talk to the photographer – photographer’s don’t bite! Before you even get started, talk to them about their expectations so that you know how to react.

Know how to take direction – while the majority of modeling is posing without any given direction, you should understand how to take direction, because photographers due tend to give direction at some point & it’s important to understand and react accordingly.

Point is: Practice, practice, practice, practice, practice!

Just like how photographers practice their skills, models should be practicing their skills as well. Modeling IS a craft and should be treated as such. It’s a give and take relationship when you enter that studio/location, don’t expect the photographer to do all the work for you. 🙂

Anyway, hope this helps some beginning models! 🙂

Kitchen Nightmares is Scary

I love watching shows like ‘Restaurant: Impossible” and Kitchen Nightmares because it’s so neat how they go in and totally transform failing restaurants and giving them a second chance at success. However, it’s also really scary to see how so …

Passive Aggressive Neighbors

Me in front of my Jeep

I hate passive aggressiveness.

To be honest, I used to be REALLY passive aggressive. I used to write nasty letters or emails to people instead of just confronting them face-to-face.

But then, I graduated high school.

I park my Jeep on my lawn in front of my house because our driveway isn’t big enough for both of our cars, it’s not big enough width or length wise. The street is also very narrow and people drive like maniacs in this neighborhood – speeding down the streets as if they’re Vin Diesel from Fast and the Furious. So I don’t like to park on the street, in fear that my car might get hit. It happens.

So I park on the lawn. My lawn. On my property. On a house that I own.

So today, I heard a weed whacker going off in what sounded like in our front yard. And low and behold, it WAS in our front yard.

So I walked out and was like, “What’s up.” At first, he pointed to the neighbors house. I didn’t flinch, I asked again, “What’s up? What are you doing?”

He turned his weed whacker off and said, “I’m the neighbors son, I was doing his lawn and thought I’d do yours.”

Sounds like a stand up neighbor, right? Our lawn wasn’t THAT bad, it was a tad overgrown, but just by a couple inches, really nothing serious.

But, I thought I’d let him go about his business cause, hey, it needed to get done, so why not.

Later, I go out to check the mail and there’s a note on my door that reads this:

“Hey!

My father lives next to you and we keep his place looking pretty good.

I trimmed your lawn weeds, they looked pretty bad. It’s a nice neighborhood when all the neighbors keep their lawns and houses up.

If you could move the jeep out of the lawn that would be better for the neighborhood.

Thanks!”

Rage quickly built up as I resisted the urge to stomp over to his house and slam the note down his throat.

What the fuck business is it of his if I park on MY lawn, on MY property in front of MY house? Is my Jeep REALLY hurting anyone?

I could understand if the vehicle were a run down POS, but it’s not, it’s a 2008 Jeep Wrangler and it looks nice.

Not to mention the fact that he couldn’t just talk to me about it like a man, he had to write a passive aggressive note about it.

If it weren’t for Josh, I would have already had some choice word with the neighbor.

Like, minding your fucking business would be better for the neighborhood.

If I wanted to live somewhere with a neighborhood association with a bunch of BS rules, then I’d be living there. But I don’t. So either mind your own business or pick your balls up off the floor and come talk to me like a human being.

Point is, I’m not moving my Jeep.

If You’re Going to Take Your Clothes Off in Front of a Camera….

So, Josh and I have a side business called M-J Photography. We mainly shoot with models and do really fun photo shoots. We’re creative people and we LOVE photography, so we’re having a lot of fun!

Well, the other night, a co-worker friend of Josh’s, who is a pretty badass photographer, invited us to shoot a model that was coming to his studio. We, of course, agreed, especially when we found out that he’s going to be using latex! We had never worked with latex before so we were pretty excited.

I’m sure I’m not going to get full agreement with what I’m about to say, so if you’re going to debate, then please debate in a mature manner and tell me WHY you disagree with me. I’m happy to hear other point of views. 🙂

We did not go to this shoot with the intention of doing any nudes or semi-nudes. We’re not nude photographers, we’re just not into that.

However, SHE offered up the nude and semi-nude shots by just….getting nude.

So, we took some classy, artistic nude & semi-nude photos.

Now here’s the kicker. We forgot to get her to sign a release before we left the studio. We are so stupid with those damn releases. Sometimes we’re on top of it, sometimes we’re not. It’s so stupid. A fellow photographer suggested an app which gets the model to sign the release on the phone, never forget again!

Ok, our bad. So we do what we always do when we forget them to sign it in person; we send an electronic release to sign. However, she REFUSES to sign it because, “she doesn’t sign a release on nude or semi-nude photos.”

That’s all she said.

Some other photographers have said that maybe she was nervous about where the photos were going to be put up, or how the photos were going to be used (like on a pornography site or something). But she didn’t complain about where the photos were, she knew exactly where we had posted them and had NO problem with where they were publicly displayed. Obviously, we weren’t displaying them on any porn site, but they were on a site where they were very public.

My thought is, if you’re going to get nude in front of a camera, you better be prepared for the nude photos that come from it. If you’re not comfortable with your nude or semi-nude photos being displayed ANYWHERE online: THEN DON’T GET NUDE IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA. 

That’s just my personal opinion.

Now we’ve had to take all the photos down because we can’t have them up without a release. Which is unfortunate because we took some damn good photos.

Anyway, ce la vie, as they say.

We have a photo shoot scheduled for this Sunday that we’re quite thrilled with. I’ll post a couple photos. 🙂

Have a great weekend, y’all!