It’s not just #anythingcanhappen day, today’s post features one of the most amazing models I ever ever had the privilege to photograph, Pam Simpson who, hopefully, I have a scheduled shoot with next month! It’s also National Shakespeare Day that was an idea of Robert J. Williamson, the artistic director of the British Shakespeare Company.
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
From women’s eyes this doctrine I derive: They sparkle still the right Promethean fire; They are the books, the arts, the academes, That show, contain and nourish all the world.–William Shakespeare
There is more to photographing models than just taking pictures. There’s a whole lot of stuff–sometimes drama– that goes on behind the scenes and today I’ll share some of the realities of photographing models in the hope that some of the information gleaned from this post will help make your next shoot more pleasant. Lets start with what for, at least some of us, is one of the most contentious issues…
Behind the Scenes
Chaperones, escorts, & other assorted hangers on. I’ve found that having extraneous people at a model shoot can be a problem especially when dealing with new or models that you might have found through the Internet. I’ve also encountered this same problem with models who were referred to me by other photographers who never mentioned these unexpected guests but maybe it never happened to them.
When communicating with a new model, I always ask them to check my references with other models I’ve worked with before. I understand that having someone accompany them to the session may provide an element of security but if the models do their homework there is nothing to be concerned about. The bottom line is that every time I’ve had a model bring an escort to a shoot, the images created were useless because, with rare exceptions, the models play to that person and not the photographer. If the photographs are going to be bad, why even bother having a shoot?
About this Photograph: Truly professional models, such as Pam Simpson, do their homework before working with a new photographer, They check their bona fides with other models, look at the shooter’s website and do research on the Web for comments about the photographer. These kinds of models don’t bring a chaperone because they know that adding another person to the shoot changes the dynamics between photographer and model and having that additional person on site always produces inferior photographs, which is something they don’t want.
The high key lighting setup I used for this portrait of Pam could not have been any simpler. It used a Paul C. Buff DigiBee 800 monolight with a Plume Ltd hexagonal Wafer soft box attached that was placed at camera left. At camera right was an AlienBee 800 with no reflector, just the bare tube, aimed mostly at the background, which in this case was a white wall, before i painted the studio grey, which I’m still not sure about. The camera used was an entry level Nikon D5100 with an 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens at 55mm with an exposure of 1/160 sec at f/9 and ISO 200.
When it comes to escorts, photographers that have standalone studios have a better arrangement . They can have the chaperone sit in a waiting room reading People or watching Oprah. I have a home studio and during one shoot, the escort got into a physical altercation with the model with her throwing things at him (not me) and in the process destroying a coffee table in my living room. It was a paid shoot but what they paid me did not cover the cost of replacing the furniture, all their promises notwithstanding. My wife was not amused. It’s not just boyfriends. I had another model get into a fight with her girlfriend and they rolled around on the floor kicking and punching one another. She later sent me an e-mail apologizing but the shoot was a train wreck as you might imagine.
When I worked with agencies in the past, the models sent would typically not bring an escort but it happens. One model brought her brother and another brought her Mom and yet another her boyfriend and none of those shoots produced a single usable photograph. At a shoot with a model who was recommended to me by another photographer, the model brought her sister and her mother along with her father and his new wife. All of these people jammed themselves into my 11×15-foot studio and all of them were talking to the model at the same time while I was trying to photograph her. My requests for them to be quiet were ignored. The pictures weren’t horrible but they were not as good as they might have been.
What Have We Learned Today: All of the above experiences taught me why I think it’s important for photographers to establish their own chaperone policy and stick with it, keeping in mind that a “no escorts” rule could mean fewer available models. For me, the question of bringing an escort is a deal breaker but you have to make your own decision. Don’t let anybody change your mind about what you might think is right on this issue because everybody’s circumstances are different and what’s right for me, might not work for you.
My book Joe Farace’s Glamour Photography is full of tips, tools and techniques for glamour and boudoir photography and includes information on all of the cameras used as well as the complete exposure data for each image. New copies are available for $26.22 with used books starting around twelve bucks.as I write this. The Kindle version is $19.99 for those preferring a digital forma