#wheelswednesday continues on hiatus. When l I asked readers to tell me if they wanted me to continue that series’ focus on automobiles, nobody contacted me. Instead today’s post is a topic that many people have asked about, and is my opinion about models bringing escorts to a shoot.
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
What you have lived through is part of what you see.–Gordon Parks
Over the past twenty or more years ago or so, most of the models that I’ve photographed have been fun to work with. But sometimes the shoots can be funny and sometimes not-so-fun(nny.) And sometimes I’m so surprised that I can’t believe how lucky I am.
Surprise, Surprise, Surprise
I’ve mentioned before how I think that figure models make the best glamour models because they are used to posing with few or any clothes on. So when I answered my door here stood this small women who looked like she was ready to pose for anything but a glamour shoot. Once she did her makeup and got into wardrobe for the shoot, it was like a switch was thrown and she became a completely different and dynamic person. That first shoot and the seven we had over the course of a year produced some amazing and beautiful images. So some surprises are great and some are not.
I’ve written about my f negative feelings about escorts at model shoots and here are a few examples of why I feel this way. I had a shoot scheduled with a stunning model who brought her boyfriend along. He also brought along a few bottles of wine because “she was nervous” about the shoot. Here’s a tip: Drinking any kind of alcohol during a photo shoot is the worst idea in the history of bad ideas. During the shoot, the couple got into a heated argument in the living room of my former home and she started throwing her shoes at him and ended up damaging a coffee table. This was a paid shoot so he gave me cash for the session but it did not cover the cost of repairing or replacing the table and he promised to reimburse me for the damage. Guess what? He didn’t.
How I Made this Shot: I only got to photograph the Australian model known as Madison once. She was a referral from another model, Zoe, who I had photographed three times and who was featured in one of the early installments of #corsetmonday. This image of Madison was part of several wardrobe changes she made for her promotional portfolio. You may not be able to tell it from this image but she was very shy.
I photographed Madison in the living room of my former home. The not-really high key look was created by light coming from two tall, narrow South-facing window that are behind her. The camera used was a Canon EOS D60 and an EF 50mm f/1.8 lens, proving you can make glamour images with any kind of camera and lens. A Canon 420EX speedlite was used as fill with a Stofen Omni-Bounce diffuser mounted to soften the light. Exposure was 1/60 sec at f/3.5 and ISO 400 with a plus one-third stop exposure compensation to make up for the back lighting.
In another incident…when a young model asked if she could bring her girlfriend along to a shoot I thought “why not?” I’ll tell ya why not. During the shoot, they got into an argument and ended up rolling around on the floor of my dining room punching each other and knocking over one of my lights. I asked them to leave and later the model sent me an email apologizing and asking if we could shoot with me again, I declined her kind offer.
And did I mention that every shoot I’ve have ever had with an escort present, the photographs were not that good. Even with the beautiful shoe-throwing model. She was great looking, the photographs were not. There are eight million stories in my saga of photographing models, these have just been a few of them. There are many more…
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. Used copies start around twenty-five bucks.as I write this. The Kindle version is $19.99 for those preferring a digital forma