UPDATE: On Sept 1, 2009, the podcast’s name was changed to the Photographer And Model podcast.
In this episode Shawna and Ron talk about the Shooting Beauty Manifesto.
The Manifesto
The other art based podcast: Candid Frame
Books Mentioned: The Creative Habit and Tribes.
The video show Shawna and I worked together on.
Beauty & Brains
This week’s theme music was Manifesto by JINX TITANIC provided by the PodSafe music network.
I’m curious as to what your final purpose is for shooting this type of work? both model and photographer. Me, I shoot primarily product for catalog. When I shoot a person it’s with a specific commercial goal in mind. It seems to me that most model photographers do it with nothing in mind for the end user.
I understand thosephotographers who do it as fine art with a gallery show as a final result but so very little is ever seen outside of One Model Place.
The same for the models, other then posing for shoot-outs, workshops or hobbists, do any of these ladies ever do commercial work? if so, who have they been hired by?
I myself used to be listed at One Model Place (first back when it was called Folios.com) and I’ve seen a lot of folks taking advantage of wanna bee models. I got out of there cause being associated with what OMP became was bringing down my credibility.
Just curious what your thoughts are
Von R Buzard’s last blog post..Found: Perfect Attendance Pin
I can’t speak for everyone, but I do it mostly because it is fun and an art I can do.
Even though I consider it an artistic expression, I don’t expect my work to end up in a gallery. The main reason is because I don’t think my genre’s are accepted by the gallery art community. (We talked about this with Bob Warren in Ep 1).
When you say, “nothing in mind for the end user”, who is the end user? Since it is mostly non-commercial as you say, are you talking about the viewer? Most non-professional photographers create their work for who ever sees it, even if that is only online.
As for models, must they do “commercial” work to be valid models? Or is being a figure/artists model a valid career path? And working only in freelance or educational settings valid work?
I think many people coming from your background don’t understand why people would do this kind of work, both photographers and models, if they aren’t getting paid. If there isn’t some end goal of money or fame.
Not sure if that was a concise or clear answer to your question.
Out of curiosity who was judging you poorly for being on OMP?
I was just curious of your thoughts.
From a commercial background I have always had to plan an assignment with what is the end use first. Whether that is a catalog for print (and now more and more web catalogs) or if it is for fine art with a gallery show in mind. It has always been my belief that to grow in your art you need to show your work and I am also a firm believer in the printed image. Even thought most of my work is for the web these days I still print images for myself
When I left OMP there were a LOT of wanna bee and never gonna bee photographers and if a client saw me listed there they told me they weren’t sure I was the type of photographer they were looking for. I was told more then once that by clients that they had a lower value of me after seeing who else was listed at a site like that. Devalued by Association. Truth is I have gotten more work from LinedIn then I ever did from OMP. I also used to be listed at MuseCube, Garage Glamour and Model Mayhem (although I did just re uped at MM, it seems cleaner now, but who knows how long I will stay)
I don’t think posing for Revelon or being signed by Elite makes you a model, but it does carry more credence for some. Everyone has to start somewhere. I just hope some of these young ladies take the time to learn the biz and don’t think it’s all fun and games. Every model is a walking/talking small business all by themself and running a biz takes a lot of work and knowledge. I hope you can emphasize that in your podcast.
Thanks
“Every model is a walking/talking small business all by themself and running a biz takes a lot of work and knowledge. I hope you can emphasize that in your podcast.”
We just did an interview with a photographer where we ended up talking a lot about what he saw as common mistakes among wanna be models. Interestingly he mostly works with promotional models. But what you say is very true.
Oh, and I have a plugin on the blog that auto links some words, and Model Mayhem is one of those, but it links to my page. Sorry for any confusion that causes. I need to look at its settings.
Sounds Good, I look forward to hearing the interview. The more folks know about how the business works the stronger it makes it for everybody.