Finding models offline can be a challenge. It isn’t hard to find pretty girls that you know you’d love to shoot, but getting them to shoot with you can be difficult and scary.

To me there are two main ways to go about approaching a stranger to model for you. Direct and indirect.

“Model”

Before I tell you what these mean, let’s discuss why I put Model in quotes in the title. There is a lot more to being a model than being pretty. And if you just recruit a pretty girl you are going to be taking on a big burden to get good images. You are going to have to teach her how to pose, how lighting works with her body, how to take direction, and all the other things a model would know. Just keep that in mind.

Now to the two methods of recruiting models in person.

So you are at your local grocery store, or Hooters, or where ever and you a see super hot babe and you want to shoot her. How do you do it?

Chris Rock has a routine and he says when you walk up to a girl and start talking to her all she hears is, “Want some dick?” That’s crude, but pretty girls get hit on all the time and they get kind of calloused to it. While they don’t want to be rude right off, they are generally looking to get rid of you as soon as they can.

The Direct Approach To Recruiting

One method is to get in and out quick so she knows you aren’t really hitting on her. Walk up to her, hand her your business card, tell her briefly and directly you want her to model for you, pause for a moment to see if there are any questions and then leave.

The theory is she won’t think you are hitting on her if you don’t stick around.

I’ve done this a couple of times and never got a response. There is just too little time for her to get a bead on you and build some trust. But it has worked for other photographers I’ve talked to.

I also think it works better if during the pause she actually responds and asks a question. Then you can have a trust building conversation.

Which leads to…

The Indirect Approach To Recruiting Models

This method is a little harder because you actually have to interact more and build some trust. In this method you approach the girl and start a conversation with her. Eventually bring up you are a photographer and think she’d make a good model.

The biggest problem here is most guys don’t know how to start a conversation with a pretty woman without sounding like they are hitting on her.

Teaching that is really beyond the scope of this article but here’s a quick tip.

Ask her, and the whole group she is with, her opinion on something. It would be nice if that something might be photography related. Maybe something like “Do you think most models thought they were pretty in middle school?”

I just made that up, but it is a good opener because it is about modeling, its about being pretty and it will let you sound like an expert when the discussion comes back to you. You can lead from your answer (which IMHO is “No they didn’t”) to talking about if she felt she was pretty when she was that young.

If you try that out, leave a comment and let me know how it works.

What Next

I teach that when approaching models any where – online or off – you need to know what the next thing you want them to do. Don’t try and book a shoot right then unless you are really in good with her. Instead get a means of contacting her and ask her to look at some of your work online.

Have any of you approached models in the real world? How did you do it successfully? Or post a great failure story we can learn from.

It’s Las Vegas week here on Photographer and Model. I’m going to Las Vegas Wednesday night and staying through the weekend. This week’s guest on the podcast is Tiffany Jackson, a Las Vegas model. While I’m in Vegas I’m going to be shooting with Tiffany and another model.

While interviewing Tiffany for the podcast I talked to her a little about the Dos and Don’ts of shooting while in Vegas. I thought it would be cool to expand on that with her and create an article for the blog, so I got her on the phone and asked her some questions.

Before I get into her tips, I wanted to point out something. Vegas models want to shoot with you. As Tiffany put it in the podcast, there aren’t a lot of photographers who shoot in Las Vegas, but everyone travels there sometime. So in order for the Vegas models to expand their portfolios, they look for traveling photographers.

Tiffany’s Dos and Don’ts

Make sure of your travel details. Be sure the trip is actually going to happen. You need to know when you are going to be there. You can’t expect models to wrap their schedules around you and then change it at the last minute.

Don’t assume everything cool is in one place. You are probably going to have to move around. It is best to rent a car, so you can get from location to location.

You can’t shoot in a casino. Security will be all over you really quick if you do that. So don’t have a concept that depends on shooting in a casino. Supposedly you can ask permission and get a permit, but I think for most of us non-commercial shooters that isn’t going to happen.

Plan out makeup and wardrobe. This is true of any shoot in my opinion, and always impresses a model – which shows some of pathetic traits of average photographers – but is especially true for you when traveling. You do know you can use Model Mayhem to find MUAs as well as models, right?

Don’t expect the model to show you the strip. You may go to Vegas to pick up women, but your models aren’t valid targets.

Book multiple models for the same day. Does Vegas have more flakes than other towns? Hard to say, but it does have flakes. If you have to shoot it is better to double book.

How do you avoid the flakes? Look at how often they update their profile. Gage how quickly they respond. If they take too long, cut your losses. Ask other models if they can vouch for them.

What The Model Can Do For You.

You are coming in from out of town, so you don’t know what you are doing or where you are going. You will have to depend on the model somewhat. So I asked Tiffany what a model might be able to do for you. I’ll add the caveat that Tiffany is a go-getter; she gets things done. Not all models are that proactive.

She can help you arrange makeup. Models know MUAs. Therefore they can recommend them to you. Sometimes you can get a break from the MUA because she knows and likes the model.

She can help find locations. She knows the city better than you do, and has probably shot in a number of places. Tiffany also said she can tell you what times are best to shoot at different locations.

Where Are Good Places To Shoot?

There are some good parks in Vegas. Believe it or not if you want a natural setting Las Vegas has some cool parks.

Dry lake beds. There are a couple of dry lake beds with in driving distance of Las Vegas that make cool locations.

Downtown Las Vegas. Has a cool neon look and an old Vegas feel. It is cool to shoot there, but Tiffany says you have to be wary of the bums. They can be aggressive and disruptive to your shoots.

Valley of Fire. A cool red rock location. Tiffany says Valley of Fire actually looks cooler than Red Rock park.

Conclusion

Vegas is a great place to visit, and while you are there you can shoot. If you are a good photographer, both from a creative and character point of view, the models will look forward to shooting with you. But models are going to be wary. They have to worry if you are just trying to pick them up. They also worry – like most models you shoot TFP with – that you will shoot with them and never give them any images.

Tiffany suggests you bring a laptop and burn them a CD right there. I don’t give my models everything shot, only the retouched images, and I’m not spending time in Vegas retouching. But you can find ways to lessen this worry. Maybe you could give her references from models you’ve shot with and delivered in a timely manner. Or you could agree to give her a CD of images, but she can’t use them unless you don’t send her anything with in a month. Be creative.

I’m going to be shooting while in Vegas with Tiffany. She’s helped me find an MUA and we’ve set a time, talked wardrobe and locations. It should be fun, and I’ll report back next week.

We were having an open house at my studio and I asked a photographer, “What do you shoot?”

His answer? “Canon.”

I kind of laughed and said, “No, I meant what are your subjects.”

People, we don’t shoot cameras, we shoot landscapes, or models, or cars, or pickles.

During Frederik Van Johnson’s interview we talked about how people get caught up in the manufacturer debates, and how unimportant that was. One guy put on his name tag “I’m a Nikon”. He was a nice guy and obviously very into photography, but dude, you camera brand matters squat.

Please people say what you shoot. Or like to shoot. Or want to shoot.

It may be you shoot one thing – like weddings or flowers – but what you really want to shoot is something else – like models. Answer that. “I mostly shoot landscapes, but I’m getting into shooting models.”

You may have to shoot lots of different things before you find the thing that is it for you, but I doubt that thing is camera bodies.