The Udo shoot was super boring. I sat for hair and make up for 5 hours, and spent 30 minutes being photographed. This is the reason print modeling is not my favorite gig. The make-up and hair part was ok. The prep times for the shoots are just too boring for me. But like in all gigs, a book, listening to Podcasts in my Ipod are very helpful pass-time tools of the trade. Sad to say, conversing with fellow models are not really that interesting, the subjects are usually diets, Ephedrine, stories about what other models did, where they went to party, and sad what they cannot eat in a party.
I have learned some interesting lesson on Udo's session. When Udo was shooting movement, I was wondering in my head how it was going to be captured, thinking like a photographer. I was a bit curios, because in my own limitation, it is quite challenging for me capturing movement with clarity. He did the moving shots really well, all clean and crisp. He hand held his Nikon camera and he let me do my own thing. The movement segment was actually fun to do, now that I have seen the result, I can imagine how to play with it when I do fashion shoots. I can see how this is very useful, because the great shots of a face are the intense and candid ones, and it is best achieved when a model is not thinking about her pose. Fashion photography is about the clothes, and when a model is confident about the clothes she can play with it, have fun with it and showcase it with personality. Plus, with movement, it shows the behavior of the fabric and clothes. I can imagine a chiffon dress bend and flow or a skin tight Lycra stretch with the body contorting. Udo shuts off all sound feature in his camera, it can be distracting by the way. I know it can sound glamorous to hear camera clicking away, but that is only hollywood, when it is real work, quiet is better. Udo used the speed multiple frames, so it helps not having to hear the motor. Like shooting wildlife and models, we animals want to concentrate and silently do what we naturally do. LOL. I thought of asking Udo to send my data in RAW so I can process it, but when it came in, only few needed color adjustments. I think he did a good job, I liked the skin tones, the rich colors, clarity. I doubt that he did any processing on these, the raw shots were just taken the right way that it did not need anymore work. Some insights being on the other side of the camera; as a trained model, I do not wait for Udo to tell me what look he wants, I do my own thing but Udo verbalizes so it helps a lot just by saying.. "perfect", "fantastic", " hold that look", " "i want more of that", "that's nice, hold it"..communicating with the subject (model), in a form of immediate feedback, so the subject can keep doing whatever product that the project needs. A lesson learned, there has to be good rapport between the photographer and the model. It always helps that there is communication, like everything else in life. I enjoyed the photography side of this gig.
I have heard from several fellow photographers, that fashion or print projects are not their favorites because it can be tough to work with a person. I can relate to that, especially if a photographer is dealing with an untrained model. As an example, when Udo was shooting this gig, he brought along with him his fiancee who was also a model so she can coach the models what to do. She told me that most models just stand and do nothing. She assists Udo because he bends and twirls many times to show the model what he wants, and that is not really what photographers need to be doing. Hurt his back, she says...ha ha ha ha. Models might consider work hazard insurance for that. Udo wears the knee pads, which I think I should consider in shoots. That was not in my tool list, but I can see now where I can use it. Visit Udo's portfolio
www.udophotography.comWell, which side are you really on???? Some wondered, am I a model or a photographer?
I started photography in college and I loved my first camera, Nikon SLR, I started with film, cooked films in a dark room and I produced my own prints. I have a stronger yearning to improve my photography because it allows me a wide latitude of creativity. I see myself taking pictures until I am 90. I have worked as the advertising and promotions officer for a clothing company as my first job, part of my job is hire photographers, models and crew to produce our advertisements. Modeling for me is an extension of my photography. I appreciate the subjects ability to embody the message of the picture, but ultimately, it is the photographer's eye and creation.
