Trust me, I'm a model!

Cameron Russel

Following up on my post from yesterday, I saw this clip on my facebook timeline and really appreciated the brutal honesty of the speaker, Cameron Russe

Cameron Russell admits she won "a genetic lottery": she's tall, pretty and an underwear model. But don't judge her by her looks. In this fearless talk, she takes a wry look at the industry that had her looking highly seductive at barely 16-years-old.

Why do you want to be a model when you can be anything else? she asks...

Now it might be counter productive for me to dissuade potential talent from not getting into my business line, but I can relate to what she is saying.

It's amazing to me how many models will stand in front of my lens and do something or pose in a specific way because they were told to do so by a photographer or a stylist because they are not good enough to do it another way.

"I don't have a nice smile, so I prefer not to"
"My right side is my better side"
"I am too tall"
"I am too short"
"I have ugly hands"

Ok... so what is the purpose of the post?

Chances are you will not be a supermodel, and chances are that our perception of how wonderful a supermodel's life is, is completely wrong... well.. actually, I know it is. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't live your dream... And definitely do not let the world shape you to their perceptions and expectations... live your life your way, to the fullest! Believe in yourself and your abilities!

If you want to become a model, Chase the dream, do the shoots, work hard at it, but realise what it is you are chasing and why. If it's your dream, do it! If it's your passion, hunt it down ...just make sure you are not chasing a fantasy!

by Sean Nel
Copyright the respective photographer

Are you making a career out of it?

History

Inspired by model responses to job postings for models but hopefully relevant to all parts of the industry...

On a previous job posting, I posted a job for a freelance model. The job was not difficult (essentially needed a face on a chair) and was, at least in my mind, not a bad fee for the job and the day.

I received a few responses, but three of them stood out... all three were one line responses, without a name or any other way of contacting the model:

" I'm interested in doing the photo shoot.
Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom - let your email find you!"

That's it... the complete email as I received it!!!

This one was my favourite, because I replied, but the mail bounced back as non-existant user. A day later I received the following:

" Why haven't you contacted me?
Sent via my BlackBerry from Vodacom - let your email find you!"

Ok... so appart from the fact that I did try and contact you, I didn't have any OTHER way of contacting you... heck, if you signed your name, maybe I could have googled you?!

Anyhoo... that was what got me thinking about the industry in South Africa. We work almost daily with super motivated talent and the exact oposite... The guys and gals that complain that there is no work, no money and the industry is dying if not dead already.

Well, the fact of the matter is simply that if you are thinking of making a career out of being a [photographer | model | stylist | MUA | cinematographer | actor | designer ] - (please circle what aplies to you) - then YOU need to make it happen. Nobody is going to GIVE it to you... you are not ENTITLED to it!

I will be discovered!

Gary Player used to say:

"... the more you practice, the luckier you get!"

It's true! The more you work at getting yourself into a position to be noticed, the easier it is for people to notice you! And the more profesional you come accross when somebody important notices you, the better your chances of booking the shoot that changes your life. 

Unfortunately, you really are only as good as your last shoot, or the last shoot people remember you doing, so once you have done that campaign for Gucci, where to now? how does the next person find you? Many people think that doing "Gucci" means you have arived... unfortunately it only means you have expanded your platform of where the right people can find you, and book you for work.

A model I saw for the first time about 5 years ago is a perfect example. She opened up the catwalk by Irish dancing down the line for Jean Paul Gaultier. Coco Rocha was "discovered" in 2002 but only started modeling in 2004 and worked for 2 years as a signed model before catching a "lucky break" in 2006 at which point she just flew!

But what makes me like her? I honestly had no idea who she was or how far she had gone... all I knew was that she was a model that posted some behind the scenes videos of her work... Currently she is on a reality show with Naomi Campbell and Karolina Kurkova, she has shot for Banana Republic, Calvin Klein, Chanel, Diesel, Gap, L'Oreal, Schwarzkopf, Lanca, Yves Saint Laurent, Zac Posen, etc, etc... heck she even did some campaigns for Coca-Cola! I think we are moving into the realm of success here... but here is the difference....

She has an ACTIVE blog (oh-so-coco.tumblr.com), a very nice and complete Wikipedia Page, her official ACTIVE and UPDATED website (www.cocorocha.com), an ACTIVE Twitter feed with almost half a million followers (www.twitter.com/cocorocha), ACTIVE and UPDATED Model Profiles (ala http://models.com/), ACTIVE Facebook page with over 300k followers (www.facebook.com/cocorocha) and even an ACTIVE Weibo account (Chinese version of Twitter: http://weibo.com/)!

Did you notice the trend? If she is not working, she is promoting herself. Even though it may not be necesarry for her to promote herself anymore, She is her brand and she markets the hell out of it! She even has her own Vimeo page with over 120 videos about her, her campaigns and Behind the Scenes... and when she speaks, she is almost always smiling, joking and being positive. People want to work with her!

So here we have an uber succesful model, who is positive and super active in promoting herself, and always giving credit to the people around her for "making her look good" how does that relate to your activity in promoting yourself as a brand?

Do you have...

•  a website?
• a blog?
• a twitter feed?
• a video page?
• a portfolio?
• an email signature?

...and what is on those pages? How do you represent yourself?

I am not suggesting we should all be like Coco Rocha, but I do think it's important to think a little bit more about how we go about our business on the interwebs. If somebody wants to book you for a shoot, it must be the easiest thing in the world to find you! and once they find you, they must like what they see...

Do you want to make a career out of it? Then treat it as if it's the most important thing in the world!

My grandfather (who saw Gary Player once...) used to tell me:

"Find a job you like, and you will never have to 'work' a day in your life..."

I love my 'job' as a photographer... I feel guilty about not 'working' every day ;)

By Sean Nel.
Copyright the respective photographers

How About David Thompson then?

I quite enjoyed the videos David Thompson did for the PhaseONE Medium format backs and bodies, and to be brutally honest, I did learn a few tricks.

For one, I now can say without a doubt that my wife is wrong, and you can never have too many Profoto Heads in the studio! That said, I love the studio space as well as the absolute control he enforces on his shots.

See his work here at http://www.davidthompson.eu/