The Pro and the Fourth Session

I usually hire professional models. That's the practical answer, and it's the one I give when people ask.

When I book a pro, the process is simple. Reach out, by whatever means, these days that's modelmayhem.com, then we talk about what it is I'm looking to create and there is the back and forth. Then we agree on time, location, date, wardrobe, and the fee. She shows up, does the work, and we work through what was agreed upon. As with any situation of two strangers coming together to work, there is a slight coldness, for no other reason than they're strangers. The tension lightens as the work progresses and more often than not we are no longer strangers. Then the work is done, the subject signs the paperwork, she receives her fee, and we part ways.

This process gives me peace of mind. I do not have to figure out the whole shoot from beginning to end and I can focus, pun intended, on creating the image. I don't have to figure out wardrobe per se, though I give ideas of styles. I'm not coaching, nor am I attempting to build confidence from scratch. All of that is there already, and my full attention is where it needs to be, the actual creation.

I like working with aspiring models too, and for a different reason. They haven't picked up any habits yet. There's nothing to undo. You can shape something with a person who hasn't yet learned what her face is supposed to do in front of a camera.

Photographers don't generally complain about this part, but working with someone new, you have to be creative with more than just the image in your camera. You have to style everything, wardrobe, location. You have to be familiar with makeup, what soft glamour is, all of it. You have to be a posing coach, you have to know what makes sense, you must understand why her hand and fingers go this way instead of that, why putting her fingers in her hair while standing and looking at the camera sometimes looks silly and sometimes does not. There's a time and place for everything. Then you have to be able to create rapport with someone, to help bring a level of comfort, because unease shows up incredibly well in a photo of someone's face. The whole process takes time and cannot ever be rushed.

Here's the thing.

Every so often you work with someone new who turns out to be a creative in her own right, and you end up with work that neither of you could have specified in advance. Those are rare. You can't arrange for one.

I worked with a young woman named Lesly a few times. She was in the military, stationed here. First session, she was shy. But the camera loved her face, and shooting her was easy even then. Second time, easier. She'd found out she liked being in front of a lens.

Life happened, and I had all but moved on from shooting with Lesly. But for whatever reason I reached out one day. I wanted to create, and I knew she would be a great subject without me having to try so hard.

Kismet, I think, is the word I'm looking for. When I reached out she said she was glad I did, because she'd be leaving island soon for good. She and her husband were being relocated to Europe. We arranged a shoot and rushed the date, since she'd need to be packing.

She came prepared. I gave her one idea and she ran with it. She showed up and we got started, and I changed batteries twice. I never do this. I have always been a very efficient shooter, I get my shot and I move on. It's how I've shot since film, because film was expensive.

I can't fully explain the what or the why, but the photos were great. She has always been easy to shoot. But the other ones, the ones where I was thinking about something else entirely and she'd gone out on the balcony to sit and take a sip of coffee and just be, that's what I wait for. Unposed, unplanned, and just life. That's what I love to create. What I love to record.

So what happened? I'm not entirely sure. If I knew, I'd take it, make a lesson out of it and teach others. But I think what it points to is patience. The ability to see beyond the box, as it were. There's a term in the military for hyper focus, where you're so locked onto one thing that you fail to see anything beyond what's directly in front of you. That, I think, is the thing worth teaching. The ability to see past what's in front of you and stay open to the possibilities.

Sometimes we think we have something great in the arsenal, and for all intents and purposes we do. We've gone through the shoot and gotten some great stuff. But there's an old adage about not turning off your camera, because the great shot might just happen after you've put it down. Seeing beyond what's in front of you is the thing.

So, bottom line. When a shoot, any shoot, goes well, it's an awesome, satisfying feeling. A session that works from beginning to end is always a pleasure, like the end of a long hard day that still feels good.

And I do love working with pros. But there is nothing that compares to working with someone after you've established rapport, and watching those images come up on your screen.

If you'd like to see what I mean, I put together a small set from both of those sessions, three frames each. [Composed and Caught.]

If you’d like to see the YT vid check it out here, VIDEO