Hope at the interview

Hope responded to a classified ad I placed on a popular free classified website. I had posted ads once or twice a week for the previous few weeks. The ads stay up for a couple of months, so there were about ten ads up. Hope responded to all ten, so I assumed she was probably hitting all of the ads she could find, what I call shot gunning. A model appearing uncommitted can be a yellow flag, so I needed to determine how deep her interest was. I responded quickly to Hope, knowing she was eager to get started and might soon be busy with other photographers. Here is the e-mail she sent me:
“Hi, I am interested in being the nude model for your photography. I am an artist myself and have painted some nude portraits so I understand. I would like to meet beforehand and maybe know a little about you before. I will attach one or two photographs of myself in semi-nude to see if I might be what you are looking for. I will check my email often for a reply. Thanks, Hope”

As it occasionally happens, Hope’s photos were not large or clear enough for me to determine her suitability for my projects. It was obvious that she had some attractive features, and the photos she sent me were unusually creative in their lighting and poses. This was substantially encouraging. Nevertheless, I still had some questions about her appearance that were difficult to answer via an e-mail exchange. From the small, dim shots, I could not see if her skin was smooth or if her muscles were toned. I was also concerned about her apparent shotgun approach. I decided an in-person interview would solve these uncertainties, as well as verify her interest and commitment. My reply to her first e-mail read, “Hello, Hope. I like what I see. I’m pretty flexible with time this weekend. If you send me your number and tell me when you’re available, we should be able to do something.”

I called her, and we agreed to meet at a coffee shop that was convenient for both of us. Hope was on time to the meeting and lively when she got there. She was, in fact, easily identifiable as the most attractive woman in the shop. On that note, I typically do not worry about how I am going to spot a model at our first meeting; if I cannot find her in a crowd, she’s probably not what I’m looking for. I introduced myself to her while she was standing in line. I bought coffee for both of us, and we sat. Hope reiterated that she was an artist, and concerning nudes, she said, “I get it.” She was emphatic, and I could sense she had zero qualms about creating images with me. After a few minutes, I suggested we step outside to see how well things worked with her, my camera, and me. We walked into the parking lot, and I retrieved my camera from my car and snapped a few quick shots, one of which appears on this page.

I did two shoots with Hope before she unfortunately had to move four hours away. For months, we did not do any shoots. I kept in touch with her through Facebook and we have continued to work together. I have traveled up to work with her over a weekend and she has come to me on occasion. When visiting her, we traveled to some of her mountain haunts, including some amazing waterfalls. She has posed with classic cars and at an abandoned Buddhist monastery. Hope is good at making a single prop work, whether it is a rope, chain, scarf, or bottle filled with water. I have photographed Hope at least eight times, each with spectacular results.

More about Hope and additional recruiting diaries appear in my book Up to My Eyeballs in Nude Women.

From time to time I see someone, either a model or a photographer, ranting about one site or another. It usually starts with “all the people on this site are…” and then proceeds to generalize about every site member. Well, I’m not inclined to take stock in many statements that begin with a phrase like that. Take the instance of no-shows for example. It happens to all of us, but there are ways you can avoid no-show models, and I’ve written about that.

That’s Not Their Job

Most sites do minimal screening of their applicants and members. Most modeling sites are a free-for-all where only spammers and other unruly individuals are denied membership. Even modellocate.com which claims to do a good job of weeding out people who shouldn’t be there, and which has a built-in feedback system, contains flaky models. The modeling site is just the conduit for social networking, and it’s up to you to use your knowledge and effort to find good people to work with.

Look Before You Leap? Really?

To take the issue more broadly, let’s say you were hiring a cleaning service. You open the yellow pages and look for a nice looking advertisement. You immediately hire them, not bothering to get past references, ask your contacts if they’d heard about them, or even prepare any interview questions. You then discover that they do a lousy job and conclude “The yellow pages are terrible!” — Although this seems laughable, this is exactly the approach some take to using modeling sites.

You need to do your homework before hiring a nude model. I’ve written about this topic in a separate article.

If you learn how to spot a conscienceless, hard-working model, it stands to reason you’ll have better success booking models who give you a great shoot.

Even if you are very careful, you’ll still have bad experiences. But you will also have good experiences, and the more you learn and apply that knowledge, the more you’ll be able to sort the flakes from the real models. Even the crazy modeling sites have some good models on there. I’ve even found good models on regular social networking sites like Myspace.com, though many photographers will say “All the models on Myspace are…” well, you get the point.

Model: Meg S.

Meg is a model I found through a modeling site and who yielded a good shoot. She was on time, had posing ideas of her own, and didn’t hesitate to try any pose I suggested.