Learn Photography

A loose-leaf compendium of tips, tricks, pointers, faqs, tutorials, and curios found in the quests for increased knowledge and skill.

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There's No Place Like Your Mouth: So You Wanna Freelance Model Outside of the US

*This is a informational post for freelance, nude models based on my personal experience. Your trip may vary, but this is what I’ve learned so far.*

So you’re a freelance nudie model like me. Yay! You have a good portfolio and want to branch out and/or travel abroad while trying to make some money at the same time. What do you need to know? I’ll tell you!

First and foremost, try to avoid buying your own ticket if possible. It’s pricey out of pocket (we’re talking around $1000-$1200), and I’m not one for that kind of gamble unless you have at least twice that amount already booked. Which is hard, because you want to buy your ticket many months in advance and most photographers also have busy lives and cannot set a date that far. So. My ticket was paid for by a photographer who approached me about “trade shoot for flight,” It’s tough to have to wait for people to come to you, but I prefer it. I then split the cost of another round trip ticket so that my boyfriend could also come with me. Partially for security purposes (although he did not escort me to shoots), and partially because 3 weeks away would suck.

I don’t know if this was a fluke or what, but traveling from the US (PHL —> Chicago) to England (Heathrow) on a Thursday night meant the flight and the arriving airport were EMPTY. I think it was just our flight coming in, which was amazing. I flew American Airlines out there and they had delicious meals served twice. My flight back to the States was supposed to be with AA, but because of a flight cancellation I took British Airways back which had even better food but was more crowded.

You will be asked at customs where you are staying, so be prepared to have that information. I always say I’m going for personal pleasure or fun, because the majority of the time I will indeed be traveling, site-seeing, and shopping/spending money in their wonderful country (emphasize that point).

London - There’s really no other way to say this. London was AWFUL for booking work. Apparently nude model rates are about half of ours, and if you ask for the standard $100 hour you will be met with a big fat rejection. So. Either you suck it up and work for less, or you do things different. A popular option is a “studio day,” which needs to be booked well in advance and requires you contacting a studio that does them, setting a day, and then local photographers pay a fee to come and shoot you and you get that money at the end of the day. I also recommend joining PureStorm.com, which is the where the majority of the UK photographers network, in addition to posting on ModelMayhem.com. I would recommend joining at least 3 months ahead of time, and listing London as your location, and then stating in your bio that you are a US-based model traveling to the city on X days.

London is also very expensive to get around, and to eat. I stayed outside of the city proper with friends and took the train in which was about £14 roundtrip (roughly $20). I don’t know how much hotels would be be but I gather very expensive. Not many Motel 6s or Super 8s hanging about. (There are national parks in the north of the country, but I can’t speak to those.) On the plus side, the trains are efficient and run late. And the shopping is great (people in London have the best style), as is the general art/museum/culture (they have been a country for, oh, hundreds of years longer than us). Gotta say though, the food is seriously lacking, and in that they conform to the stereotype. No good beer to be found, the cider is the highest alcohol content available if that tells you anything. The meat pastries are good, but the pizza is scary (what was up with that pepperoni???) and the fish & chips take-away I had were bleh. I did have excellent Indian take-away, and the unpasteurized milk & cheese are things I dearly miss.

I took the EuroStar from London to Paris and it was great, very simple, £49.50 per person one way. There was free wifi at St. Pancreas station.

Paris - Much better for work! The French appreciate beauty, nudity, and take their off-work time seriously. I booked a bunch of shoots just using MM, both in Paris and in Toulon. Downtown Paris is obviously expensive, but I found what must have been the cheapest hotel in the world right outside the city in Villepante/Parc de Expositions near CDG airport called the Premiere Classe. For 3 people (they had a 3 bed room, go figure) it was $400 for 9 nights. It may not be as much of a steal if you are traveling alone, but it’s worth looking into. There is a free breakfast that is decent, and the wifi is free. Drawbacks are the TINY bathroom, which seriously had a shower the size of an airline bathroom, the large & unwashed family hanging out in the lobby for days, the fact that the metro/RER stops running here after 11pm, and it’s in basically an office park with no food around. The one place to get food is the Speed Rabbit, and let me tell you the French understand pizza even less than the English. Those flavors just did NOT belong together.

The metro is however much cheaper and French people do love to tell you how to avoid paying (jumping turnstiles, going through the one-way gates after a certain hour). The bus system is also excellent, and when the metro stopped running to our hotel after 11 we were able to get on one at the last stop that took us right back to our hotel. For step-by-step directions to and from shoots, use http://ratp.fr/. There is an English version of the site and I would look up everywhere I needed to go in the morning, then put it in the calendar in my phone so I could refer to it as need. You can buy the Paris Visite Zone 1-5, 3 day or 7 day ticket but they only work from certain days to certain days, NOT 3 or 7 days from when you buy it. It is best for commuters. So I just bought two, one way Ile-de-France tickets each day and it was just as good and ultimately cheaper.

For traveling between cities, I used the fast TGV trains (http://www.sncf.com/). Note on these: you need to PRINT OUT A PAPER TICKET to get on. So you’ll need access to a printer or buy it there. Having it on phone/email does not work as they need to scan it. Also, double check what city you’re going to! There are 3 train stations in Paris and they do not all go to the same cities. Example: Gare de Lyon goes to Toulon, whereas Gare de Montparnasse goes to Toulouse.

Berlin - I tried to book work there via MM, but only got one bite so I decided to skip it. I’ve heard nothing but great things about the art and youth there, and apparently it would have been the cheapest of the cities to stay in, but I couldn’t find a cheap Ryan air flight there when I needed, or a cheap train. http://www.ryanair.com/en is the best way to get in between European cities for cheap, but you do have to pay lots of little fees like checked bags etc.

Australia - TBA, I’m traveling there (hopefully) next March! What I have learned so far is that there is LOTS of work to be had, especially glamor and art nude work, but pretty much no one will buy you a ticket ahead of time. Which makes sense since the cheapest ones I can find on any website will run you $1800-$2000 each roundtrip. So it is one where I’ll eventually have to bite the bullet and buy it myself, then hustle my butt off to book as much as possible. Note that their seasons are the opposite of ours, and that the country is large so the weather varies in each part. The best times to go are February and March, when it’s still warm but hasn’t turned into rain yet (April). I would be focusing on the eastern coast, mainly Sydney and Melbourne (with a flight in between), and hopefully staying with friends in both places. Not sure about car rental, but I think that is something that I will have to invest in unless I can do a “trade shooting for driving my ass around” deal. The best site for networking there is AusModels.com

Brussels - TBA, I’m traveling there this summer!

Notes about money, currency & exchanging. I went through the trouble of converting my rates into all the local currencies when I posted about my trip on ModelMayhem and when emailing. I shouldn’t have bothered. If at all possible, have photographers pay you in USD (or via a card reader like Square if you have it and an iPhone) because you will get FUCKED on the exchange rate fee coming back and will lose serious cash. You will have to convert some money while you are there for cash-only businesses, but my advice is to pay for everything you can with a card. NOTE that you MUST call your bank and tell them where you will be traveling and when so that they don’t freeze your card thinking it’s been stolen. Also, make sure the merchants you buy from charge you in the local currency or else you’ll get fucked over by having to pay for the item twice- once in local, once in USD.

Notes about phones and communication. I have an iPhone, and there’s this amazing little app called Line2 that gives you a second number (of your choosing!) as well as the ability to text message for $9.99 a month. You can call, text etc. anywhere in the world without using any of your data plan AND while your phone is one airplane mode (which it would have to be if you don’t want to get the most ridiculous AT&T charges). The only catch is that it only works via wireless. So if you’re in your hotel that has free wifi, it’s perfect for calling home and setting up shoots. If, however, you are stuck in the wrong Mediterranean city and have no way of contacting the photographer to let them know this and you have to beg a local hotel to use their internet connection (true story), you realize that this is a flawed plan. Especially since the supposed “oh everywhere in Europe has free/easy wifi” is a myth. So next time I go abroad I plan to get a prepaid phone once I’m there and just use that. I’ll update after I’ve tried that.

3 notes

Cold Weather Pictures: How to Use Your Camera in Cold Weather (NYIP)

via The New York Institute of Photography:

‘Tis the season, and we’re getting lots of letters from NYI students and other Northern Hemisphere Web visitors about taking cold weather pictures, particularly since a good portion of the U.S. is currently under a deep freeze. There are lots of great photo opportunities out there whether your idea of a good time is ice fishing, snow shoeing or just plain walking in the winter wonderland. You just need to get out there and follow a few important winter photo tips.

The letters we get reveal that the proper steps for winter camera protection are often confused in people’s minds. Here’s an e-mail we got recently from a photographer in Ontario, Canada, that is typical: “I am happily snapping away, but having a bit of a problem keeping my camera warm and unfrozen in our cold, blustery weather. If I carry it bundled under my coat, should I keep it in a plastic bag (I read about this somewhere) to prevent condensation? Any other suggestions for camera protection?”

Okay. You asked. Here are the facts and the answers to all the basic camera tips regarding cold weather.

Filed under cold weather photography winter snow

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You Press the Button. Kodak Used to Do the Rest. - Technology Review

Kodak in many ways led early development in digital photography. The company introduced the first megapixel sensor in 1986, and the QuickTake camera launched by Apple in 1994 had to a large extent been developed by Kodak. It looked like a pair of binoculars, stored 32 photos, and could be connected to a personal computer.


…


But the industry landscape was completely different in the digital era. Barriers to entry were significantly lowered and the industry was flooded by entrants with a background in consumer electronics, such as Casio, Samsung, and Hewlett-Packard, not to mention Japanese camera manufacturers including Canon, Nikon, and Olympus. Large parts of Kodak’s competence base related to chemistry and film manufacturing were rendered obsolete. The vertical integration that had previously been a core asset to Kodak lost its value. Digital cameras became a commodity business with low margins. The problem facing Kodak wasn’t just that film profits had died but that those revenues could not be replaced.

(Source: patrickjoust)

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Exploring the Forgotten

There’s something about a forgotten space that holds a definite appeal for many people, be it the look into the lives of those who have gone before us, the raw emotion evoked by an abandoned locale, or simply just the thrill of the forbidden, of being somewhere one really should not be.

Filed under urbex urban exploration photography

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Anon: how do you edit around flash lit photos? and how do you shoot in the sunlight - thanks!

Brian Van Wyk: You shouldn’t try to edit around things. A good edit starts with a solid exposure. Make sure you bounce the flash off of walls, or ceilings… or a bounce card if needs be… If you have no options… at least try to muffle it with a milk bottle or a napkin.. or anything.. Anything at all.. The “Deer in Headlights” look should be reserved for American Apparel models and antelope. As for the sun, try putting them in the shade. If you’re going to have hard shadows in the face - embrace it. Nothing should look like a mistake. You have “full control” over how you light your pictures.

Filed under american apparel brian van wyk flash photographer photography sunlight ask

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I get questions about how I figure out exposures at night a lot and I’m never sure if the answers I give are all that satisfying. I don’t use a meter for long exposures and I think that throws a lot of people off because they want something electronic to tell them they are doing the right thing. I used to feel the same way, but I’m glad I decided to go the cheaper, and more satisfying, route of figuring out exposures on my own. It’s made night shooting much easier and has also improved my daytime shooting.

I have basically determined exposures through a fair amount of practice and also a strategy of keeping things as simple as possible. I almost always shoot at f/5.6 and use film with a speed of 160 or 100. If I shoot with a different film speed, like 64 ISO, I adjust the aperture by a stop to compensate, so I’m still thinking about exposure times in the same way. I’ve also consulted Fred Parker’s Ultimate Exposure Computer to get a basic idea on exposure for a given situation. I think some find it dense, but it’s really a very well written document and it’s worth taking the time to read it. I don’t really consult it anymore, but it was a great help at the beginning. I used to carry around the Exposure Value Chart and the Exposure Factor Relationship Chart as a reference.

I find that it’s not too hard to make an educated “guess” on exposure with a little practice. For one thing, if an ideally 15 second exposure is made for 20 seconds or 25, you aren’t likely to end up with a ruined picture. There is quite a bit of wiggle room at night as long as there aren’t a lot of streetlights in the wrong place for your composition.

Essentially, you should determine what in the scene you want to focus on and plan your exposure for that. I would say most shots I’ve taken in urban/suburban areas, where there is a fair amount of artificial lighting, have been in the 6 to 20 second range, but it depends on a lot of different factors. You can spend a lot of money on an expensive meter and it’s still not going to be as capable as your own brain, when evaluating a scene.

One thing you might try doing in the beginning is bracketing with a 35mm camera and taking notes. It takes some practice but after a while you’ll develop a feel for your exposures. I would say that I get my exposures right about 95% of the time. When shooting black and white film, I often don’t use a meter in the daytime either.

I hope this helps. Happy shooting!

(Source: patrickjoust)

Filed under Patrick Joust

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Anon: So, I know you get photographed sometimes to model clothing, and even ocasionally for magazines. But why else? What do these photographers do with your pictures?

Alysha Nett: people pay me to take my photograph in order to update their own portfolios. if their portfolios have strong images in them with good models (whether it be me, or any other model) then it makes it easier for them to book work in the future. a lot of times if new models see familiar or experienced models in a photographer’s portfolio, then they will want to be shot by that person. that could potentially lead to that model then hiring the photographer in order to update their own portfolio.

there are other reasons people hire me such as:

practicing new lighting techniques. if they hire me, then theres no pressure to turn out a product. they’re paying me, technically they don’t owe me any images at all. its less pressure for them so they can practice and not have to worry about delivering an actual product to a client.

group workshops. studios will hire me and invite/charge a few photographers to come in and use their space as well as learn new techniques.

personal projects. many people work on personal series’ that they have, maybe for their own personal projects, or perhaps for gallery shows.

submission work. a lot of photographers are trying to get published by magazines. they are not staff photographers so they submit their work in hopes of it getting picked up by someone. they pay me, and then if their work is bought by a magazine, they don’t owe me anything because i’ve already been paid. that being said, a lot of photographers also submit their work and have it published for free because they just want the exposure.

its kind of a weird thing to explain but thats basically how it works.

Filed under Alysha Nett modeling ask

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The conversation is how you guide your subject into and through the shots you’re trying to achieve. What you talk about, how you interact, that’s all moving the two of you toward your end goal of The Shots.

Talk ‘em up, man. Relax, try to have a good time.

Me, I want to get to know the people I’m shooting. Sometimes the conversation stays light, sometimes we end up talking about Intelligent Design and how the lack of a Missing Link is a poor talking point to hang your ID hat on.

Talk to them, use the conversation, get what you’re after.

Lou Noble

Filed under Lou Noble

107 notes

3rd of July on Flickr. Via Flickr: Yashica Mat 124G Fujichrome T64 …This isn’t the greatest picture in the world, but I thought I would share it along with the unhappy incident that preceded it… I was out taking pictures with my wife Amy and spotted this fireworks stand. I stopped, took a shot, and was about to take another when a guy in a National Capital Security shirt came towards me and motioned his finger for me to walk towards him. He was immediately hostile and aggressive and was obviously doing his best to intimidate me. I told him he could talk to me but that he would need to walk up to me if he wished to do so. I knew I was well within my rights, standing on a public sidewalk, so I wasn’t very concerned about the situation, just aggravated. Anyway he asked me why I was taking pictures and I told him because it “was fun” and that it was almost the fourth of July so the fireworks stand looked interesting to me. I also mentioned that I was on a public sidewalk and within my rights to take pictures. He told me I would have to explain what I was doing to the owner of the fireworks stand and that I was breaking the law (why a fireworks stand needs a security guard in a strip mall parking lot is beyond me). I told him I didn’t need to do so and he said I couldn’t leave until I did. I asked him if I was under arrest and he said he would call the police or “po-po” as he said in his professional parlance. I said I wished to report his behavior and I asked for his name and “badge” number which he refused to give. I invited him to call the police which seemed to catch him off guard. He kept getting his phone out but didn’t dial. I kept encouraging him to call. He said if I snapped another picture, he would call the police. I pretended to snap another and another, but he just kept looking at his phone. At this point Amy was talking to him as well and I sneaked in this shot. I had determined that it really wasn’t worth the stop anyway and I didn’t want to waste anymore film. I said he was welcome to call the police but that I wasn’t going to wait around. I planned to only be there a couple of minutes anyway. He took a photo of my license plate with his phone. I pretended to take one of him with my terrible and ancient camera phone and then Amy and I took off. So this is another situation in which I know I was in the right but where someone took the fun out of an otherwise nice evening. The fact that I was being harassed for taking a picture of a fireworks stand that was selling wares in celebration of our independence from tyranny was an irony that wasn’t lost on me but was obviously beyond the poor “security guard.” I would imagine that his bullying had mostly to do with the fact that he had to work late on a Sunday night guarding a roadside stand, of all things. I also wonder if maybe there was something illegal going on at the stand and he was trying to scare us away because of that. I looked up this National Capital Security company and it seems to be either a fraud, a front, or defunct. The phone numbers listed on the site don’t seem to work and there doesn’t seem to be any legitimate listing for this company. Of course I don’t even know if this man really worked for them anyway. The whole situation was very strange, but I’ve had enough run-ins of this kind that I’ve been inspired to start a new flickr group called Maryland Photo Rights. There are several other groups online dedicated to the issue of photographer’s rights as well. They include:DC Photo RightsPhotography is not a crime Check them out and know your rights if someone tries to intimidate you. The madness of post 9/11 hysteria, or whatever it is that makes people behave this way, must be reckoned with. For inspiration, check out the actions of Christopher Fussell, who faced down several MTA police who tried to convince him that he was breaking the law. His actions led the MTA to officially disavow the actions of their misguided officers. This will hopefully make it easier to take pictures on public property without harassment in the future, here in Baltimore.

3rd of July on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Yashica Mat 124G

Fujichrome T64

…

This isn’t the greatest picture in the world, but I thought I would share it along with the unhappy incident that preceded it…

I was out taking pictures with my wife Amy and spotted this fireworks stand. I stopped, took a shot, and was about to take another when a guy in a National Capital Security shirt came towards me and motioned his finger for me to walk towards him. He was immediately hostile and aggressive and was obviously doing his best to intimidate me. I told him he could talk to me but that he would need to walk up to me if he wished to do so. I knew I was well within my rights, standing on a public sidewalk, so I wasn’t very concerned about the situation, just aggravated.

Anyway he asked me why I was taking pictures and I told him because it “was fun” and that it was almost the fourth of July so the fireworks stand looked interesting to me. I also mentioned that I was on a public sidewalk and within my rights to take pictures. He told me I would have to explain what I was doing to the owner of the fireworks stand and that I was breaking the law (why a fireworks stand needs a security guard in a strip mall parking lot is beyond me). I told him I didn’t need to do so and he said I couldn’t leave until I did. I asked him if I was under arrest and he said he would call the police or “po-po” as he said in his professional parlance. I said I wished to report his behavior and I asked for his name and “badge” number which he refused to give. I invited him to call the police which seemed to catch him off guard. He kept getting his phone out but didn’t dial. I kept encouraging him to call. He said if I snapped another picture, he would call the police. I pretended to snap another and another, but he just kept looking at his phone.

At this point Amy was talking to him as well and I sneaked in this shot. I had determined that it really wasn’t worth the stop anyway and I didn’t want to waste anymore film. I said he was welcome to call the police but that I wasn’t going to wait around. I planned to only be there a couple of minutes anyway. He took a photo of my license plate with his phone. I pretended to take one of him with my terrible and ancient camera phone and then Amy and I took off.

So this is another situation in which I know I was in the right but where someone took the fun out of an otherwise nice evening. The fact that I was being harassed for taking a picture of a fireworks stand that was selling wares in celebration of our independence from tyranny was an irony that wasn’t lost on me but was obviously beyond the poor “security guard.” I would imagine that his bullying had mostly to do with the fact that he had to work late on a Sunday night guarding a roadside stand, of all things. I also wonder if maybe there was something illegal going on at the stand and he was trying to scare us away because of that.

I looked up this National Capital Security company and it seems to be either a fraud, a front, or defunct. The phone numbers listed on the site don’t seem to work and there doesn’t seem to be any legitimate listing for this company. Of course I don’t even know if this man really worked for them anyway.

The whole situation was very strange, but I’ve had enough run-ins of this kind that I’ve been inspired to start a new flickr group called Maryland Photo Rights. There are several other groups online dedicated to the issue of photographer’s rights as well.

They include:
DC Photo Rights
Photography is not a crime

Check them out and know your rights if someone tries to intimidate you. The madness of post 9/11 hysteria, or whatever it is that makes people behave this way, must be reckoned with. For inspiration, check out the actions of Christopher Fussell, who faced down several MTA police who tried to convince him that he was breaking the law. His actions led the MTA to officially disavow the actions of their misguided officers. This will hopefully make it easier to take pictures on public property without harassment in the future, here in Baltimore.

(Source: patrickjoust)