ruzz

top 5 things to know:

1. no studio. i shoot outside or in my tiny apartment. it's crap but it's magic crap.
2. prefer real women. curves. freckles. stretch marks.
3. work with select models. prefer to work with the same people over longer timelines.
4. model release required. it's just plain required.
5. i will check you out with other models/photographers before i agree to a shoot so if you're a giant ball of drama please don't be surprised if i pass, regardless of how amazing you look.

the rant:

here's the thing: I know your mom told you that you're special. that you're a beautiful, nearly perfect, woman. she lied. okay? she lied because she loved you. I don't; so I won't lie. you're probably very pretty. you may even hang around the edges of beautiful. you may spend time in sexy, or hot. that's great. There are a lot of amazing photos to be made on the edges of things. But you're here now, browsing local photographers. Your agent isn't doing it. Your people aren't' doing it. You're not megan fox. you're probably not going to be megan fox. Scarlett Johansson probably can sleep tonight without worry you're nipping at her heals. If you're over 14 and not already walking runways in major fashion shows (and no, AFW is not a major anything) it's almost a dead certainty that you're not going to be gracing the cover of elle any time soon. or at all really.

so get over yourself. you're pretty. the boys like to watch you sashay down the street. men want to buy you things and you'll probably never have to work a job that nearly kills you to cover your rent. this is good. you've been given physical gifts. and youth. both with pass in time and all you will have is memories and photos and the people you didn't scare away. that can be a lot.

I applaud your ambitions. I'm excited that you believe you're the next big thing. honestly, that takes balls to look at reality and completely disregard the facts of it and just run ahead with both feet. you got mad pluck kid. that will get you farther in the smaller circle you're likely to roam in than you think. but lets be honest, it's still a smaller circle than giselle roams in. Am I lying to you yet?

I've been doing this a while now and I've seen more beauty than most people deserve. I've seen lots of crazy stupid shit too. Don't be the crazy stupid shit. be grateful for your beauty, and your youth and realize some of us out here don't have either but we're still trying to make our place in life. you have gifts but you are not a gift.

want to be a gift? be decent. don't treat every photographer that has nudity in his port like a serial rapist just looking for a chance to slip you something. use that thing on your shoulders. talk to people. ask around. trust me, everyone knows who the creeps are and are happy to steer you away from them. everyone knows the people who are getting off on surrounding themselves with your perfect C cups rather than how the highlight rolls off your perfectly formed cheekbones. they'll tell you if you ask.

if you want to be a serious model who does serious work you take the work seriously not yourself.

if you don't want to do nudes, and don't want to trade on your ass, and don't want male photographers to see you as a potential meal, don't fill your port full of nudes by your boyfriend after he just rode you like the F train. for real.

if you want the respect of talented people admit the truth. you're not 100% sure how to get where you want to go. You enjoy the attention, the experience that sometimes feels like real life america's next top model, like telling your ugly friends about your glamours shoots under strobes. that's cool. it's a really fun lifestyle sometimes. but also be honest that you don't really know an okay image from a great image a lot of the time. that you can't tell the horseshit from the manure. it's okay. neither can a lot of photographers. just look at their ports.

what i'm taking the long road to say here is hey, you're awesome but i can't find the awesome past the bullshit and attitude. I can't see the beauty through the self importance. It could be if we worked together we might get lucky and both get the best image of you taken to date. I can do that sometimes when the stars align. but I sure can't do it if I have to spend 95% of my time explaining myself and trying to convince you that you that I know what I'm doing on my end. if you can't tell who know's what they're doing and who doesn't ask someone to help you figure it out. Sit down with a good magazine and start comparing pictures. talk to other models who have ports you like. work it out.

I want to make beautiful pictures. I may want you in them. yes, I do like nudes. I find the female body one of the most compelling parts of being alive. Yay evolution. I have a penis and I like beautiful women. guess what? So do all the other hetero photographers out there but some will lie to you. Some will wrap their interest in your body in layers of "professionalism" and other bullshit then when you've had a couple they will try their luck. that has nothing to do with modelling or photography that's just humans. just horny lonely humans that get swept away by their genetics.

you can still be safe and be open. you can still put yourself out there and not end up a rape statistic. girls do it all the time. I've worked with girls who've done almost exclusively nude work and never had a problem. never been in an unsafe position.

I've worked with girls who've tried to pretend they are above obvious and inherent sexual side of this business who've found themselves in dangerous situations. you can't avoid danger by avoiding nudity. or by being some fake pseudo corporate talking head whose all business. you can avoid danger by being smart from the outset. finding good people. checking them out. asking about them. then once you know you have good people--being as open as you possibly can.

you'll get great pictures. i promise.

I don't approach models any more because when i do it seems to set a tone that the model is doing me a favour or something. so if you like my work and want to work with me. Contact me. I may be head over heals in love with your look but am handcuffed over here.

please don't assume i only want to shoot you naked.

please don't assume I want to bed you. you may be beautiful but have a rotten heart. it's astounding, i know, but just your very existence in the world does not compel me to sleep with you. or try. or put sexual stuff before creating good work.

crazy.

the world is full of people who will try to take from you. to trade position, power, and status for a crack at your lady parts. I'm not one of them. ask around.

I want to make beautiful pictures. that's it. that's enough for me. that's my entire motivation. be you clothed, nude, wearing a nuns habit or a strap on, if theirs a chance a beauty somewhere (not pretty, beauty) I'm interested. but what I hope the above rant expressed is you acting like you're a movie star, doing me a favour, treating me like a date rapist because you've been an idiot and worked with creeps is NOT beautiful to me. it's not open, or interesting and I'd rather shoot your dog if that's how it's going to be.

so just tell me.. when is fido free for a shoot?