rkwphoto

I mostly shoot video now but i still love stills.  Unfortunately I'm getting a little too busy these days to do much collaborating but my rates are very reasonable.  So by that I mean if I don't contact you and blatantly say that I want to collaborate (or that you're getting paid!), you can assume that we are talking about a professional shoot and that my standard fees will apply.
Thanks,
Rasul




interesting quote #1
"The most boring thing in the entire world is nudity."
-chuck palahniuk from "invisible monsters"

interesting quote #2
"Sometimes I wake up and I think I should start wearing a beret, but I don't do it. One day I'm gonna, though. You bet your ass, I will have a beret on. That's ridiculous, but it's true. I always fight with wearing a beret."
-mitch hedberg


"rasul's lofty rant #1"

what, exactly, is an "implied nude"?  Where do you draw the line?  are we sticking to MPAA guidelines, here?  does buttcrack count?  just because you're cupping your boobies while you try your best to look provocative doesn't make the shot any less bad.  don't misunderstand me, there is absolutely nothing wrong with modesty or nudity.  i don't want to have pictures taken of me with no clothes and i don't go out of my way trying to get models to take their clothes off either, but if the model and i agree that a little skin is necessary for the look we want i'm fine with it.  hell, if someone approaches me and says "i love the way i look naked and realize i won't always look like this and i wish there was some way to preserve this forever",  i'd be happy to lend a hand.  what bothers me is all these girls with captions that say "I DON'T DO NUDES" and a bunch of slutty looking "implied" shots in their portfolios.  a poorly photographed girl with bedroom eyes her hands over her kibbles and bits looks way more naked than a woman who conveys deep emotion but happens also to have a nipple out.  guess what! an "implied" nude is still a nude and either will be just as embarrassing if shot in bad taste when they're leaked to the press during your run for president.  or when your kids find the prints in a shoe box under your bed.

  dignity, folks, that's what matters.  have some dignity whether or not you're clothed! face it, you're in an industry in which some display of skin is someday going to be necessary and, if you're interested in being a model, you should be proud of and comfortable in your skin.  but your look is a product.  In most cases, it's the only thing you have of value in this industry.  be conscious of what the work you show does to the value of your product.  i'd rather work with a model who gives me emotional content with or without clothes than the girl who thinks that because she's allowed someone to cover her naughty bits up with caution tape, she's saying something.  stay with what makes you comfortable, display the kind of work you want to get and turn down requests that you don't like.  get really good at one thing, stick to your guns and make a good living doing it.  or evolve and change and grow as an artist.  i really don't think the amount of cloth covering your bait and tackle has as much say in the matter as does the quality of the work.

but, hey, i could be wrong.


rasul's lofty rant #2"
so, the other day i had a conversation with a model; she replied to my tag (which clearly stated my rate) with interest and a phone number and when i called her to finalize a booking she was appalled that i would have the audacity not to want to trade her prints for her time.  my time and the money i've put into equipment and education notwithstanding, i should be so honored that she would grace me with time that i would offer her my service in exchange?
  it clearly says in my profile that i don't do TFP, and here's why:  good photography falls into two basic categories, work and art.  good work is artful, but it is done for a reason outside of the normal motives of the artist... that means that the artist (model, photographer or both), in return for "valuable consideration" like money or exposure, is making an image which someone else will use.  when you hire someone to produce work you get the work you need or you don't pay!  and since we all know that the work you show in your profile is exactly the type of work you will get, why not show some professional work?
  simply put, if you are trading your time for prints, you are at the mercy of the photographer's skill level and preconceived artistic vision.  it doesn't matter if you look good in the shot, it only matters that the shot looks like what the photographer had in mind.  and then when you display that shot, other photographers of the exactly same skill level, with exactly the same shot in mind will try to get exactly the same work out of you for free.  i've seen profiles on modelmayhem full of tfp work and the model doesn't seem to understand why she still can't get paid work.
  if you are happy expressing yourself and producing beautiful art, and not getting paid for it, then please keep doing what you're doing.  but watch out, a lot of photographers do tfp for less than pure motives (bow chicka bow).
  my passion is food photography, that's how i make my living.  i've also been told i'm pretty good at shooting models and i feel fortunate that what i do for a living can help people get where they want to be.  if you're ready to start going after paid agency work then reply to my tag and we'll work something out!


rasul's lofty rant #3 (or the rant with the world's longest acceptable run-on sentence)
it's an image or a shot, people, not a "capture"...  unless you're amish or from the 19th century and you honestly believe that the camera is both magical and sinister.  and then you shouldn't be modelling because you're clearly too old or too, uh, amish.  let's drop the pretense, people, there's no need for this brand of self-importance.  calling a shot a "capture" implies that the artists involved (photographer, makeup, wardrobe, set...) had nothing to do with creation of the beauty.  it means someone just happened to be there with a camera at exactly the moment when the light hit and the makeup sparkled and the dress flowed.  if you're talking about an henri cartier bresson grade, planets aligned, decisive moment; a "simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of forms which gives that event its proper expression", well then maybe i guess you've "capture"d something.  but in that case the word doesn't seem adequate, does it?
i could be wrong about this, what do you think?

(the long awaited) lofty rant #4:
what is with people on here?  look, i've ranted enough about "TFP" garbage... if there's no exchange of any valuable consideration, no one has any right to bitch about professionalism.  i get that.  but for the last few months i've been trying to cast actual jobs, paying jobs, and people are giving me a hard time.  if i want flaky, i'll order a freaking puff pastry!  seriously, though... i send a message stating that the job exists, they reply with interest, i reply with specifics and a request for contact information and then i get budkis.  is it the request for contact information?  do people around here do business without talking on phones or at least emailing agreements? 
or, get this, my reply to their interest has a very simple set of instructions: email me with a current picture (if none were posted in the profile) and other relevant info and do so by my casting deadline.  and in response i'd get all kinds of 'what if' questions.  'what if i look different than i did?'; 'what if i don't check my email in time?' blah, blah, blah!  i have no time to hold your hand and pat your bum and tell you it's special and different from everyone else's bum.  i'm here to do business and if you're here, you should be too!
people are freaking crazy.

sam goodwill
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