Eleanor Rose wrote:
I wrote a post this week detailing how freelance models who've chosen to pursue their passion as a career (especially traveling models) have to do so much more than just show up and pose: The Perception of Ease and How it Affects Us: What You Need to Know About the World of Freelance Modeling. (Some NSFW images)

I'm posting this here because I'd love some input on this topic from the community. I wrote from the model's viewpoint because it's my own, but I know that every role has it's own oft-ignored aspects. What efforts of yours are commonly overlooked by the community and/or society as a whole? Feel free to chime in about anything you do outside of art as well - I'd love a broader picture of what we've learned to take for granted from service providers.

I think everyone that has a non-quantifiable job has this problem.

Race car drivers were mentioned ... people that aren't into driving(at speed or otherwise) just think they go fast. The guy that pushes the accelerater hardest wins. But if that were the case, everyone would tie. In reality the guy that brakes least, cuts corners closest, misses the fewest shifts, and lets the fewest people pass wins - but you can't quantify what you DIDN'T do.

It's the same for everything that doesn't have a number. It's the same reason why most sports hall of fames give out more accolades for offensive players:  you can point to how many runs you scored, but you can't really put a number on how many runs weren't scored. A strike is still a strike, whether it's a great pitch against a guy with a .350 average, or a bad pitch against a guy with a .050 average.

A great actor never looks like they're acting. But it's obvious that a bad one is. And you never even consider the soundtrack unless it sucks

At a certain point, you just have to accept the fact that the public at large isn't going to think your job is very difficult. And you either continue, or you don't.

I had a woman that was very angry at me today. I teach photo part time, and work in a photo store part time. She wanted to buy something for her Rebel so she could take pro-quality sports shots at a basketball game. All good so far. Then she told me she had to leave in five minutes, so it had to do it all automatically. And she didn't want a better zoom lens because she already had one, and she didn't want a flash, and she didn't want to hear anything about apertures or ISOs or anything, because she's a parent and she doesn't have time to learn - she just wants good photos. I made it very clear that I would be happy to help her take better photos, but that short of a new camera there was nothing I could do in 5 minutes. Not once she ruled out brighter lenses and flashes, anyway.

I did not get a sale. I got yelled at.

Most people aren't like that. I mean they are, but they generally keep it to themselves. They silently stew, thinking you get paid for doing nothing, and then proceed to try and fail at the same thing.

All you can do is go home, have a beer, and take comfort in the fact that you do good work. And that statistically, the next person you talk to almost has to have a better opinion of what you do.

Eleanor Rose wrote:
I wrote a post this week detailing how freelance models who've chosen to pursue their passion as a career (especially traveling models) have to do so much more than just show up and pose: The Perception of Ease and How it Affects Us: What You Need to Know About the World of Freelance Modeling. (Some NSFW images)

I'm posting this here because I'd love some input on this topic from the community. I wrote from the model's viewpoint because it's my own, but I know that every role has it's own oft-ignored aspects. What efforts of yours are commonly overlooked by the community and/or society as a whole? Feel free to chime in about anything you do outside of art as well - I'd love a broader picture of what we've learned to take for granted from service providers.

In parts agree with your article.  Indeed above all some of the  risks are greater than the monetary compensation. In most cases not just models photographers to. To day most every dissent looking person can turn to a par- time model or full time.  TRUE PASSION  its hard  not to over look because her or his creations are pretty amazing Actually no matter what they shoot with they're consistent  (not to many around) Its obvious to me some well know models are disappointing  but for reasons still their popularity is on demand. Please no offence to you the way I see it in most cases the monetary compensation is more important than making art.  Personally once a while makes me happy to make something worth it.
Agues here everything it goes:)

retired light reflector wrote:
I have to say that after traveling for the better part of 5 years (fuck, longer?) ANY, literally ANY job seems easier.

My manager at my part-time non-modeling job is amazed that I show up early (15-30 mins early most days), am prepared and in a good mood, and I'm one of the most efficient workers there (well, if I'm not having a terrible ADHD day and can't talk and research at the same time).

The sheer amount of energy it takes to reach out to people, to put all of your energy into working with someone (and p.s. sometimes the chemistry isn't there, so why accuse people of phoning it in person above? Do you know this for a fact first hand? but that's another thread), to deal with jet lag or sometimes spending a few days in an airport because of weather or a last minute cancellation and not wanting to spend too much money on a hotel, etc etc...

Most jobs, you get to clock in and clock out and you get to go back to real life. Freelance modeling (well, anything), you never really get to clock out. My schedule right now usually is work during all daylight hours, come home, answer emails for an hour (usually after midnight), but the sheer fact that I only have to answer emails an hour a day and can survive going a whole day without using a computer? Brilliant.

Anyone who still has the energy for it, good for you. Don't burn yourself out and take breaks as much as needed.

Ditto!

Eleanor Rose wrote:
I wrote a post this week detailing how freelance models who've chosen to pursue their passion as a career (especially traveling models) have to do so much more than just show up and pose: The Perception of Ease and How it Affects Us: What You Need to Know About the World of Freelance Modeling. (Some NSFW images)

I'm posting this here because I'd love some input on this topic from the community. I wrote from the model's viewpoint because it's my own, but I know that every role has it's own oft-ignored aspects. What efforts of yours are commonly overlooked by the community and/or society as a whole? Feel free to chime in about anything you do outside of art as well - I'd love a broader picture of what we've learned to take for granted from service providers.

Hmm ... Unappreciated, or being taken for granted.

When a professional actor (man or woman) convinces the audience that he/she is the actual character, that is enough appreciation in and of itself, along with the pay, of course. The same is also true, within their specific situations, of those that have other jobs, such as doctors, teachers, fire fighters, social workers, waiters, wedding planners, auto mechanics, and etc.

Without getting into a lenghtly comment, you decided to be a "free lance" model. You should take a deep look within yourself as to why you feel you're unappreciated and taken for granted.

Dea and the Beast wrote:
Disagree.
Firefighters doctors and teachers get admiration by default. It's a glory gig. You help people in all those professions.


As a traveling art model I have been called anything from an "anarchist gypsy" to a whore.

That's not bad compared to what fire fighters, attorneys, teachers, and police officers are called and how they're treated.

Bare Essential Photos wrote:

That's not bad compared to what fire fighters, attorneys, teachers, and police officers are called and how they're treated.

Well you're in California.
Far be it from me to call the guy who just saved my ass in any capacity (doctor, fire guy, attorney... hmmm.. wait, not that one) a bad name.

Bare Essential Photos wrote:

Hmm ... Unappreciated, or being taken for granted.

When a professional actor (man or woman) convinces the audience that he/she is the actual character, that is enough appreciation in and of itself, along with the pay, of course. The same is also true, within their specific situations, of those that have other jobs, such as doctors, teachers, fire fighters, social workers, waiters, wedding planners, auto mechanics, and etc.

Without getting into a lenghtly comment, you decided to be a "free lance" model. You should take a deep look within yourself as to why you feel you're unappreciated and taken for granted.

I think you completely missed my point. Did you read the article?

J O H N  A L L A N wrote:
I do indeed realize how grueling the constant traveling must be. However, I got to say, I see a disturbing number of popular "traveling models" on MM and Facebook, just completely "NOT modeling" / completely phoning in a non-performance way too often. I know this because I'll see them periodically turn in great images with more accomplished photographers, than their usual fair. It seems like with their bread-and-butter poor-to-middlin photographers, they barely show up with anything to contribute, even if their body's physically there. That's about it.

They need to understand that no matter how bad the photographer is with lighting, composition, direction, concept, etc. - If they were to give 110% (because after all they're getting paid typically a lot per hour from these people), they would elevate the quality of the photo exponentially. It should be an embarrassment to do anything less.

While I know that there are times when professional models show up and don't offer their full 100 percent, I have to second the model above who questioned what makes you so confidently say that this happens with a 'disturbing number' of professional models. If you're just basing it on images that you've seen there are a variety of factors you need to consider. Sometimes I'll give a phenomenal pose that I know I rocked and find out that the photographer moved to an angle that made it horrendous, or cropped of parts of me. Sometimes they'll micromanage my poses and I have to do what they want even though I know it will look bad (I might try once or twice to suggest other poses and angles, but they're usually pretty determined. Sometimes a photographer will book me for a long shoot so demanding that by the end I'm exhausted and can't help it that my poses aren't up to par - I'm aware of it and hate it, but the photographer chose to give only minimal breaks and demand a constant flow of exhausting poses. Sometimes I show up and the photographer is so aggravating that my normal flow is broken. One photographer I worked with was known for purposefully being an asshole so that he could capture awful shots of professional models glaring at him.

Please don't base your assessment of how hard we work on the images people produce of us. Sometimes the photographer who produced that awful image is still thrilled because it's their best shot and they learned a ton from us. Even if they're ranting about how awful we were, in my experience it's usually because we told them off for insulting fellow models or trying to get to touchy feely with us.

I'm not saying that there aren't times when a model will show up and give an uninspired performance. But using a thread in which I detail just how much we actually bring to the process to tell me that most professional models don't actually care about shoots with the people who pay our bread and butter is pretty ignorant. How exactly would we make a name for ourselves, get good references, and continue working if we weren't giving our best effort to the majority of our customers?

(Also, turning in "great images with more accomplished photographers, than their usual fair" is pretty standard. That's why we work with great photographers who know how to capture amazing images. I'm really not at all sure how this is supposed to support your point.)

Btfineart wrote:
Excellent article.   That said, race car drivers and stunt pilots face the same issue in that while the view from outside is full of graceful motion, the actual reality in the cockpit as far as doing things like pulling on levers or turning wheels in high g forces is far beyond what most people experience, and thus often gets minimized.   Not to mention that if you lose track of exactly where you are, in 2D or 3D space, and arbitrary orientations, the result can pretty easily be fatal.

That's really interesting! I definitely knew the potential for fatality, but I hadn't considered what g forces would do to movement and controls in the cockpit. Thank you!

Zack Zoll wrote:
At a certain point, you just have to accept the fact that the public at large isn't going to think your job is very difficult. And you either continue, or you don't.
All you can do is go home, have a beer, and take comfort in the fact that you do good work. And that statistically, the next person you talk to almost has to have a better opinion of what you do.

I respectfully disagree. I can, and do, do more. Why settle for people not understanding what you put into your work or quit in despair when you could choose to talk to and educate people? Obviously not everyone will be receptive to the message (your horrible experience being an obvious example), but some will.

Managing Light wrote:
I have a great aversion to asking a model to pose in a place or position that I think is risky, since I do not want to be responsible for her to come to harm.  Still, watching a model struggle to get into position makes me very much aware of how hard this stuff is - kind of hard to miss that.  I assume that most of the photogs like that (sure hope that this isn't a naive statement!).

As long as you're respectful and make it clear that the request is totally based on the model's assessment of its' safety most of us don't mind if you ask if we can do something.

And I'm certain that most of the photographers who work with me when I do poses like that realize the difficulty - it's pretty evident in the moment. My point was that it's often not evident in photos, and that the disconnect between the reality of the moment and the perception of the image is an effective metaphor for the behind the scenes work we do beyond 'merely' posing.

I hope that helps clear things up for you!

Vintagevista wrote:
In the end - I think that the difference, is that you have a special difficulty and danger as a professional traveling model (versus my situation) you do it for your roof and bread - as well as the joy of creation.    A traveling model must have to find a balance  - between the love of the thing - and the money.  Love it too much and you'll starve - only caring about the money and you can't love it.  Tricky and difficult....

Thanks so much for the great input! However, as much as I agree with your comment about balance, I strongly disagree with the bolded section above. We are reaching a point in our society where almost the only way to make long term, consistent money is to love and be passionate about whatever you choose to pursue. The only reason I've succeeded as a model is because I love it wholeheartedly and channel my passion into my business. Loving what I do does not equate doing it for free - it means that I practiced it until I reached a point where my skills had recognizable worth and people were willing to pay for them, and that I continue to hone my skills and offer my very best as a model. I'm practical about it - charging for my skills allows me to continue exercising and offering them. Logically, if I truly love what I do I must charge for it so that I can pursue it freely.

LA StarShooter wrote:
I applaud your drive to deliver memorable images. I have scaled commercial rooftops via a ladder, clambering up with my gear bags, that's about 60 feet up, all to take one shot, subject and something moving very fast. I have clambered up rocks with a broken foot. I have struggled through rocks as the tide slammed into me as I keep my gear bags from getting soaked, and did this one beach that has three coves, which meant I had crawled under overhangs as the sea pounded me. My eyes have been sunburnt by the desert sun while shooting. My gear breaks: lights fall into the sea, a strobe head  gets be guillotined by a beauty dish as it is carried. Radio triggers die. A backup camera stopped working. Lenses sometimes just fail after years of rugged adventures.  Soon I will be out in the desert shooting a swimwear line because I just don't give up easily.

I don't think I'm alone in saying that photographers willing to take such risks and work for the shot are a pleasure to work with. I'm very aware of and appreciative for the efforts you all make, and you write about them beautifully. It sounds like you've had some great adventures!

retired light reflector wrote:
I have to say that after traveling for the better part of 5 years (fuck, longer?) ANY, literally ANY job seems easier.
[...]
Most jobs, you get to clock in and clock out and you get to go back to real life. Freelance modeling (well, anything), you never really get to clock out. My schedule right now usually is work during all daylight hours, come home, answer emails for an hour (usually after midnight), but the sheer fact that I only have to answer emails an hour a day and can survive going a whole day without using a computer? Brilliant.

Anyone who still has the energy for it, good for you. Don't burn yourself out and take breaks as much as needed.

<3 <3 <3

I'm so jealous that you're almost comp free! I tried to take a day off for my anniversary this weekend and made it almost four hours.

Dea and the Beast wrote:
As a traveling art model I have been called anything from an "anarchist gypsy" .

That you should wear proudly.
The other not so much.

Eleanor Rose wrote:

Thanks so much for the great input! However, as much as I agree with your comment about balance, I strongly disagree with the bolded section above. We are reaching a point in our society where almost the only way to make long term, consistent money is to love and be passionate about whatever you choose to pursue. The only reason I've succeeded as a model is because I love it wholeheartedly and channel my passion into my business. Loving what I do does not equate doing it for free - it means that I practiced it until I reached a point where my skills had recognizable worth and people were willing to pay for them, and that I continue to hone my skills and offer my very best as a model. I'm practical about it - charging for my skills allows me to continue exercising and offering them. Logically, if I truly love what I do I must charge for it so that I can pursue it freely.

Change model to photographer and your statement is still valid.

Eleanor Rose wrote:

I don't think I'm alone in saying that photographers willing to take such risks and work for the shot are a pleasure to work with. I'm very aware of and appreciative for the efforts you all make, and you write about them beautifully. It sounds like you've had some great adventures!

I will not take such risks, nor will I ask a model to do so.

Although on more than one occasion I have been known to leave some skin and blood behind at a shoot.

Eleanor Rose wrote:

I respectfully disagree. I can, and do, do more. Why settle for people not understanding what you put into your work or quit in despair when you could choose to talk to and educate people? Obviously not everyone will be receptive to the message (your horrible experience being an obvious example), but some will.

Oh, of course YOU can do more - that's not the issue. But there are a large number of people that know they're right before the conversation even starts. They don't 'discuss', so much as they wait to see what to argue with.

The number of people that still think their kindergartener could paint a Picasso is a testament to that. Despite the number of times I heard that in my short K-12 teaching career, would you believe that not a single one of those kids had gallery representation? Weird, right?

All I'm saying is, try not to waste time on minds that don't want to be opened.

Eleanor Rose wrote:

I don't think I'm alone in saying that photographers willing to take such risks and work for the shot are a pleasure to work with. I'm very aware of and appreciative for the efforts you all make, and you write about them beautifully. It sounds like you've had some great adventures!

The secret of your ability to book? You're sweet in a world that is full of vinegar. Thanks for the sweetly rendered compliment.

Eleanor Rose wrote:
I wrote a post this week detailing how freelance models who've chosen to pursue their passion as a career (especially traveling models) have to do so much more than just show up and pose: The Perception of Ease and How it Affects Us: What You Need to Know About the World of Freelance Modeling. (Some NSFW images)

I'm posting this here because I'd love some input on this topic from the community. I wrote from the model's viewpoint because it's my own, but I know that every role has it's own oft-ignored aspects. What efforts of yours are commonly overlooked by the community and/or society as a whole? Feel free to chime in about anything you do outside of art as well - I'd love a broader picture of what we've learned to take for granted from service providers.

Hi,

I can only reply to one portion of the article because I remember feeling similar once. I remember a couple times when I felt frustrated when pictures came back and at that point a friend pointed out that maybe I was a frustrated photographer as well as model and that it is 'their' vision when they are shooting. If you feel that you are making it look too easy maybe you need to share your vision and shoot with someone who wants to create the vision you are looking for, right? Or, shoot it yourself?

Maybe I am off base on the sentiment you were expressing.

As a hobbyist who does this every spare chance and rare opportunity I get, I cannot address the freelance aspect. I love it though, and I take it that you do too.

Jen

gorgeous3mikecasa wrote:
Skimmed your article.. what do you want me to do ?

Care.

Eleanor Rose wrote:

<3 <3 <3

I'm so jealous that you're almost comp free! I tried to take a day off for my anniversary this weekend and made it almost four hours.

It was a necessary life change. (Of course I'm up now because...?)

But seriously, I just couldn't deal with feeling like I had to validate what I do. Or show up to jobs and have people be amazed that I know what I'm doing (or, actually am the stats I list). I feel like that was 50% of the work. And of course, sometimes it's just a lost cause.

Even with artists it happens sometimes. I have this one artist who has hired me a frick-ton this month for a bunch of classes and each time he is amazed that I can actually get back into pose just from memory. Tomorrow is a 9:30-4:30 portrait workshop, Friday is a 10:30-9 day (with enough time in between to nap on the platform before evening class, so glamorous).

And I still model because I love seeing students progress, I love being in that role of the process of making something. I also love to draw, but that is something entirely different. I also used to shoot, too, but I never liked shooting myself. It's all very different; a good model who is also a good photographer *could* possibly take very successful self-portraits, but they could also still wish to lend themselves as a model to allow others to create. Or, shoot other subjects as a photographer.

And why is the declaration that modeling professionally for money to allow for more freedom in creating met with "but photographers could say the same"? The two aren't mutually exclusive. Many photographers and artists who hired me and do still hire me are making a profit back somehow, either through art sales or because it was a class they were teaching or some university was paying me etc etc, or maybe they were hobbyists and that is how they chose to spend their money. As long as everyone is happy at the end of the day, who the heck cares?

Eleanor Rose wrote:
every role has it's own oft-ignored aspects. What efforts of yours are commonly overlooked by the community and/or society as a whole?

I think the big issue is caused from a distorted perception of the reality, and only on some cases it depends on simple ignorance.

retired light reflector wrote:

It was a necessary life change. (Of course I'm up now because...?)

But seriously, I just couldn't deal with feeling like I had to validate what I do. Or show up to jobs and have people be amazed that I know what I'm doing (or, actually am the stats I list). I feel like that was 50% of the work. And of course, sometimes it's just a lost cause.

Even with artists it happens sometimes. I have this one artist who has hired me a frick-ton this month for a bunch of classes and each time he is amazed that I can actually get back into pose just from memory. Tomorrow is a 9:30-4:30 portrait workshop, Friday is a 10:30-9 day (with enough time in between to nap on the platform before evening class, so glamorous).

And I still model because I love seeing students progress, I love being in that role of the process of making something. I also love to draw, but that is something entirely different. I also used to shoot, too, but I never liked shooting myself. It's all very different; a good model who is also a good photographer *could* possibly take very successful self-portraits, but they could also still wish to lend themselves as a model to allow others to create. Or, shoot other subjects as a photographer.

And why is the declaration that modeling professionally for money to allow for more freedom in creating met with "but photographers could say the same"? The two aren't mutually exclusive. Many photographers and artists who hired me and do still hire me are making a profit back somehow, either through art sales or because it was a class they were teaching or some university was paying me etc etc, or maybe they were hobbyists and that is how they chose to spend their money. As long as everyone is happy at the end of the day, who the heck cares?

I think I like being a professional model because I like helping people. I'm damn good at what I do so I don't even think twice about posing in a freezing waterfall, in a forest with a million mosquitoes, melting in the desert and almost facing dehydration. 90% of my portfolio outside had HUGE risks to it. I've almost fallen to my death three times, almost broken bones, nail in my foot, toenail falling off, frostbite, poison ivy/oak, working when I'm really sick/migraine, passing out from dehydration, working with autistic photographers, dealing with micromanaging poses, control freaks, sleeping in airports/jet lag, catching a train sitting adjacent to a guy masturbating to me, being a travel agent, secretary, psychologist, among a million other things. ALL of those things can happen in one trip! I still give 100% every time because I just love helping people create.

Not to mention the devaluing of what I do. I've personally argued with photographers in this very forum about how valuable my job is. I also seem to run across this misconception that being professional means it is a "job" or  or even worse not doing it for the art like I don't care about it. When I see this I almost feel sorry for a persons close minded views.

I absolutely love what I do for a living. I never look at my line of work as a purely a "job" as though it has no meaning. Every shoot I have I look forward to collaberating, teaching, learning, being a part of the artistic process. Of course there is a business side to this due to the fact I model to eat but that is a 1/4 of it. The rest can be gruelling but it is worth it in the end. I get a fulfilment out of the getting THE shot and making the photographer understand why he hired me in the first place. Also the traveling, the hotels, the meeting of new people/surroundings/ideas, and most of all the experience I gain from it in all directions and making new friends. The greatest rewards are making/keeping friendships and the satisfaction of seeing the results of the work produced. Whether it is hanging in a museum in Germany or on my wall.

Model Sarah wrote:

I think I like being a professional model because I like helping people. I'm damn good at what I do so I don't even think twice about posing in a freezing waterfall, in a forest with a million mosquitoes, melting in the desert and almost facing dehydration. 90% of my portfolio outside had HUGE risks to it. I've almost fallen to my death three times, almost broken bones, nail in my foot, toenail falling off, frostbite, poison ivy/oak, working when I'm really sick/migraine, passing out from dehydration, working with autistic photographers, dealing with micromanaging poses, control freaks, sleeping in airports/jet lag, catching a train sitting adjacent to a guy masturbating to me, being a travel agent, secretary, psychologist, among a million other things. ALL of those things can happen in one trip! I still give 100% every time because I just love helping people create.

Not to mention the devaluing of what I do. I've personally argued with photographers in this very forum about how valuable my job is. I also seem to run across this misconception that being professional means it is a "job" or  or even worse not doing it for the art like I don't care about it. When I see this I almost feel sorry for a persons close minded views.

I absolutely love what I do for a living. I never look at my line of work as a purely a "job" as though it has no meaning. Every shoot I have I look forward to collaberating, teaching, learning, being a part of the artistic process. Of course there is a business side to this due to the fact I model to eat but that is a 1/4 of it. The rest can be gruelling but it is worth it in the end. I get a fulfilment out of the getting THE shot and making the photographer understand why he hired me in the first place. Also the traveling, the hotels, the meeting of new people/surroundings/ideas, and most of all the experience I gain from it in all directions and making new friends. The greatest rewards are making/keeping friendships and the satisfaction of seeing the results of the work produced. Whether it is hanging in a museum in Germany or on my wall.

I worked with a model who broke a finger when she slipped on wet rocks.

Figures Jen B wrote:

Hi,

I can only reply to one portion of the article because I remember feeling similar once. I remember a couple times when I felt frustrated when pictures came back and at that point a friend pointed out that maybe I was a frustrated photographer as well as model and that it is 'their' vision when they are shooting. If you feel that you are making it look too easy maybe you need to share your vision and shoot with someone who wants to create the vision you are looking for, right? Or, shoot it yourself?

Maybe I am off base on the sentiment you were expressing.

As a hobbyist who does this every spare chance and rare opportunity I get, I cannot address the freelance aspect. I love it though, and I take it that you do too.

Jen

This is a great point, and thanks for pointing out that I wasn't clear enough on what I was trying to convey! Most of the images I'm talking about it wasn't the photographers 'fault' at all. The image that inspired this article (I couldn't put it in the article because it's currently being held for publication) is absolutely stunning and the photographer captured what I had in mind perfectly. I just hadn't realized, being unable to see myself up on that cliff, that unless the photographer pulled back far enough to show how high up I was (and thus change and likely ruin the image) it was almost completely unevident that I was in a difficult pose. The close observer will figure it out, but anyone who glances and moves on will just see a lovely photograph. It was still absolutely worth it though- we couldn't have gotten that image if I hadn't climbed up and put in that effort.