Hi All,

Hope your respective days are going very well!

Was curious to know if you have raised the levels to which you wanted to model or photograph since you started and if so, was it for financial reasons ( to make more money ) or lack of work in your initial levels, or simply because your desire to try something new or was it pressure from those who contacted you or you worked with previously ( as in ''you need to be doing this / that if you want to make it'' )?

Kindest of Regards xxxx

Kenya

Someone posted a similar thread not long ago.

Yet yours is slightly more convoluted.

I think I'm constantly trying to find the missing piece, what I don't understand .  It is always the subtleties that count. Did I make them happen over time?

Yes, but the further you go into the differences the harder it is to elevate that level of understanding.

When I started I didn't know anything about subtle differences only blaring ones, very in your face.

So  yes I hope I'm pushing the envelope, yet it's just mine, few will try to know the differences, yet appreciate them just the same.

Always changing.  Over my first 25 years of shooting with a SLR, I never once shot a model.   Since shooting models, I've changed my emphasis from art to more commercial images and am constantly reevaluating that. 

Moving to shooting models has been a loosing proposition for me so far, but hopefully that will change some day.

Am I right in saying that you mean, with regards to doing nudes, implied etc?

I'm a newb, so no change yet.
As a model, I am looking to try something new though. Not because of pressure, not to "make it" but just because I think it will be interesting.

Hi Isserley Photography,

I think it is different for a model in raising levels. My meaning was that model "x" started out doing clothed only, but then moved to include lingerie, then implied nude / topless, then fully nude. Either due to lack of work or gentle persuasion over time.

Kindest of Regards xxxx

Kenya

Isserley Photography wrote:
Am I right in saying that you mean, with regards to doing nudes, implied etc?

I'm a newb, so no change yet.
As a model, I am looking to try something new though. Not because of pressure, not to "make it" but just because I think it will be interesting.

I honestly think that if they are being gently persuaded and feel it is out of necessity that they do than that has to be due to what they are lacking as models. Anyone can have their picture taken and the proof is endless on this website alone but few actually know how to deliver a picture that they have truly modeled for.
There are over a Million profiles on here yet very few people say anything or do anything with their profiles while the same few dozen people are actually out showing their newest work and trying to get their work to the next level.

for trade shoots and shoots where i get paid, the market decides. you have to give your customers what they want/need or you won't have any.

as far as shooting models you can decide to just pay all your models and that pretty much solves the problem unless they think you're too much of a creeper. what they get out of it is money, not images.

in terms of what satisfies me, i look around and see who's doing work i admire and try to figure out how i could do something of comparable quality (budget/talent limitations notwithstanding). and that's based a lot on what appeals to me personally and i guess that's where you start to develop your "style". seems like you can either decide to just shoot what's popular (there are thousands of cliche shots) or kind of do your own thing and see if that catches on.

Hi,

But even famous actresses have said that Directors / Producers encourage or have encouraged them to perform nude / topless in films. Does not seem the same pressure on men.

Kindest of Regards xxxx

Kenya

You are constantly a work in progress even if you don't get the job try to learn something from it.

I am a much better model than I was 3-4 years ago (before that, I mostly did "sitting" for artists), with much better photos. Mostly, it just took doing a lot of crap-quality trade work before I found better photographers who were willing to shoot nicer trade work with me.

I feel I reached a certain point, near the end of 2009, where I kind of "maxed out" in my growth. I have never really had the extra money to pay photographers to shoot with me; I basically only earn a living wage, nothing much extra. Being confined to trade work will also limit you, because you will settle in to working with people who are at certain skill levels, and if you can't pay people who are better than that to shoot you, you are kind of kept down - at least to some degree - from expanding even more.

I've been happy with the work I've produced since 2010, but I wouldn't say that I've continued to improve. I grew exponentially for the first few years, and became kind of static.

I started off here in 2005 as an amateur with no intention of doing anything more than a hobby.  Then I went back to school and now I do it professionally.  I guess the fit got better for me over the years.