I promised a new thread coming on and here we go. Now I found the smiley hunting very funny which brought me to the question of morale and chemistry on the shoot. How often do you guys laugh during a shoot or make each other laugh? I want proof too Now I know it's generally anti-productive but I found that it's very good to establish a good relationship. Have fun with this, the funnier the better, I love laughing.
I will avoid posting my own proof for fear of shameless self promotion, it's in my port if you haven't seen it already.
My dog gets credit for making the model roar with laughter. My dog got up on the deck of the bath tub and knocked over a vase scaring the day lights out of here and when she high tailed it out of the bathroom the model was laughing for the next ten minutes.
http://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/4501737
allison mindy wrote: When literally every other shot from the shoot looks like this it's definitely counter productive lol Still a good time though
Yes, yes! It often happens when someone tells me to stop laughing it works quiet the opposite and I start doing it all over again. Usually I have to put up a hand and tell them to give me a second to collect myself and wipe that grin off my face.
Kens Lens wrote: My dog gets credit for making the model roar with laughter. My dog got up on the deck of the bath tub and knocked over a vase scaring the day lights out of here and when she high tailed it out of the bathroom the model was laughing for the next ten minutes.
http://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/4501737
Yes, yes! It often happens when someone tells me to stop laughing it works quiet the opposite and I start doing it all over again. Usually I have to put up a hand and tell them to give me a second to collect myself and wipe that grin off my face.
I tend to make stupid jokes, so unfortunately when I am around someone I don't really know well, or want to make a good impression with, I have a harder time joking/being stupid.
Okay, maybe I don't have a harder time being stupid, that just comes naturally, but I have a harder time being funny.
I like to laugh, so as long as we get done what we need to get done, I'm all for having fun at the same time.
DougBPhoto wrote: I tend to make stupid jokes, so unfortunately when I am around someone I don't really know well, or want to make a good impression with, I have a harder time joking/being stupid.
Okay, maybe I don't have a harder time being stupid, that just comes naturally, but I have a harder time being funny.
I like to laugh, so as long as we get done what we need to get done, I'm all for having fun at the same time.
Would you say it depends on a model? I mean how easy it is for you to feel at ease and start being yourself?
Personally it has happened so far that I have either shot with people I've communicated with for a while so was comfortable with or with those that were easy to get along with. Once my personality couldn't win a photographer over but I suspect there were issues with someone else at that moment he was having.
twoharts wrote: i kill myself on shoots trying to entertain the model/customer. i say the dumbest things. raunchy things. whatever it takes to crack them up.
Proof, proof! I need a smiley with a pitchfork and an evil face
Miroslava Svoboda wrote: Would you say it depends on a model? I mean how easy it is for you to feel at ease and start being yourself?
Personally it has happened so far that I have either shot with people I've communicated with for a while so was comfortable with or with those that were easy to get along with. Once my personality couldn't win a photographer over but I suspect there were issues with someone else at that moment he was having.
Precisely.
Of course there are always variables, but I would say that in general, the more you get to know someone the more comfortable you become, so it would be natural for it to be easier to get along.
However, I am sure we have all also encountered times where the better we got to know someone, the less we liked them, but ultimately it all boils down to communication.
For myself, I find those communications before hand very helpful on many levels, comfort and familiarity being one (or two) of them.
Miroslava Svoboda wrote: I promised a new thread coming on and here we go. Now I found the smiley hunting very funny which brought me to the question of morale and chemistry on the shoot. How often do you guys laugh during a shoot or make each other laugh? I want proof too Now I know it's generally anti-productive but I found that it's very good to establish a good relationship. Have fun with this, the funnier the better, I love laughing.
I will avoid posting my own proof for fear of shameless self promotion, it's in my port if you haven't seen it already.
Constant laughter might be "anti-productive", but occasional laughter and a generally pleasant working environment is, to me, very much a positive. I don't do actual "laugh out loud" very often at a shoot, more often if it's a model I've gotten to know or shot multiple times, and I don't aim getting that response from the model, but I do like it when there is a lot of smiling from both of us. I've always felt that way, whatever my job, I take the work seriously, but I do my best to enjoy the process.
If there wasn't laughter at least a few times during the shoot I feel I didn't do a very good job. I suppose if you're doing photography 100% professionally it may be different, but for me the shoot is part of the experience. Creating an enjoyable atmosphere is often paramount to me getting the shots I want.
DivaEroticus
Posts: 12,738
Fayetteville, Arkansas, US
I laugh a LOT, whether I'm shooting, or sitting for figure drawing, or walking down the street...LOL.
The first photographer I ever worked with is a lovely man, and loads of fun, and we've become very good friends. He used to be a jockey, so he's not very tall. In fact, he comes up to just above my nose. I was lying en repose while he was trying to get a shot above and he said, "Ok, now look really afraid." I looked up at his camera and just busted out laughing. I mean I was cackling. I told him there was NO way I could look afraid with him standing over me...LOLOL. That got him laughing as he snapped pictures and walked away. We must have laughed for ten minutes!
I'm a giggler. I shot this a couple of days ago for the yellow ribbon project. It's a soldier deploying to Afghanistan next week and his wife. She showed up in tears and left with a smile.
i snort when something is really funny and that always gets them going. it's not intentional, it just happens.
to me the most important job for a photographer is to get a good performance out of the model/customer. doesn't matter if they have profoto lights. if they can't get a good performance out of the model the lighting is wasted. but part of that is just being able to enjoy the process along with the model. you have to be part technician and part stand-up comic.
Miroslava Svoboda wrote: How often do you guys laugh during a shoot or make each other laugh?
Often enough that I've semi-seriously considered starting a separate album for photos of models laughing or making faces at me, to be labeled "Models Having Fun." But it would quickly dominate my portfolio.
Fat Kitty Studios wrote: I'm a giggler. I shot this a couple of days ago for the yellow ribbon project. It's a soldier deploying to Afghanistan next week and his wife. She showed up in tears and left with a smile.
You guys are not doing good with providing proof. I don't ask for whole albums but a photo or two would be awesome.
I will have another one mailed to me in a bit after the photographer I worked with saw this thread. Oh and there is a port of predominantly nude photos out there with just one of me fully dressed and laughing.
and i think this one reason why mr. richardson succeeds. he can get them dancing to cat daddy in their bikinis!
at weddings we have people tell us how great we are just based on how we act at the wedding. they don't even know how the photos turned out. people buy people.
Fat Kitty Studios wrote: Definitely. I say I'm in the people business not the photo business.
i had a model and her boyfriend roll around together on the floor once and the photos were terrible (she said "you just kept getting closer") but we had a great time. lol. she was able to use some of the photos to get started here.
allison mindy wrote: When literally every other shot from the shoot looks like this it's definitely counter productive lol Still a good time though
Often enough that I've semi-seriously considered starting a separate album for photos of models laughing or making faces at me, to be labeled "Models Having Fun." But it would quickly dominate my portfolio.
You don't have to have more photos in there just a few could be awesome.
twoharts wrote: at weddings we have people tell us how great we are just based on how we act at the wedding. they don't even know how the photos turned out. people buy people.
That's nice! I still socialize a little with the video team from my wedding when I get to see them. It's been over 10 years too, they were wonderful people.
Jojo West
Posts: 929
Washington, District of Columbia, US
People can't keep a straight face with me at a shoot. I'm silly, so between the good shots I tend to throw in silly expressions. I crack jokes and tell them stories about my embarrassing moments...I can be somewhat clumsy sometimes.
When the model laughs at something I do or say at a shoot, and then apologizes for breaking the pose or face, I say "don't you DARE have fun at my shoot".
If it's not at least a little fun, why are you doing it?
I love to joke around with the models during shoots, and a lot of funny stuff goes down in the first few moments of any set. I usually try to capture some of it and save it for threads like this one. Welcome to my "cutting room floor"
I consider a shoot entirely unsuccessful if it is not fun and mutually enjoyable
I have vast collection of model laughing out loud shots - but these are not a part of my online portfolio and will not be - they were unguarded, personal moments....
Now I know it's generally anti-productive but I found that it's very good to establish a good relationship. Have fun with this, the funnier the better, I love laughing.
| 
| 
| edu