Mad Hatter Imagery wrote:
Are there only a few months out of the year when one can honestly expect there to be many willing models to shoot outdoors? Seems to me to taper off around mid august. Much more difficult at that point to find people.

I think it really depends where you are. In Florida we shoot outside pretty much year round. Summer shoots tend to be shorter, but we still shoot.

Tropical Photography wrote:

I think it really depends where you are. In Florida we shoot outside pretty much year round. Summer shoots tend to be shorter, but we still shoot.

I do what I can to discourage outdoor shoots from July to early September.

I once shot an outdoor wedding at noon on July 1st.  Children were melting.  Grandmas were exploding into flames.  I'm surprised that my equipment didn't fail.

Mad Hatter Imagery wrote:
Are there only a few months out of the year when one can honestly expect there to be many willing models to shoot outdoors? Seems to me to taper off around mid august. Much more difficult at that point to find people.

Sounds more like a school scheduling issue than it does a Mother Nature seasonal thing.

Farenell Photography wrote:

Sounds more like a school scheduling issue than it does a Mother Nature seasonal thing.

Huh?

Mad Hatter Imagery wrote:

Huh?

I think he was referencing academic schedules conflicting with shooting, being more of an issue than the weather.

IMHO
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Select Models wrote:
You can pretty much shoot in this region all year as the days are somewhat warm... at least for a few hours.  Even when temps drop down into the 60s and 70s... that's still pretty tolerable...

The 60s and 70s are very tolerable.  I don't even wear a jacket.   

Mad Hatter Imagery wrote:
Are there only a few months out of the year when one can honestly expect there to be many willing models to shoot outdoors? Seems to me to taper off around mid august. Much more difficult at that point to find people.

First, depends upon where you are.

Second, depends upon where you want to shoot.  Have a really cool location or a killer concept and models will beat a path to your door even if there is snow on the ground.  But tell them you're going to shoot in your backyard (and you'll crop out the swing set) or on the railroad tracks b/c it's free space and don't be surprised if there is little interests even if the weather is great.

Third, many of the traveling/full-time models I've talked to say that there business dries up in the Fall and Winter.  The theories go:  GWC's don't have studios so they shoot outside so a lot of the GWC-money dries up when the weather gets cold, holidays so people get busier, more spending so less discretionary money to spend on models.  So many of those models either plan to shoot less (have other non-modeling work) or they take trips south (where it's warmer).

I'd also mention that a significant percentage of the models I shoot with are in school (as in...college/university).  So for them, the Fall is a busy time.  No spring break, no winter break that allows for lots of time for shooting.

Ed