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Touching the Models
I like these threads. They're kinda like the "Do you hug your photographer at the end of a shoot?" threads. I love when people are completely devoid of common sense. I'm not suggesting that the OP necessarily lacks common sense but ANYONE who feels it's WHOLLY inappropriate to touch a model, EVER, is lacking in the common sense department. I rarely have need to touch my models. When I do, I don't generally tell them or ask for permission. I generally DO it. Asking for "permission" just seems awkward - as if what I'm doing is so unusual that it requires EXTRA permission. The ONLY exception to that rule is if I'm shooting erotica and --even then-- it depends on the nature of the touching. I'm not asking permission to pull some hair off a model's face, if I'm shooting close-up and there is no one else on set to do it. Period. Aug 20 11 10:28 am Link InnaDaVida wrote: Lighten up a bit. Aug 20 11 10:29 am Link DanK Photography wrote: Agreed. No point getting precious about it, you're there to take a photo - the perfect version of it, not the version with hair in your face, your top slightly askew or your pose at the wrong angle. Aug 20 11 10:30 am Link Stefano Brunesci wrote: I always love your responses, Stefano. When I see posts like this I get a bit irked, and thought something very similar to what you have said...only reading you say it has really washed the...erm..."irkiness"? away. Aug 20 11 10:32 am Link Sweet Surrender wrote: The models assistant is the last person I want to have making adjustments . If they come with the model they have to either be outside the shoot room or out of the way completely Aug 20 11 10:34 am Link InnaDaVida wrote: I do my best to _never_ work with anyone who has such "policies". When we're shooting, we're there to get the shot, pure and simple. If I believe that the most expedient way to that end is to adjust the model, I will. I always have and this has _never_ been an issue for as long as I've been shooting. I expect it never will be. Aug 20 11 10:37 am Link liindsay ann wrote: This. Aug 20 11 10:41 am Link Sweet Surrender wrote: Works both ways...your "assistant" doesn't always know the shoot and really doesn't belong there....if done professionally, asking first if the model cannot do on their own, is ok. Not everyone WANTS you that way. Aug 20 11 10:44 am Link J Welborn wrote: Yep! Aug 20 11 10:45 am Link I almost always touch models including her breasts, her butt and almost anywhere because I'm painting her. The model KNEW I wasn't fondling her body, I was doing my job as a body painter. My mind focused on painting, not her body. However, when I'm done with the painting and I become a photographer, I rarely touch the model during the shoot. Strange, huh? Aug 20 11 10:48 am Link On my most recent shoot, I was in pointe shoes for the first time and the photographer was looking for really specific, authentic ballet positions. So he brought a professional choreographer who would position my feet because I didn't have the strength or training to get into those positions on my own, but the rest of the posing was communicated through dialogue. Usually explaining works best and touching is unnecessary. I think it's usually kind of insulting and unnecessary to physically pose a model, and what other reason would the photographer have to touch her if not to pose her? Adjusting clothes or hair, if the model can't see where it needs to be fixed, is acceptable if there is no stylist present, but *usually* the photographer can just say, "Pull your left sleeve up", or "Brush the hair out of your left eye" and the model will be able to do it on her own. The few times I've had a photographer try to touch me, it has been unnecessary and therefore uncomfortable. It's not good for the photographer to try to put lotion on the model without asking if she needed help -- that's one example of inappropriate touching. It usually doesn't happen. Aug 20 11 11:14 am Link J Welborn wrote: My assistant=my make up person, wardrobe stylist/assistant, whatever. They are present on set for the photographer and for myself....not a simple escort mind you! But rather somebody who is there to "assist" with anything that either the photographer or model may need during the shoot. Aug 20 11 11:17 am Link be touched if necessary ... not fondled.. Aug 20 11 11:19 am Link InnaDaVida wrote: I will let a MUA, stylist, wardrobe designer touch me during a shoot but never the model. Aug 20 11 11:21 am Link If a photographer is going to touch me, he needs to ask first. That includes moving me, adjusting my hair and adjusting my clothing. And he should only do it if its necessary (like zipping up something I can't reach, or adjusting hair I can't see) Thats really the only issue I have. Aug 20 11 11:22 am Link I touch everyone on set, at least three times. Don't flatter yourself. Aug 20 11 11:23 am Link Still no answer to my question. Why can the MUA or Hairstylist touch you but not the photographer? What if they were straight males does that make a difference? Aug 20 11 11:23 am Link DanK Photography wrote: Those are women's jobs.. like cooking and cleaning. Aug 20 11 11:24 am Link im just curious to find out why so many photogs reply to a model to model Q'???... Aug 20 11 11:28 am Link ICON Photography wrote: Exactly! lol Aug 20 11 11:29 am Link ICON Photography wrote: Because we can. Aug 20 11 11:29 am Link Fiddlers Green Photo wrote: +1 Aug 20 11 11:37 am Link 'Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate...leads to suffering.' Yoda Aug 20 11 11:39 am Link The way that I look at it is only the photographer sees what the eye of the camera is capturing. Not the mua, stylist or anyone else. Even with experienced professional models sometimes that one small tweak of an adjustment, that shift of a hand, bending that knee just right is the vision that only the photographer having looked through the eye of the camera knows exactly how much to make that change. As a photographer I am not in it to cop a feel or get a look at her privates. Hell, I have done so many nude shoots and had so many models walking around naked it is just a part of the business. I do not make adjustments because I want to touch models but instead because I want to create the best images possible. And of course I ask first. How many photographers out there have had that model in that perfect pose, with that perfect look and an adjustment was needed then that perfect pose and look were forever lost. Yes, sadly there are perverts out there with cameras. But, most of us here are serious no matter what are level of skill is and we want to create the best portfolios that we can to attract models to work with us. Aug 20 11 11:42 am Link oh, i thought this was the photographer forum because so many photoggraphers were posting. lol. i think it's all good. we can learn from each other. ICON Photography wrote: Aug 20 11 11:42 am Link ICON Photography wrote: Because we like to be intouch with our female side. Aug 20 11 11:46 am Link Step Above Photos wrote: I totally agree with you about the photographer seeing what others do not...I generally have no problem with a photographer touching me in order to make an adjustment, as long as he or she asks first. Usually, though, they have my assistant (again, my assistant is NOT an escort...he or she---usually a she---is a professional MUA or wardrobe stylist whom I bring with me to assist with anything necessary such as wardrobe, make up, hair, etc ) do any adjusting, but sometimes they will do it themselves. Again, I have no problem with that as long as they maintain a professional attitude the entire time from start to finish, and as long as they ask before touching. This goes for female photographers too. Aug 20 11 11:48 am Link Brooks Ayola wrote: I am a photographer and sometimes I touch myself Aug 20 11 11:48 am Link I am almost always able to communicate with a model using gestures ( most efficient ) and words, or by showing her a few pics on the camera. However, sometimes an adjustment to outfit or hair needs to be made and she can't see what the issue is. When absolutely needed, I ask the model if I may touch her to make such an adjustment. I have never had any other answer but "sure" or "okay" or "of course" or something positive. I am also accustomed to a hug from models after a shoot or when we work together again. That's nice and I appreciate it. But I do not initiate it and I do not expect it. If you are uncomfortable being touched by photographers I would certainly respect that. Aug 20 11 11:50 am Link InnaDaVida wrote: As long as they have a good reason and give me a quick heads up of what they are about to adjust I don't care. I'm a big girl I can tell the difference between someone coping a feel and someone just trying to make the photo come out as best they can. Aug 20 11 11:51 am Link Sweet Surrender wrote: Stop it... You're just encouraging photographers to butt into model only discussions. Aug 20 11 11:55 am Link Brooks Ayola wrote: LOL! Aug 20 11 11:57 am Link It's fine under most circumstances. If a photographer needs to move my hair or wardrobe, no worries, he can move it. If he needs me to move my body, I appreciate him telling me "move this way." I've had one uncomfortable instance where the photographer grabbed me by my hips and shifted my standing position a little, without even telling me first "I need you to shift this way," he just kind of explained why he needed me to move after, and the shoot ended almost immediately afterward. It was inappropriate, not just because he was the photographer. I would be offended if anyone on set did that, MUA or stylist or whatever. There's no need for it. Aug 20 11 11:59 am Link What if I use a pole of a length of no less than 10 feet? (Or, you know, I could ask permission.) Aug 20 11 12:03 pm Link If I were working with a model who was afraid I was going to touch her inappropriately, or told me she didn't like the way I touched her, the shoot would be over for me too... That's too much pressure to be creative under. I touch everybody. I was only party joking earlier. I never ask permission. None of the very professional models I have in my portfolio here, many who are well known, have ever batted an eye over it. Aug 20 11 12:06 pm Link Sweet Surrender wrote: Every one has their comfort zone and need for assistance . I have no need for an assistant unless I am shooting a large commercial project and need something moved . Aug 20 11 12:07 pm Link With photographers, as long as they ask FIRST and it's not inappropriate touching (like trying to move appendages to get me to do something I'm not comfortable with/trying to get fresh in general) then I am fine with it. Unless I'm figure modeling, which is almost always nude. I don't let people touch me. However, this is pretty much the standard when it comes to figure/art modeling in class room and all other settings. Aug 20 11 12:09 pm Link Stefano Brunesci wrote: InnaDaVida wrote: +1 Aug 20 11 12:11 pm Link I'm fine with whoever's on set for a clothed shoot moving things around to make the shot work. I'd much rather have people touch me than have an unusable image, and asking permission for minor adjustments wastes time. That said, in a nude/partial nude shoot, where I need to concentrate more on muscle positions as part of my posing, this energy has been shifted from where it would be in a clothed shoot: working against my natural (and typical off-set) reaction of jumping away when being touched, so I appreciate some sort of heads-up in these cases. Fairly frequently, though, when somebody goes to make minor adjustments to posing, I pick up on what's going to happen from the photographer's body angle and motion, and I can determine which adjustment would have been made before they actually get close enough to touch me, which can save even more time. Yay, efficient shoots! Aug 20 11 12:11 pm Link veypurr wrote: That's a stupid question. I only touch a model if I need to fix the garment or move hair out of her/his face. If I have enough assistants, it will be taken care of. But MANY assistants are looking for the tiny things I know I'll have to photoshop if it's not just so. Aug 20 11 12:12 pm Link |
