The Hill! The HILL!
Oct. 11th, 2007 10:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jhameiaSo, I'm actually getting paid work as a model, on occasion. I pose for life art modeling sessions at Mount Saint Vincent University (otherwise known as the Mount, or MSVU) for $15 an hour.
Mount Saint Vincent University, as the name implies, is situated on a hillside right next to the Bedford Highway. It's got... "interesting" architecture (their Student Union building has no 1st floor and three floors, and the stairs kinda sprawl all over the place... and people thought McNally was confusing). The first time I went looking for the building I'm supposed to go to, I had to walk up this steep, steep hill. WHEW! Students of MSVU must be in freaking shape!
I've been asked to do life art modeling a second time now. The first time, it was confusing, but nice. The drawing group was comprised of all women, most of them students, so it was pleasant chatting with them before the session started.
Before I began modeling, I always knew there had to be a trick to the whole glamourous modeling business. Not just about being pretty - models tended to have something "special". I didn't bother thinking about it much - it was a fuzzy area to me that didn't figure into my life.
Now, it's clear that models do a hell lot of work: posing isn't just about standing a certain way - it's more than one pose per shoot, sometimes several, out of which only one is used. The amount of prep work that goes into model photography is ridiculous. It's even worse than cosplay, because it requires so much co-ordination. To be able to technically execute a picture is one thing; quite another to capture a mood that makes the viewer stop and go "wow".
Life art modeling is a tad more difficult than camera, I find. I have to hold the poses for five, ten and twenty minute sessions. This means I have to figure out where my body limitations are and how to work with them in order to produce something interesting for the artists to draw.
The first session was all right. I didn't know what to do, and I misheard "assymetrical" and did a simple cross-legged pose instead. I had to get it clarified the second five-minute session, and the prof told me, "something assymetrical. It gives us more to draw."
For one of the twenty-minute sessions, I kneeled on the table I was posing on and against a chair I put on the table. Leaning and resting... should be easy, right?
Wrong! I got severe pins and needles in my calves because I was sitting on them. My thighs are fucking huge, so laying them on my calves (which are more toned) deprived the latter of blood.
Today, I had another session. The prof got in touch with me a bit late, and not only that, the bus I caught which should've reached the Mount on time was caught in traffic, and I was 20 minutes late as a result. So I decided to make up for it by giving them the most interesting poses I could think of, using my arms a lot.
1st 5-min session: I reached an arm out to the ceiling. You'd think this would be easy to hold for five fucking minutes. It's not. Gah.
For whatever reason, I decided to hold a pose where I bent over and draped my left arm (same arm!) over my head. It's interesting, at the very least. But difficult. Incredibly difficult. My arm is still sore from the experience. But one of the artists complimented me on the fact that I was giving them great poses to work with.
The last pose was me lying down, arms looking awkward in front. By this time, the initial heat from running up that stupid Seton Rd hill had worn off, and the room grew incredibly cold. Despite the cold, this pose was the easiest to have held, but somehow everyone in the room thought it was difficult.
There was a mix of both male and female artists in the room this time. One of them came all the way down from New Glasgow for the life drawing group. I didn't talk much to this group, but it was good all the same - I'm a lot more comfortable with a group like this as opposed to dealing with a single photographer.
I also met with a photographer today. We can't shoot anytime soon because it's too busy for us, but we're hoping for January. The meeting's mostly to get a feel for each other, and see where our interests lie. Unlike most of the photographers I've been dealing with, this one's very articulate - almost intimidatingly so. He also doesn't plan his shoots ahead... which kinda annoys me, but he's a good photographer all the same and the amount of thought he puts into his shoots during the process and after is well worth any anxiety I might have.
I want to post some more on the roles of model and photographer, but I'm tired, and I'm not sure I'm qualified to say anything at this point. But I do think that the amount of work a photographer puts into the art-making process is crucial, during the shooting process, and the editing process. When the photographer has obviously mastered all this, then it's up to the model to bring something to the picture that'll make or break it.
It's difficult for me to measure up to the fantastic internet models who are living as full-time art models, having started so late for one thing, lacking flexibility and lacking the proper body. I think I've shot with most of the TFP photographers in the area, so I'd like to start being more selective in who I shoot with. The problem is that the photographers I want to shoot with probably have no use for me in their portfolios - so shooting with them might involve having to pay them.
We'll see what happens. I'm beginning to love this hobby a lot and would like to develope it more.
Mount Saint Vincent University, as the name implies, is situated on a hillside right next to the Bedford Highway. It's got... "interesting" architecture (their Student Union building has no 1st floor and three floors, and the stairs kinda sprawl all over the place... and people thought McNally was confusing). The first time I went looking for the building I'm supposed to go to, I had to walk up this steep, steep hill. WHEW! Students of MSVU must be in freaking shape!
I've been asked to do life art modeling a second time now. The first time, it was confusing, but nice. The drawing group was comprised of all women, most of them students, so it was pleasant chatting with them before the session started.
Before I began modeling, I always knew there had to be a trick to the whole glamourous modeling business. Not just about being pretty - models tended to have something "special". I didn't bother thinking about it much - it was a fuzzy area to me that didn't figure into my life.
Now, it's clear that models do a hell lot of work: posing isn't just about standing a certain way - it's more than one pose per shoot, sometimes several, out of which only one is used. The amount of prep work that goes into model photography is ridiculous. It's even worse than cosplay, because it requires so much co-ordination. To be able to technically execute a picture is one thing; quite another to capture a mood that makes the viewer stop and go "wow".
Life art modeling is a tad more difficult than camera, I find. I have to hold the poses for five, ten and twenty minute sessions. This means I have to figure out where my body limitations are and how to work with them in order to produce something interesting for the artists to draw.
The first session was all right. I didn't know what to do, and I misheard "assymetrical" and did a simple cross-legged pose instead. I had to get it clarified the second five-minute session, and the prof told me, "something assymetrical. It gives us more to draw."
For one of the twenty-minute sessions, I kneeled on the table I was posing on and against a chair I put on the table. Leaning and resting... should be easy, right?
Wrong! I got severe pins and needles in my calves because I was sitting on them. My thighs are fucking huge, so laying them on my calves (which are more toned) deprived the latter of blood.
Today, I had another session. The prof got in touch with me a bit late, and not only that, the bus I caught which should've reached the Mount on time was caught in traffic, and I was 20 minutes late as a result. So I decided to make up for it by giving them the most interesting poses I could think of, using my arms a lot.
1st 5-min session: I reached an arm out to the ceiling. You'd think this would be easy to hold for five fucking minutes. It's not. Gah.
For whatever reason, I decided to hold a pose where I bent over and draped my left arm (same arm!) over my head. It's interesting, at the very least. But difficult. Incredibly difficult. My arm is still sore from the experience. But one of the artists complimented me on the fact that I was giving them great poses to work with.
The last pose was me lying down, arms looking awkward in front. By this time, the initial heat from running up that stupid Seton Rd hill had worn off, and the room grew incredibly cold. Despite the cold, this pose was the easiest to have held, but somehow everyone in the room thought it was difficult.
There was a mix of both male and female artists in the room this time. One of them came all the way down from New Glasgow for the life drawing group. I didn't talk much to this group, but it was good all the same - I'm a lot more comfortable with a group like this as opposed to dealing with a single photographer.
I also met with a photographer today. We can't shoot anytime soon because it's too busy for us, but we're hoping for January. The meeting's mostly to get a feel for each other, and see where our interests lie. Unlike most of the photographers I've been dealing with, this one's very articulate - almost intimidatingly so. He also doesn't plan his shoots ahead... which kinda annoys me, but he's a good photographer all the same and the amount of thought he puts into his shoots during the process and after is well worth any anxiety I might have.
I want to post some more on the roles of model and photographer, but I'm tired, and I'm not sure I'm qualified to say anything at this point. But I do think that the amount of work a photographer puts into the art-making process is crucial, during the shooting process, and the editing process. When the photographer has obviously mastered all this, then it's up to the model to bring something to the picture that'll make or break it.
It's difficult for me to measure up to the fantastic internet models who are living as full-time art models, having started so late for one thing, lacking flexibility and lacking the proper body. I think I've shot with most of the TFP photographers in the area, so I'd like to start being more selective in who I shoot with. The problem is that the photographers I want to shoot with probably have no use for me in their portfolios - so shooting with them might involve having to pay them.
We'll see what happens. I'm beginning to love this hobby a lot and would like to develope it more.
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modeling
Date: 2007-10-12 06:03 pm (UTC)-B
Re: modeling
Date: 2007-10-13 05:01 am (UTC)Re: modeling
Date: 2007-10-13 11:49 pm (UTC)Re: modeling
Date: 2007-10-14 01:27 am (UTC)I don't really know how to tell you HOW to pose. I'll try. To begin, when you're the model, give them something interesting to draw - to me that means be assymmetrical in your poses. If you're doing one thing with the left leg (say, it's bent), do something different with the other (lay it down on the ground). Vary up your poses. If there's something you can lean on or hold on to (I sit on a table and sometimes I put a chair up to lean on it), then do so. Before going to the class, think about the positions you might do: sitting? Standing? Kneeling? Cross-legged? Knees/elbows bent? Look up art books and check out the poses the models are in - for example, you could try to mimic Rodin's The Thinker (more awkward than it looks).
Stretch before posing :P Staying in one position can be hard!
The nice thing about being an art model is that you don't have to be the typical eye-candy to pose =) Art embraces all forms!