So I got my images back from my recent shoot with a really great stock photographer, Jana Le. She found my modeling profile on Model Mayhem's website and liked my look. She sent me an email and it was a done deal! This was actually my first time doing a stock photo shoot, so it was a fun challenge for me.
To recap for those who aren't aware of what stock photography is, this type of photography is very similar to commercial, except in a different form. There are many online stock photography websites, where photographers upload their images into galleries. Clients who don't have the time or budget to put together their own shoots and hire models can go to the stock photography websites and download the full-size images for a fee, which the photographer (and in some cases, the models) get a percentage of. These images appear everywhere from website ads to print for fliers, brochures, product packaging, billboards and many more.
Here is Jana's portfolio of work (I love how she shows the original image and the image as used for commercial purposes): http://www.modelmayhem.com/pics.php?id=341351
We got together at 7AM (yikes!) in front of the City Hall in San Jose and met up with another model, named Kalani. It was already pretty hot out and it didn't help that we were stuck in business attire. The shoot started off great. Basically all Kalani and I had to do was talk to each other casually, with the photographer giving direction here and there (turn more towards me, face away from the camera, hold the prop in your other hand, etc). Because it was a business themed shoot, we did a lot of handshaking and natural expressions were encouraged. Luckily, Kalani is a very energetic and hilarious guy so we had no problem laughing naturally throughout the shoot. It was all about candids with few formal poses.
As the day went on, the sun only got hotter and as a result, I got dehydrated and suffered a slight dizzy spell. Luckily, Jana was so sweet so she allowed me to take a seat while Kalani went off to get us some refreshments. Although I wasn't feeling too great I didn't want to waste any shooting time so I sucked it up and started posing as I was, while seated. Jana appreciated my ability to put on a genuine smile in spite of the nausea I was experiencing. Once we got our drinks, I was much better and ready to finish our shoot! Eventually the temperature got way too hot so we wrapped up shooting around 12noon. I had a blast and hope that one of my images gets chosen for a product or advertisement.
Here are some of the images from the shoot. Because they are on a stock photo site, I don't want anyone to rip off these images when the photographer fully deserves her percentage of the sales so these have the watermark logo of the website on them. Unfortunately, some of them cover up my face but you get the idea:
Comments
Don't they frown on models retouching their shots themselves?
Di