Paying It Forward

"Life is what happens whilst you're making plans." John Lennon

"Trying is the first step towards failure." Homer Simpson

I went to a photographers social evening last night, it doesn't sound exciting but the purpose of it was to get models and photographers in the same place without one of them being paid to take their clothes off. When you are shooting a model there is often very little chance to make a lot of small talk, if that doesn't sound like a contradiction, you as the photographer are trying to get the lighting right, make sure the models hair looks good, there aren't any chipped nails on show etc, the model is trying not to look as rigid as a mannequin and if its a glamour shoot she has to keep relaxing her facial muscles in case she gets lockjaw.

The meeting was set for 7 in a large studio in Bournemouth and about 45 people had expressed an interest in attending, the list of names showed that more photographers were attending than models, about a two to one ratio which didn't look too good on paper. I arrived just after 7:15 and there were about a dozen people there, excluding the two studio owners. What struck me straightaway was that there were four models sat talking to themselves whilst a group of photographers stood in a group discussing the sorts of things blokes discuss when left to their own devices. That struck me as daft, I didn't want to discuss the comparative merits of Nikon v Canon (and why doesn't anybody ever mention Olympus?) I wanted to talk turkey with the models!

I spent an hour with Samantha and Elisha, two teenagers who were both old beyond their years in the way teenagers often are. Once we had exhausted every possible avenue I noticed that two other models: Hannah and Zoe were talking to themselves (or rather to each other), I didn't know whether this was because they'd scared all the other togs (photographers) off simply because they looked younger than a lot of the other women there. Anyway I joined them sitting on the floor and we had a good chinwag for over an hour, covering all sorts of subjects from photography to cancer to their partners attitudes. It reminded me of my visit to Paris for Le Tour and how comfortable I felt just talking to people I didn't know anything about beyond the situation we found ourselves in. It also struck me how given different circumstances I would have felt (or been made to feel) like a dirty old man.

My visit was rounded off with a forty five minute talk with a wonderful couple from Sussex who own their own studio near Chichester and they invited me down for a no-commitment look around their place.

I got home just before midnight, how many men have used the excuse, "sorry I'm late I've just spent a couple of hours with four teenage girls," and not got a slap for their troubles. Fortunately Janis knows what I'm like - so no, I didn't get a slap. What I did get over the next twenty four hours were three e-mails expressing an interest to work me with then on Sunday an invitation to take part in a group shoot on the Dorset/Devon border sometime in the future.

The photograph at the top is of Carla Marie and demonstrates why models are so thin, not only don't they eat much but when given the opportunity to eat an apple they forget where they should put it!