Of late, I’ve fallen into a routine, when shooting a model for the first time. I’ll invite them to my apartment, and after talking to them for a bit, will take them on a walk around my neighborhood. We’ll talk as we walk through the winding Hollywood Hills side-streets, stop and shoot, walk a bit more, shoot, talk, walk, and so on.
I favor routines, and in addition to it being far less work to shoot around my house, as opposed to driving to some far-off (yet scenic!) location, there’s also something intriguing about placing different people in the same situation, seeing how people respond differently, how they work in individual ways against the same backgrounds.
And I’m lazy.
But it’s also art, man!
More importantly, it’s a way to get out of my apartment, which I like to think makes the models more comfortable. Asking them over to my place to shoot always makes me a bit nervous, not sure if they’ll see that as suspicious, so taking them outside on a wee adventure helps alleviate that in my own mind.
It’s also an excellent way to foster conversation, as two folks walking in silence along some city side streets is almost too awkward for anyone to bear.
Justine and I easily fell into talking about all kinds of stuff: boyfriends, American Apparel (where she used to work), skeevy photographers, art, life, all that fun stuff.
Because, and here’s the big thing, I need the models to take pictures. I need more than just how they look, I don’t have big ideas in my head about a particular shoot, I work off of what I get from the model I’m shooting. The more time I have to observe them naturally, as they talk, laugh, question, as the natural range of expressions cross their faces, that’s where I get the chance to see things I want to photograph.
Amongst the many other ways to break down various photographers, you can divide us into two categories: those who have an image in their mind, and seek, through photography, to create that image in the world; and those who seek to capture something they see in the world, through the lens of their own personal point of view.
Me, I’m that second kind. I cannot create a photo out of whole cloth, I need something, nay, someone to work off of. A model with a lot of personality gives me loads to work with. A model who is just a walking hanger for their clothes…yeah, that’s gonna be problematic.
Maybe I’m just not that good.
But I don’t look at it that way. I’m after some aspect of a person, something truthful, something honest. But I am not so talented a psychologist that I can see that something just by looking at someone. I need to engage, need to observe and interact with my subject.
And so, conversation.
And so, walking through the streets, telling jokes, asking questions, making statements.
And so, good pictures, hopefully.
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