July 12th – It will soon be ten years since I started taking photos. At the beginning they were images that I took to publish them in another parallel project: the Viena Directo website. Then I discovered that what I liked the most was taking pictures of people. Specifically, pictures of men (in future articles I will explain why). Since then, I’ve lost count of the people I’ve taken portraits of.
In the last three days, three different people have asked me how I get so many guys to pose for me.
Believe it or not, the truth is that until now I hadn’t seriously thought about it.
Also, I have to say that I know very few photographers, so I have had few occasions to exchange impressions with other people on the subject. Besides, my experience tells me that other photographers are usually like magicians, that is, very jealous of keeping their tricks secret. Which has put me out of the mood to ask.
I’m not like that. I like to share what I’ve learned, little or much. Who knows, maybe someone else can benefit from my experience.
So, on the subject of models, here are some ideas:
The models who pose for me have three origins: some of them are people I have known for a long time. I started taking photos of them in the golden age of social media (that is, when social networks fulfilled their function, which was to put people in touch with each other, and not like now, when they have been transformed into stores or accumulations of ads).
Some of them, like Daniel or Habibi, I have been taking pictures of for years. Some other time, in another article, I will write about the advantages of working with the same model more than once.
I meet up with them from time to time, like friends who get together to play soccer.
Other people (fewer) have written to me saying they were interested in having me photograph them.
Finally, in many cases I have been the one that has contacted people to ask them if they would like to do a photo shoot with me.
Almost always, these people had never thought before they might be interesting to a photographer.
However, I am very proud to say: may be they might not be interesting to a regular photographer, but not to me.
It doesn’t matter to me that my models are inexperienced or amateus. What’s more: in many cases, it’s an advantage. Because it takes the pressure off and makes the photo shoots more relaxed and we both, the model and me, have more fun. In the end, that’s the whole point of it all: to have a good time.
Generally, if I see that the model is a little nervous (it’s normal, at the beginning) I choose a certain moment to tell him:
-Look, don’t worry, relax, this is digital photography. The photos we don’t like, we delete them and that’s it. Never mind, it´s ok.
Finally, one other thing: if you’re a photographer and you’re reading this, I’d like to tell you something else. Getting used to negative answers is very healthy. Many times the photographer’s eye sees things that the model (or potential model) does not see. There are also people who don’t like to be photographed, people who think they are not photogenic (even if it’s a lie, and even if you try to convince them that they “haven’t found the right photographer” yet). Then, of course, there are people who are simply unpleasant (few, it’s true, but there are some).
In those cases you have to be content, be respectful, don’t take it personally, and simply move on.
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