Working with Models

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Photography: Working with Models

A course for experienced photographers who want to learn more about photographing people and working with models. Own equipment essential.

Thursday evenings, weekly for five weeks.

Week 1: Introduction to portraits

Week 2: Clothing/fashion

Week 3: Sport/action

Week 4: Erotica

Week 5: Conclusion/Graduation

Cost: $200 plus model fees (if applicable). Supper included.

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Chloe saw the ad in a brochure she picked up at the art gallery. The brochure was put out by the local community college which was well known for its evening classes. This accounted for the surprisingly low cost, as the college would have obtained a subsidy and possibly a sponsor to keep the cost as low as possible. Chloe had seen ads for similar courses in the past which had been much more expensive. She was struggling to pay rent as it was.

Chloe had fallen in love with photography when she was given her first camera at the age of eleven. She took photography as a subject in high school, and then she managed to get an internship at an advertising agency. This led to a permanent job as one of a team of three photographers. Chloe was young, just 19, so she was eager to pick up assignments which played to her strengths. She was great at shooting objects, especially liquids. If a job called for a photo of a pint of beer or a shot of espresso, her colleagues were more than happy to let her have it.

Chloe's manager, however, was pushing her to become more versatile. Her main problem was that she was too shy. She was okay working with just an assistant, but she was reluctant to work with other people, especially models. Chloe knew she had to get over this barrier, and this course looked like the best opportunity to help her. However, she had two very significant concerns about the advertisement.

Chloe phoned the college and spoke with an administrator for the evening classes. "What does it mean by 'if applicable' for the model fees?" She knew that the hourly rate for models would easily make the course completely unaffordable.

"Each class has a homework assignment," replied the woman. "If you can't get someone else to model for you, then you have to pay to use the model that the tutor has arranged."

"Does that mean I can just get my flatmate to model for me?" asked Chloe.

"Only if they're also doing the course," said the woman. "The model must be someone who was there at class. But don't worry. I understand that in previous classes, most people were happy to help each other out."

"Okay, that's good," said Chloe. "The other thing I want to ask about was, um, week four."

"Week four? Oh, you mean the erotica class. Don't worry, it's just erotica, not pornography. I mean, nudity is allowed, but it's not compulsory. It's fine if it's just a bit of a tease. I think the tutor says that the goal is to get her heart beating faster. She doesn't expect everyone to get her panties wet."

Chloe was a bit shocked by the woman's reply, and the answers provided only a small amount of reassurance. Knowing that she needed to be challenged, she signed up for the course, but it still felt like something well outside of her comfort zone.

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Andrew was shown the ad by his older brother, who told him that he had already signed him up and paid the fee. Andrew's brother was a successful fashion designer, and Andrew worked for his company in an administration role. One of the tasks his brother wanted him to do was take simple photos of models wearing the clothes. He wasn't asking Andrew to do a professional fashion shoot as he always hired top photographers to do that, but there were plenty of times he just wanted to send someone a simple photo of his creations.

Andrew had tried to do this a couple of times with his brother, but his problem was that he found the models too intimidating. All his interactions with them were tongue-tied and confused. In all the photos he took, the model invariably looked awkward.

++++++++++

Chloe and Andrew were both disappointed with how small the class size was. There were only eight people in the room, which included the tutor and a professional model who was assisting her. Given their introverted natures, both Chloe and Andrew had been hoping to fade into the background in a much larger group.

The class started with a round of introductions. The tutor introduced herself as Karyn, a freelance photographer who was taking a break from travelling as she had a young family. Her model was a 21-year-old woman named April. April looked like a fashion model: tall, thin, beautiful complexion and blonde hair cut short in an immaculate pixie style.

The first student to introduce herself was a 23-year-old woman named Deirdre. She was of a medium height and had multiple piercings. Her head had long black hair on one side and was shaved on the other side. Chloe's immediate thought was that Deirdre was a lesbian, then she immediately berated herself for being so quick to judge someone by their appearance. But then Deirdre told everyone that she was doing the course because she wanted to assist her wife who was a wedding photographer specialising in gay and lesbian weddings.

Sitting next to Deirdre was Ruth, a chubby 22-year-old who was dressed in bright colours. Ruth told the class she worked during the day in a shop, but that her passion was art. She talked about dabbling in quite a lot of different types of art, but she still hadn't found her niche. Chloe suspected that Ruth's desire to become an artist was more than her actual talent could support.

Next to introduce themselves were two older men. The first, named Gerald, stated his age as 'late 60s'. He was tall and mostly bald with a long grey beard. He spoke to the group about belonging to an alternative dance group that wanted to do more to capture their performances on film. After Gerald was Alistair, who gave his age as 36. He was about the same height as Chloe's five foot three, and he sported a goatee. In response to the question about why he enrolled in the course, all he said was that he "likes photography." Chloe found herself feeling a bit creeped out by Alistair.

The last person before Chloe herself was Andrew. He gave his age as 22, and described his job working in his brother's fashion design business. Chloe noted that he was tall and well-built with a handsome face. Out of all the men, he was easily the most attractive, but she was a bit put off by his bright orange hair.

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Andrew was relieved to finally get past the ordeal of having to speak about himself to the group, and he turned to his left to look at Chloe, the class member he was most interested to learn about. It wasn't just that Chloe was young and pretty, although there was no denying that she was. From looking at her, Andrew wasn't surprised to learn that she was only 19, but it did mean that he was more than impressed by her career success. Listening to her talk about her job, he felt that familiar sense of intimidation he felt with the fashion models at work. His intimidation reduced a bit when she shared the same nervousness he felt about working with other people. He could sense in her a vulnerability that he could relate to.

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After the introductions were complete, the class began. Taught mostly by Karyn, but with a lot of helpful input from April, they presented a lot of information which they supported with practical demonstrations. Both Chloe and Andrew felt invigorated but frequently overwhelmed. After spending a very short time discussing traditional sitting portraits, they soon moved on to full body shots and a variety of posing ideas. They also spent time talking about foreshortening. After showing a number of funny photographs demonstrating foreshortening done badly, such as people looking like midgets or looking like they had stunted limbs, they then demonstrated how foreshortening could provide an interesting perspective if done correctly.

Mixed in with the teaching was a lot of instructions about appropriate professional behaviour. Both Karyn and April spoke passionately about the need for photography to stamp out some of the misogyny and exploitation that was still all too common. They talked about the need for photographers to never touch models without consent, and to be very careful about starting relationships with models due to the power imbalance that often exists. Other pieces of advice included always providing robes to allow models to cover up, and safe changing areas, even when the photo shoot involved nudity. As April put it, "even if I'm only going to be wearing a garter belt and stockings, I still like somewhere private to get changed."

These instructions got everyone thinking about the upcoming class on erotica. Karyn had quickly gone through the lesson plan, but she hadn't gone into any detail about the future weeks, preferring to encourage the class to only focus on the current lesson and trust that the future classes would take care of themselves. Andrew felt his heart pounding as he thought about it. He found himself picturing April wearing only stockings and garter belt, maybe bent over a table or lying back on a bed, maybe even spreading her legs wide. These images had a predictable effect on his cock, and he was forced to quickly adjust himself. However, the idea of being the person to ask April to adopt these poses terrified him.

Chloe was having the same thoughts. She had similar images of April in her head, and similar feelings of terror at the idea of being tasked with ordering April around. She also, much to her surprise, had a physical reaction. Although she didn't have an erection that needed adjusting, she suspected that a wet spot was forming in her panties.

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As the end of the first class approached, April went into the adjoining kitchen to arrange the supper while Karyn explained the homework assignment. The assignment was a 'jeans and shirt' assignment. By specifying this somewhat boring choice for the model's clothing, the focus would be on the photographer's posing of the model. Karyn then went over the rules of who they could use as a model. As Chloe already knew, Karyn stressed that their model had to be someone present in the class that evening. In other words, they had to ask one of their classmates to model for them. The alternative was to make an arrangement with April, who had agreed to work for $120 an hour. Chloe knew this price could have been a lot higher, but it was already beyond her means.

Karyn suggested that they talk amongst themselves over supper. As they stood up, Chloe could see that Ruth and Deirdre, who had been sitting beside each other, were already deep in conversation. She felt anxiety building inside her. She had decided that Ruth was the person she would feel most comfortable working with, but even Deirdre was preferable to having to work with any of the men. She headed towards them, but soon found her way blocked by Gerald, the older hippy.

"Hi Chloe," he said. "You look like you might be a dancer. I would love to work with someone who knows how to dance."

Chloe turned down Gerald as quickly as she could do so politely, but then she found her path blocked by Alistair. "Chloe, I would love it if you would agree to work with me. I think you look gorgeous, more naturally beautiful even than April, and she is totally hot." Although Alistair obviously thought his compliments would win Chloe over, in reality he made her skin crawl. She couldn't get away from him fast enough.

By the time Chloe reached the other two women students, she could see that they had already reached their own agreement. She could hear them discussing times to get together. She turned away in disappointment and went over to the supper table. She was pondering the idea of asking her employer to advance her the money to hire April when she was approached by Andrew.

"Can I speak to you?" he asked. Chloe wasn't really in the mood, but it wasn't like she had anything better to do while she sipped her tea and ate her chocolate biscuit. She nodded.

"I know you wanted to work with a woman," continued Andrew, "and I don't blame you, but please hear me out. I know I should be asking April, and I could probably get my brother to pay for it, but I don't think I could cope with the pressure of working with a proper professional. I'm sure I will make lots of mistakes to start with, so I thought it might be easier to work with someone who was also learning their way. I really need to get over my shyness with beautiful women like you."

To Chloe, Andrew's comment about her appearance didn't seem manipulative like it had felt with Alistair. Instead, she felt genuinely pleased, which surprised her. She could see how nervous he was, and it struck a chord with her. However, the idea of working with a strange man still seemed too challenging.

"I don't know," she said. "We only just met."

"How about we decide week by week?" said Andrew. "That way you don't have to make any commitment for the later weeks. If at any stage either of us doesn't think it is working out, then we call it off and use April or someone else.

Chloe looked around the room. Ruth and Deirdre were still deep in conversation. She didn't know whether Gerald had asked Alistair if he was a dancer, but she noted that both men were comparing diaries with April. She figured that, given the lack of alternatives, there would be no harm in working with Andrew for at least the first week, and maybe one or two after that. "Okay," she said.

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Chloe and Andrew decided to meet on Sunday afternoon and again on Monday night. Both agreed it would be best to keep each photo shoot on a separate day so that they wouldn't get their roles confused. This schedule would give them enough time before the shoot to plan it, and enough time afterwards to edit the photos before they emailed their ten best shots to Karyn by the Wednesday night deadline.

Chloe spent the next few days anxiously trying to prepare for Sunday afternoon, when she would be the photographer and Andrew the model. She knew it would be very awkward if she just asked Andrew to do random poses. What she was looking for was some sort of concept or theme that would give them both some focus. Finally, on Saturday evening, she got some inspiration while watching the news on her television

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Chloe met Andrew outside her work. Despite being Sunday afternoon, there were a couple of people working in the main office. Fortunately, her studio was far enough away in the back to give them enough privacy. She anticipated that her model would be quite self-conscious.

Andrew was very impressed by her studio, and watched with great interest as she arranged a black background and adjusted the lighting. She worked with great concentration and seemed to forget about him, as she seemed slightly surprised to see him standing there once she was set up. She picked up a bag and pulled out a green shirt and a small placard, the sort you might wave at a protest march. On the front of the placard she had glued a piece of paper which was the same green as the shirt. She held them out to him. Since Chloe hadn't told him to wear any particular colour, he had chosen to wear a white linen shirt with his favourite blue jeans. "I could have worn a green shirt if you wanted me to," he said.

"I hope you don't mind wearing this one," said Chloe, "because I needed to get the colour of the sign to match the shirt. I'm going to chroma key it later."

"Chroma key? What's that?"

"You know, green screen. I'm going to add different stuff to the shirt and the sign later."

Andrew was impressed. Chloe really seemed to know her stuff. He looked around again. "Um, where do I get changed?"

Chloe blushed. She had completely forgotten about that. She opened the door to a small storage room. "Will this do? I'm afraid there's not much room."

Andrew went inside and closed the door. After stripping off his own shirt, he found it strangely difficult to do up the buttons on the green shirt. He realised the buttons were on the wrong side. "Hey Chloe," he called to her through the door. "Is this a woman's shirt?"

"Yes. I borrowed it off my flatmate. Is it too small?"

"No, it's okay I guess." Now that he knew it was a blouse, he noticed that the shape of the collar and shoulders were all wrong too. He desperately hoped that it wouldn't be obvious when the photos were displayed at their next class.

Chloe explained that she wanted him to pose as a protester. She asked him to look angry and brandish the sign. She took several photos, but she wasn't happy. She then tried asking Andrew to actually shout out various slogans to try to get a more authentic expression on his face, but he just ended up looking embarrassed.

"Come on," she urged. "Nobody can hear you."

"It's just weird," he complained. "I think protest slogans are embarrassing."

Chloe tried a different tack. "I know. Imagine you're at a rugby game, an All Blacks test match, and we're losing. The referee is making some awful decisions and you're getting annoyed." Then she took a deep breath and yelled. "COME ON. HE WAS TOTALLY OFFSIDE!" Andrew looked startled, but Chloe kept yelling at the imaginary referee. He started to join in, just echoing her words to start with until he began to get into character.

Chloe took a great many shots from a variety of angles, including climbing a short step ladder that they kept in the studio for just that purpose, but she didn't stop yelling abuse. Andrew couldn't help smiling occasionally at the absurdity of the situation, but Chloe still got plenty of great pictures of him looking angry.

Finally they were done, and as Chloe packed her camera away Andrew started changing back into his own shirt. He had his back to her, and she was momentarily stunned by the orange colour of his armpit hair. He was a good-looking guy, but she wasn't sure that body hair should be so bright.

"Hey, Tyra!" she said. "What's wrong with your changing room?"

"Oops, sorry about that," he said, quickly buttoning his shirt before turning to face her.

She gave him a grin to show that she was only teasing. After all, a man taking off his shirt wasn't a big deal. At the same time though, she was pleased that he seemed comfortable with her. She still felt nervous about being his model tomorrow, but for now she had to acknowledge that the day had gone well.

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On Monday night, Chloe agreed to meet Andrew at the house he shared with his brother. When she arrived, she saw that it was a traditional family home, complete with a swing set in the yard. This led her to the inevitable conclusion that he still lived with his parents. Andrew seemed acutely aware of this perception as he immediately explained that his parents were spending a couple of years travelling overseas, so he and his brother had moved back in to look after the place.

Andrew led Chloe inside where she met his brother and employer. His brother introduced himself as Rupert, although to Rupert's displeasure Andrew referred to him a couple of times as Robert by mistake, which was obviously his real name. Rupert was exactly like Chloe expected; outgoing and flamboyant. He expressed his pleasure at Chloe agreeing to help Andrew with their coursework. He had obviously questioned Andrew about her photo shoot the previous day. He said he was very curious to see the finished product.

Andrew eventually dragged Chloe away from his talkative brother and out into the yard to the swing set. "I thought I would try a 'joys of childhood' theme," he said. "What do you think?"

"Are you going to make me look like a child?" she asked with some suspicion. She found the idea disconcerting and a bit creepy.