Need to know business?

I think so.

It’s the ‘ol right side of the brain (creative) vs. the left side (analytical) contest.  Can a creative photog/model/MUA etc. market themselves?  Sadly, I have seen the answer to that question is that most of the time, they cannot.  Ah ha! That’s where agents and managers appear – to help guide the “artist” to succeed.  (More on agents and managers later – that could be an entire book itself!)

My life has been a constant battle of my right and left sides of my brain trying to beat the other.  All the way through college and beyond, I was a musician. Yep, one of those band geeks learning to play trumpet in 3^rd grade.  It caught on, I loved it and performed to the best of my abilities.  College came along and I went to VanderCook College of Music for my Bachelor’s of Music Education degree.  I think I excelled – Sophmore year I landed lead trumpet in the Jazz Band and continued to play gigs around Chicago, then taught High School for 5 years…

Left side took over when I needed more money to start a family and buy a home.  I got into sales and at around age 26 and became Rookie of the 1^st Quarter at Toshiba.  I continued for the next 20 plus years in major accounts gaining customers such as Coca Cola in the Midwest as well as Rush Hospital.

During my sales career, I continued photography and eventually open my own Photography and Management company (Creative Images & Model Management) and helped many models with business.  I write this blog today in order NOT to pat myself on my back, but to give some credence to my blog entries regarding the business side.

More later…

Levels of competancy

Over the years, in whatever we do, we all go through the learning process of the following:

Unconsciously incompetent:  This is where we don't even know what we don't know.

Consciously incompetent:  Once the "journey" begins, we start to realize the vast amount of information we don't have a grasp on yet.

Consciously competent:  At this level, we can now do the tasks if we think about the process, what we have to do and how to do it.

Unconsciously competent: This is the best level to be at and is the most rewarding.  We can do the job/tasks and excel to the top without thinking about it - you are just correctly reacting and winning.  One danger here, this is a level that we can become and remain stagnate.

On that 4th level, in order to grow, you need to step outside of your comfort zone, even when you are successful.  When doing so, you may become unconsciously incompetent again, which may be scary to some.

I'll relate more of this in later blogs when it comes to photographers (and models) regarding the industry.  Why do SO many "models" start out, do shoots and really never take it anywhere else?  There are several answers.... stay tuned.

Bullet points about the industry - do's and dont's

Tasty bits of information about this unique industry and the photographers, models, stylists, make-up artists, hair stylists,

and everyone else that grace it…

-       Mark Niemi

(Not in any particular order)

·         Respect time.   Be “in time, because “on-time” is late. Cancellations are a no-no but if you must cancel, give all parties plenty of advanced notice and don’t come up with excuses (I’ve heard them all!) -  tell the truth. Call if you are running late, even if it’s 5 minutes late.

·         Have fun!   If not it will show in your images.

·         Huge egos.   Got an attitude? Check it at the door. If you are VERY good at what you do, be humble.

·         No Escorts.   After shooting people for more than 25 years, I really cannot come up with a good reason an escort should not be allowed to attend with a model. This could be a red flag, and a reason for caution. However, an escort should remain quiet and out of the way unless asked to help by holding a reflector etc.

·         Be humble.  It goes a long way. Give credit to everyone involved in a great shot.

·         Don’t over use Photoshop.  Photographers that do, are not helping the model if they are looking for real commercial work. It’s not a good idea to use those for casting calls either. However, I totally respect Photoshop artists and wizards. 

·         Pay your dues.  You are not a model just because you found a guy with a camera and opened up a Model Mayhem (or similar) page.  You have not earned the right to shoot a few times then publish what your “rates” are.

·         Invest in your career.  Models will buy designer purses for $400 but won’t invest in their career and join highly professional portals such as OneModelPlace.com.  Also both models and photographers alike may have to pay the other to improve your skills by working with someone that is more advanced than you are.

·         Three components of a photo.  1.) Lighting (the photographer’s duty) 2.) Composition (again the photographer’s job) and 3.) The most important: Gesture. This is the model’s job.  Be an actor and put yourself in the mood of the moment and don’t fall back on that “deer in headlights” look.

·         A great shot is a group effort.  Bravo to the Models that bring ideas to the table and help plan a shoot.  Having a concept in mind is a great thing to discuss with the Photographer, MUA and others involved.

·         Be versatile.  This goes for Models and Photographers – until you make it big in a specific genre, show that you have a lot of versatility.

·         Quality vs Quantity. In your portfolio or on-line galleries, show only your best work that you think others will think is quality too. Limit the number of images you post that are similar. If you shoot in a hat and scarf, and received 80 images of that look, pick the best ONE to use.  A client wants to quickly get a good look at your many styles and not have to wade through 10-15 images of basically the same look.

·         Don’t latch onto only one industry partner.  Models, please shoot with many photographers. Having only one or two photographers that you are comfortable with makes you unmarketable. A client probably won’t hire you if they don’t see that you can work with lots of photographers of all kinds.

·         Tear sheets.  The absolute best portfolio is one that is filled solely with “tear sheets”.

·         The hand on head with elbow out.   Not many models can pull this off and why would you want to?? What percentage of advertisements poses a model in this manner?  Not many at all.

·         Don’t repeat yourself.    If you have a modeling page on OMP or MM, when you set it up it allows you to select the styles of work you want to do.  If you don’t want to shoot nudes or any other specific style, note that where the sites allow you to make the selections and then don’t spell it out again in capital letters in your description.  Photographers, if a model does not check off the category that says she/he will do nudes, don’t message them asking so.

·         Photographers that shoot nothing but glamour, lingerie and nudes.   Models, I would think you want some of this in your portfolio, however, you are probably better off shooting with  versatile photographers that can give you many quality styles.

·         Image Contests.   If you enter your image into any kind of contest – picture of the day, model of the week, or any other hundreds of other “contests” don’t fish for votes.  If your image is of real quality, you don’t need to beg all your friends in your email address book for votes.

·         Communication.  Remember that thing called a phone? Use it!  Email and texting is a great way for quick communications, but shouldn’t be used for setting up details.

·         Know the law.   Everyone involved should understand and comply with USC Section 2257 and understand any releases used.  Don’t get caught “with your pants down” in the future.

·         Model’s, YOU are the boss.   Discuss and understand the content/concept of the shoot prior to it.  Don’t allow anyone to pressure you into any shots that you are not totally comfortable with.

·         TFP/TFCD/TF*   Make sure all parties involved in the shoot understand approx. how many images will be distributed after the shoot and in what time frame they should be expected.  My policy is that everyone will get at least a few images, retouched, within 24 hours, if not sooner.

·         Who can alter images?  Generally, the photographer will be the only one that will alter/retouch images.  Model’s and others – don’t mess with the images unless you get permission first.

·         Media.  It’s a great idea to have a USB thumb drive with you at a shoot. They come in very handy sometimes and an 8 gig drive can be purchased for as low as $15 these days.

·         Smile or no smile?  Whatever market you are in, go to the websites of major agencies and look at the model portfolios to see what styles are most prominent.  After all, if the commercial world is buying these looks, you should pattern yourself after it, unless you want to remain a hobbyist model/photographer.  Being a hobbyist is perfectly fine, but if you really aspire to be in print commercially, study the market and get help from those who know the market.

·         Get a website!  This shows you are serious and an email address from a domain name other than gmail, yahoo, aol etc. is much more professional looking.

·         Hard copy portfolio.  Keep it updated and understand how many, what kind and what order the images should be inserted.  At a casting call/go-see, you have less than 10 seconds to impress with your personality and portfolio.

·         Be patient.  Becoming a success as a model, photographer, MUA, stylist etc. takes time, effort and hard work. Get yourself out there in as many ways possible to get noticed.  Getting lucky is “where preparation meets opportunity.”

·         Agency Open Calls.  Most of the time, agencies that hold Open Calls prefer you to dress casually.  No baggy clothes or have skin tight fitting clothes either.  Wear clothes that allow your figure to be seen – jeans and a tank top is good. Women get your hair off of your face and wear very natural make-up if any.  Clients and agencies want to see the “natural you” so they can see what they have to work with.

·         “Mug shots”.  An agency or client likes to see mug shots. A clean headshot is a must and a full body front shot, ¾ length front shot, profile and full length back shot. No posing, no distracting backgrounds.

·         Social networking websites.  Sites like onemodelplace.com, istudio.com, modelmayhem.com, facebook.com (to name a few) are great tools to promote yourself. Be careful that you don’t give out too much information. Remain safe at all times. 

·         Google phone number.  Google now offers you “Google Phone”. Go on-line and apply for a totally new number, in any area code and select from available numbers. This number is forwarded to any phone of your choice and the caller will never know your real number, until you call back and it’s displayed on Caller ID. It also offers features like voice mail, voice messages texted to your phone, voice messages emailed to you, etc. and it’s all FREE!

·         Travel.  If you travel alone and accommodations are provided, it’s just good sense to stay at a reputable hotel/motel.  If the room has been pre-paid and the client hands you a “key” for your room, go to the front desk and request a different room. Rarely is a hotel totally full and even though they may not want to give you a different room, insist on it.  Don’t stay on a ground floor and don’t stay at a motel where your room has only outside entrances. You want to be as secure as possible. Don’t accept accommodations that could possibly put you in harm’s way.  It’s best not to travel alone.

About me: I graduated college with a music education degree and taught HS band for 5 years. I went into business to business sales in 1985 and successfully sold business equipment for 22 years to major accounts.  My photography started in HS as an elective class. I was amateur/hobbyist for years then since approx. 2001 I went semi-pro and pro in 2004 when I opened up Creative Images & Model Management. With the turn of the economy recently, I am back in sales during the day and am still very active weeknights and weekends with photography. My goal always has been to help others become better and to understand what kind of road is ahead of them in this industry. I’ve worked with many major corporations and some of the models I have guided have become extremely successful in their careers, mostly due to their drive and a little help from me.

You may contact me at 630-730-9451, mark@creativeimagesmm.com, onemodelplace.com (member #8742),

 modelmayhem.com (member #377892), facebook.com/markniemi.

I'm finally understanding the photography/model industry

I've debated on when and where to write comments.  I've been a photographer for many years and have met hundreds if not thousands in the business - models, photographers, makeup artists, stylists, web masters etc.  There is a real distorted vision tht most people have that are IN the business as well as an unnecessary bad perception of the business from people that are NOT in the business.

I am starting to formulate my vision based on years of dealing with this all.  Most of it's positive although the bad belly side of the biz is somewhat disgusting.

This will be a start to a book. This will help me think it out in the beginning stages of relating experiences to others.

Stay tuned..