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Why do you want to be a model?
Just curious. There are so many models out there (as well as photographers) that makes me wonder what the motivation and maybe reward is (financially, prestige?) to be able to be called (or calling oneself) a "model"? Of course, a major factor is that someone must be an exhibitionist, or is it that you don't really care and you really do it only because you take advantage of your looks to make money to get where you really want to be in life? So... if you don't mind sharing (maybe too personal and I understand that), why do you want to be a model? Udo May 26 05 11:33 am Link I want to be a model because you get to be in front of the camera and millions of eyes will look at you... Wait....no....that's actually why I stay BEHIND the camera now that I think about it... May 26 05 11:40 am Link Posted by XtremeArtists ®: LOL May 26 05 11:42 am Link My theory is "Vanity." I said it, and I'm sticking to it... May 26 05 11:46 am Link It happened entirely by accident for me, so it's not so much about wanting to be one as simply, well, being one. My motivations are nuanced, and none of them are about cash and fame. (Which is pretty obvious to anyone who's looked at my work, probably.) For me it's about creating art, and about inviting the viewer to consider that beauty comes in a variety of forms. Perhaps most importantly, it's about creating a space where other plus sized women can, in seeing me, see themselves for the first time with different eyes. And, of course, who doesn't like the idea of having pretty pictures taken?  May 26 05 12:10 pm Link Reese took my answer. I can get payed for playing dress up! How cool is that? And I do kind of like making spiffy pictures, but that's mostly related to my vanity, too. And Reese, get out of my way! You're blocking the mirror! May 26 05 12:21 pm Link Posted by Reese: LOL - this is true to some extent!! I honestly love creating images that show something, mean something, defines something! I never thought of myself as a model but some photogs saw potential in me & created this monster you now see!! Plus its fun!! May 26 05 12:25 pm Link I want to be a model so that it will be Okay for me to ask out models. (I run to avoid the beating sticks that will come.) May 26 05 12:31 pm Link :::Reese pops in to view answers thus far and scribbles notes down in her book::: May 26 05 12:45 pm Link This sounds like conversations my friends (who are not photographers or models) do not understand. Why I do it. It's fun and I enjoy it. I will admit that there is some vanity to it, but aren't we all vain to a certain degree? May 26 05 03:41 pm Link Posted by Reese: Hell yeah! Also what other job will pay you to stand around doing nothing? May 26 05 05:57 pm Link I was asked several times to model and did some growing up for various little athletic (gymnastics, cheer, track & karate) magazines, camps etc. After high school I was approached again regarding it and I got paid. I like money, I like modeling it's fun and I've met lots of fun and interesting people. Plus get invited to lots of great parties. Met lots of stars, bands etc. but mostly because.. modeling + money = healthy checkbook May 26 05 06:12 pm Link I really prefer being a role model. I want to make the world a better place. Really, I do. Peace and compassion. I enjoy making all forms of art (drawing, graphic design, sculpture, music, some photography, martial arts, comedy - its an art) and this is just another form of art, but instead I am using my whole body as an instrument. Every photog I have worked with says that I am good at showing expressions and posing. I won a photo contest when I was a baby and my parents said I was a natural and showed so much life. I still have a great smile. I'll try to find that photo and post it. I didn't model for 20 years after that. Too busy getting into a little trouble. I've been modeling for almost three years. Seriously been getting more into it since I joined this site. I want to travel more and learn more about different cultures and this can lead to that. I also get to meet other artists (photogs and models). I am very creative and this is just another outlet. I am not vain in any way and never take myself seriously. I make people laugh and never make anyone feel bad. I'm one of the good models... May 26 05 06:15 pm Link I have a totally nice butt... May 26 05 06:21 pm Link I model because, when I had bigger boobs, I used to dance for mah man's freedom. Yeah, I got a man, a big man goes by the name of Sancho- cheese. He got the SAUCE! hot sauce, he's mah boss. Anyway, I model because- oops Ritalin break! Anyway, I model because I have a low attention spa- Anyway, I model because I have a low attent- OH, I model for all the reasons anyone else models- I was once severely beaten. =0) (see Reese, ends in a smiley face!) May 26 05 06:39 pm Link I met his man, Sancho Cheese- he was butt ugly- so ugly I thought his a**hole was his mouth- I mean really, really terrible. But he loved him- said he had "the sauce". No one had "the Sauce" since a woman I knew in...well that doesn't matter... Anyways- he was serious and age 15 Long story short, Sancho- ended up being his mother- I know, very sad. Well, Panchito is now a model/actor and famous as a body double. hooray! May 26 05 07:49 pm Link I model because I love to be part of the artistic process. I like to get dressed up in 'girl drag'. I am a big exhibitionist. I have a great *****! But, not at all out of vanity... Oh, and let me tell you all how much/little money I have made! May 26 05 08:03 pm Link I model because... 1)It's damn fun. 2)I like having an excuse to update my wardrobe, completely change my look, and get days off of work. 3)I want the memories when I am old..if I get there. 4) I've always been a fan of art and love to create it in different forms. May 26 05 08:16 pm Link I was driven by my mother to be a model. My mom was an actress...and a damn good one. My aim is to be an actress like her, thus...I am taking the first step modeling. 1. Its fun 2. It feeds my vanity 3. It helps me free my creative muse 4. It beats any other job out there! Where can you look FABULOUS and get paid for it? Sun May 26 05 08:23 pm Link Why do I want to be a model? lol well lets see, if I were a hot chick for a week, I would pose nude and take all these dumb photographers money. Yeah, that's what I would do. May 27 05 06:34 am Link Posted by Pinky: The difference is in the action. May 27 05 01:32 pm Link Shyly that was beautifully written May 27 05 01:46 pm Link Oh yeah, I almost forgot to add the part about the money. I was at a casting call and overheard many of the asshole male models bragging about how much money they made. These assholes do not deserve this amount of money and getting to travel. And I know that they spend it on unnecessary material pleasures. I want to get those jobs so that the assholes don't get the money. May 28 05 01:24 pm Link I like to think of it as NOT being in the 'Modeling' industry, but more like the 'Entertainment' industry. I like acting, performing and just plain having fun. I may be a newbie in the industry right now, but I've been a ton of great people thus far and I hope to meet more. So, I want to be a model for the fun of it.... the fun of acting, performing, dressing up, and meeting new people. =3 May 28 05 02:08 pm Link Heh, while vanity, money and all that are great answers, that I think *know* factor into my hierarchy of reasons somewhere, I mostly do it because someday I'll be old and wrinkly and I'll need some tangible proof that I used to be hot way back when. I mean, 65 years from now, who will believe it? May 28 05 11:49 pm Link I think I was born for it I was always the tall skinny girl everyone noticed and since 5th grade I have had teachers encouraging me to do it. people all my life had asked me if I am a model way before I even thought of it myself this has to mean something and the fact that I did not take classes for it and I fit right in when It came to holding a pose and finding decent poses and that sultry/ playful thing you have to do with the camera is fun to me I enjoy it. May 29 05 05:13 am Link Posted by Reese: The Camera was invented for one thing only!! May 29 05 05:26 am Link Hmmmm, well it just kind of "happened" lol. One month into it I found myself in a magazine! May 29 05 05:54 am Link Posted by marksora: It's not ok to ask models out? Jun 07 05 12:38 pm Link I do it for extra money. Plain and simple. Jun 07 05 06:35 pm Link When I started out modeling around six years ago, I wanted to show my parents and everyone that I knew growing up that I could make something of myself. I grew up in a small town, and came from a dirt-poor family in Oklahoma. We were close-knit, but it is true that just having love doesn't put food on the table. So, I went against my parents advice and started modeling. While I still haven't made it big, I still love what I do. I was a skinny little thing when I started, but after taking time off to start a family of my own, I have turned into a plus size model. Now, I model mostly to show that bigger women can be just as beautiful and engergetic as the thinner, more petite girls in modeling. I have come across discrimination in this line of work, both while I was thin and now, and I just overcome it. They give me lemons, and I make lemonade and serve it right back to them! Jun 07 05 06:57 pm Link For me, modelling is a way to escape my boring tech job, dress up, and be someone different for a while. It doesn't have the same time requirements as acting, so I find it preferable. I am somewhat of an exhibitionist, of course. Every once in a while, I get email from young girls-- thanking me for doing this and NOT being the mainstream ideal of feminine beauty (usually weight/height related). That's the best part. Jun 08 05 12:50 am Link Because making art is beautiful and all modeling is a art form to me and I like anything that is beautiful. :Smile: Jun 08 05 01:04 am Link i want something to look back on and be proud of when im old! Jun 12 05 12:22 pm Link I started "normal" modelling for money, than my mind changed cause I found pin up modelling for me and that is so much fun. I barely ever get money to invest in new oufits or anything so in the end I spend more than I get. Besides the fun it´s off course lots of vanity, but hey: I was a ugly teenager - I can need all the confidence I can get!!! :-D Jun 12 05 01:29 pm Link Hmmmmm.........I model, not for the prestige of saying that I'm a model and honestly, not for my vanity sake. Up until 2 years ago I hated being in front of the camera. I've learned a lot about myself and my self confidence has grown. At this point in my life, my main goal with modeling is to make a statement to the industry to the world that age shouldn't be a deterrant for women that start later in life and with age comes a maturity (thats not to take anything away from the young ladies) thats reflected in the image created. I think modeling is a "dream" for a large majority of little girls as they're growing up. I know it was for me and I don't want to regret that I never persued a dream of my youth that still lingers in my heart. With respect to vanity, thats something that's inherantly instilled in humans. Some feed on it and other don't. Thank God for individualism !! Without the world would be a boring place to be. Jun 14 05 07:44 am Link Posted by Leila: Posted by Reese: Hell yeah! Also what other job will pay you to stand around doing nothing? Wow... I am reading this one and almost ducked and covered because I could hear a bunch of my model friends screaming and yelling at you... LOL Jun 14 05 10:10 am Link Posted by Udo R Photography: Posted by Leila: Posted by Reese: Hell yeah! Also what other job will pay you to stand around doing nothing? Wow... I am reading this one and almost ducked and covered because I could hear a bunch of my model friends screaming and yelling at you... LOL Thing is, one individual can only speak for themselves, due to the fact that no one knows whats in the heart of another. Everone that is human is vain in one way or another, however, the defining difference is to what extent is that vanity a driving force in ones life. My purpose in modeling is exactly as I stated. One thing that can be a tad un-nerving is when somebody tells me whats in my heart when in reality they don't know. I've delt with that way to much in my life. Thats my story and I'm sticking to it. I make a habit of keeping it honest, definately a good rule of thumb in life. Jun 14 05 10:23 am Link The first time around, in high school (and early college), it was the only creative option open to me in the small town where I grew up. My parents couldn't afford for me to join band and there was no where to take acting classes. I needed an outlet for creative energies. I took a local class on make up and read books on set design and costumes so that I would be more useful. I enjoyed the acting aspect of "playing" a character for the camera or fashion show the most. It also provided an avenue for meeting other like-minded people. Even when I stopped modeling in college, I was still pursuing other creative outlets. I earned two Bachelor's degrees - one in Journalism, and one in Film and Video studies. My Master's is science related, but I wrote a thesis for it, and I count writing as a creative effort. *smiles* After college I returned to modeling because I missed the creative team effort that occurs during a shoot. (I miss runway, too, but 26 is a bit old for that and I never did grow those last couple of inches my first agent hoped for.) I have as much fun working to build the character the photographer envisions as I do when it's a series I've designed for my portfolio. Someday, when I'm too old to model, I'll probably move behind the camera so I won't have to miss the creative process and the people. Jun 16 05 10:14 pm Link I pretend to model because I never want to be forgoten, and if Im in print somewhere, then the chance of it is far less. Plus, low self esteem plays a role, when Im being shot I know that someone else thinks im cute, well cute enough I guess. Money plays a role as well. Jun 17 05 12:16 am Link |
