InDecisivE wrote:
Between a Model & His/Her Photographer..

Good/Bad

- For me - Almost necessary! I find when I'm working with new people it's important I build some sort of friendship with them first... If we don't get along, or if there is minor little quirks one or the other can't deal with I find it affects my shots!

I've worked with a few - not many photographers... And whenever I get my pictures back - maybe this is weird.. But I can tell how I felt about that particular photographer, what was good, what was bad... My favorite images are the ones I did with photographers I got along best with and would shoot with again at any given chance... But as I look through the CDs I have full of images, as much as I love someones work, what I was wearing, or what I looked like... I can tell when the two of us just didn't dance like we should/could/or wished we had!!...

As a job - and as a model - this isn't a great thing... I don't do it as a career, so I can work around most of it -....
I dunno - Am I the only one?!...

I agree to this.  I sincerely build trust foundations and friendships with the photographers that I work with.  It is very important to me.  I don't look at them as a person that I am working with that day and then am done with them.  I choose to put my heart and soul in what I do....and build a connection with them.  I communicate with them several times before even working with them.  I see how well personalities mesh and how we get along.  All before working together.  Through communication and talking it is only natural to create a bond. 

I feel that it is important though.  I think that most of the industry these days lack that.  Although I do modeling and have goals to accomplish and places where I want to go.....the people that help me on the way up are always in my thoughts.  No matter what, I keep in contact with each and every person I have worked with.  Whether it is them popping by and sending me an email or me to them.  Whether it is a phone call once every other month from me to them....or them to me.  To me....it shows that there are people out there who actually care.  Plus, the people you end up building relationships with you are able to call them up and ask them to be a part of an opportunity if one arises....or them to you.  Although you hear that the industry is always someone screwing someone else or stabbing them in the back to get to the top........I don't believe in that.  I know that it is done....but in the end...it is the people who have built those strong relationships and have done things the right way that win in the end with themselves and their dignity.

xoxoxoxoxo
McKenzie

FML-Photography wrote:
you mean, "working relationship", right? nothing else implied?

A while ago I photographed a nude model on her second photo shoot.  While she was doing some erotic poses for me she asked matter-of-factly whether we would be having sex afterward.

I told her "No," of course.

Then she said that her first photographer had sex with her after the shoot.  We talked about it, and she said that from looking at erotic pictures she assumed that models and photographers have sex together all the time.

It was not a big deal to her, and to her that seemed simply part of a "working relationship" needed for good photos.

(She ended up doing terrific photos without having sex.)

FML-Photography wrote:
photog/model relationship?

you mean, "working relationship", right? nothing else implied?

your profile says you've been modeling about a yr; i'm guessing your perceptions about this business, if you stay in it for awhile, will evolve ... but yes, there will likely be photographers, hair & MUAs too i think, with whom you'll find a good vibe & enjoy working more than with others.

here, going on nearly 12 yrs of shooting, looking back i can see yes, there were models i felt esp. comfortable having in front of the lens, one or two who didn't seem to need any verbal communication to produce what we were after ... but it's all been just work. outside of that, there have only been a small handful, male or female, who became part of the "inner tribe" with whom i hung out in personal time.

fml

I am still a newbie - and I'm sure my perceptions will change.
But from the geck-oh this is something I saw as important... I don't think it will change.

FML-Photography wrote:
but there are, on occasion, models who've been sent to shoot with me & then expressed an idea that we'd become friends, hang out, talk on the phone, have her images on my site all the time; fml

Yep, that does happen. I have one model who is, quite honestly, insulted that I don't post more images of her, with the implication that we have some special relationship or arrangement.

But, hey, that happens, and not every "relationship" is going to blossom and take off. Some do, and those usually turn out to be the best over time. For what I do, as a model and I get more accustomed to one another's likes, dislikes, preferences, and as the trust level grows with each shoot, I find I get better and better results from working together.

jac3950 wrote:

Yep, that does happen. I have one model who is, quite honestly, insulted that I don't post more images of her, with the implication that we have some special relationship or arrangement.

But, hey, that happens, and not every "relationship" is going to blossom and take off. Some do, and those usually turn out to be the best over time. For what I do, as a model and I get more accustomed to one another's likes, dislikes, preferences, and as the trust level grows with each shoot, I find I get better and better results from working together.

OK....some relationships may be like that...but I'm not like that.  It doesn't bother me if I am NOT some photographer's avatar at the moment or when they take the pics down.  I do the same with everything coming in as much as I update.  The key term here is the trust....and friendship foundation you have built.  Do you actually care about these people you work with closely...that you have grown to know? 

Trust, friendship and how personalities mesh...important to me.  Everything shows in an image.  You can have a great photographer and a crappy model and the image will show that....and vice versa.  I think when there is a caring and a good foundation in the working relationship...it makes for better things for each individual.  Without all the immature complications of the insulting just because an image wasn't posted.  Maybe the photographer sees something in one image that he doesn't see in another.  Who knows....  My relationships are not "arranged" at all.....I wouldn't even call it a relationship if it was arranged.  And true....there are people that you may work with out there that you may not have that true bond or foundation with.  I have come across that before as well.  I still treat them with respect, but obviously the chances of working together again would be slim to none.  To me it is important that the personalities mesh and everything come together.  Plus, actually have a good base foundation with someone.  Everything coincides...the trust, the knowing that each will get the job done...no questions asked.  I don't know......so many different scenarios and so many different people. 

If you have a great relationship with the person you work with and you both think highly of each other and actually really care about the other in a friend sort of way.  That isn't a bad thing.  Communication lines being open and both people getting the jobs done isn't bad either.  Maybe I view things differently, but then again....everyone seems to have a different view on the different type of relationships out there...because there are so many different types.  I just know that I am happy with the relationships that I have created with some of the people I have worked with and I wouldn't change it for the world.  I appreciate all that they have done and all that they continue to do...and until we meet again with others.  Some of these people I feel are like family to me.  You can't help with working with others closely to establish some kind of bond.

xoxoxoxo
McKenzie