Merlinstouch wrote:
Umm it was for a hunting store. They use models all the time. So the bow was important. The bow (which is the new Hoyt, not like it matters here) has a draw that the model wasnt even able to pull back and even if she could have pulled it back I wouldnt have let her because dry firing a bow will ruin it.

So I guess next time a client asks me to put something deemed stupid by the rest of the photography world, even though they arent putting food on my table I should say. "Sorry weapons and models don't mix."

I like the shot but I must admit the first thing I noticed was that she did not have it at full draw. It looks like she just took the tension out of it. I shoot so maybe that is why I looked at that first.
Eric

Gold Rush Studio wrote:
How to prepare a firearm for a photo shoot:

1) Make sure it is unloaded. Check the chamber and remove the clip. Work the action to make sure there are no rounds in the mechanism (some weapons store one or two rounds in the mechanism making the weapon appear empty when it is not).

2) Remove the firing pin.

3) Insert a snap-cap or an empty/used cartridge into the chamber to further insure that a live round cannot be loaded during your shoot.

4) Advise the model on proper safety protocols and to treat the weapon as if it were loaded even though you have gone to great lengths to disable it and verify that it is unloaded.

5) Have fun.

i'd revise this to:

take real weapon place back into box, lock it, and remove from studio/set

take out non-firing prop

then jump ahead to Have fun

Pacific Beach Pictures wrote:
A couple of times now I've had models pose with guns, swords, and knives. Do you guys have issues with using the real thing? The swords were technically props, but could easily break bones or puncture. The knives were real, and the guns too. Models, ever get asked "Here, hold this 12 guage?" Does it freak you out? Photogs, does it make you leery to hand a model you just met a 45 auto, even though it's unloaded? I have about 20 years with guns, so I don't worry for my self too much. The last model I shot with was trained so it was ok, but I guess most aren't.

Maybe it's because I'm young or something, or maybe I was just raised in a strange way, but I don't think a photographer could pay me enough to shoot with a gun. Granted, I'll never say never, but at this point in my life, the idea of me holding a gun, loaded or unloaded, makes me queasy. I think the furthest you could go with me would be one of those real-looking cap guns.

On the other hand, I would shoot with swords. between my four brothers have a fairly extensive collection which I would love to shoot with some day.

Pacific Beach Pictures wrote:
A couple of times now I've had models pose with guns, swords, and knives. Do you guys have issues with using the real thing? The swords were technically props, but could easily break bones or puncture. The knives were real, and the guns too. Models, ever get asked "Here, hold this 12 guage?" Does it freak you out? Photogs, does it make you leery to hand a model you just met a 45 auto, even though it's unloaded? I have about 20 years with guns, so I don't worry for my self too much. The last model I shot with was trained so it was ok, but I guess most aren't.

Maybe it's because I'm young or something, or maybe I was just raised in a strange way, but I don't think a photographer could pay me enough to shoot with a gun. Granted, I'll never say never, but at this point in my life, the idea of me holding a gun, loaded or unloaded, makes me queasy. I think the furthest you could go with me would be one of those real-looking cap guns.

On the other hand, I would shoot with swords. between my four brothers have a fairly extensive collection which I would love to shoot with some day.

Pacific Beach Pictures wrote:
A couple of times now I've had models pose with guns, swords, and knives. Do you guys have issues with using the real thing? The swords were technically props, but could easily break bones or puncture. The knives were real, and the guns too. Models, ever get asked "Here, hold this 12 guage?" Does it freak you out? Photogs, does it make you leery to hand a model you just met a 45 auto, even though it's unloaded? I have about 20 years with guns, so I don't worry for my self too much. The last model I shot with was trained so it was ok, but I guess most aren't.

I do not use these kind of props because I have never seen it done well.  I am not giving a model a weapon of any kind because most likely they have not clue about safety.  Gun shots are great if you are shooting (pardon the pun) for a gun magazine, other than that the shots have always looked silly and out of place to me.

Morningstar wrote:
Keep safety, top priority. Verify guns arent loaded. Use BB guns instead.
(see below)

If you are, I agree about the BB thing.  If the model is supplying the gun...be weary, a buddy had a scenerio where he turned his back the model was showing the weapon to another model...loaded it (showing the model how) and Bamm, sadly, it killed one of his strobe units...the good thing is it didn't kill anyone.

Be careful with BB guns such as the one above...the slide is sooo BB, that you can't take the shot seriously.

Merlinstouch wrote:


I can understand the knives, I'd be more apt to have them either dull or have them sign some type of release in case they did get cut. But guns should be unloaded, so that should be a non-issue.

great pic I like the depth of field on it .. my first thought was..hope she didn't sneeze

Chili wrote:
well

i wouldnt care if someone had a gazillion years of experience in handling weapons, if there were real 'live' weapons on a set or film shoot, any model should probably walk off

there should NEVER be real weapons at a shoot or on a set - period, not open for debate

just ask your insurance carrier (if you even have one)

or just jot into your next city shoot/film permit (if you even have one) that oh btw, you'll be using authentic weapons during the shoot/film, see how fast they'll approve it

i always use props, and when i use props, i have a trained weapons handler/fight choreographer to handle the props

as an example of what could go wrong, just look at brandon lee, and that was not even  a real gun, with trained professional movie weapon handlers, not someone who's just been around them

Brandon, you and I live in NYC, one of the toughest areas in the country to have a weapon.  I am an ex weapons sgt, I know how to handle weapons, you mention Brandon, that was a weapon the fired blanks not lethal ammo, too close even they can kill.  Even having fake weapons on site get you scrutinized more closely.

jason messer wrote:
heres a photo of  girl with a gun...the only one ive ever seen that was effective.



hanoi jane.  and without that photo a ton of people wouldnt believe she was that much of an asshole.  but...yes.....she is.

i think girls and guns photos are insanely boring.  and well....corny and stupid and cliche and so on....

guns were invented to KILL.  end of story.  thats why they are still around today. 

if you like guns so much....join the military.  they have plenty.

Ironic your photo of Hanoi Jane fell underneath the of one me behind my 50's....I still hate the bitch.

Pacific Beach Pictures wrote:
A couple of times now I've had models pose with guns, swords, and knives. Do you guys have issues with using the real thing? The swords were technically props, but could easily break bones or puncture. The knives were real, and the guns too. Models, ever get asked "Here, hold this 12 guage?" Does it freak you out? Photogs, does it make you leery to hand a model you just met a 45 auto, even though it's unloaded? I have about 20 years with guns, so I don't worry for my self too much. The last model I shot with was trained so it was ok, but I guess most aren't.

I wouldn't bother me at all.  I grew up around guns and am comfortable with them loaded or not.  I don't see where a loaded weapon would be needed for an image unless of course I was actually firing.  (ohhh,,new idea. yay)  I wouldn't see a gun/knife/sword any different than another other kind of prop.

ak

p51 wrote:
I a very familiar with weapons of all types. Just got these from a buddy who snapped these of me this weekend:


I've fired everything from a BB gun to a 5-inch naval gun, and pretty much everything in between. Having been a competition shooter, Army officer, and weapons handler for a movie, I can tell you this IMHO:
I would never, EVER bring a functional weapon to a shoot. PERIOD. For me, there is simply no trust for someone I don';t know either way. There is NO such thing as a "unloaded" weapon. I lost two good friends of mine to people who "knew" the weapon wasn't loaded and they did something stupid. I once had a kid (about 19 I recall) pull out a German P-38 pistol and put it to the back of my head at a WW2 re-enactment and was pulling the trigger as I turned around to see what it was. I snatched it from his hand, just before the trigger engaged. He started ranting about how I was such a p*ssy because it wasn't loaded. Imagine his surprise when I pulled back the slide and a blank round popped out! If he had pulled that trigger all the way, even on a blank, it almost surely would have killed me. I have no doubt he THOUGHT it wasn't loaded, but you get the idea.
As much as I am into military history, have an insane WW2 weapons collection and re-enact WW2 battles, I just don't get the "girls with guns" thing. Most have no idea how to hold them, many look afraid of what they're holding, and frankly, to me, it's just not sexy in the slightest.
Just like a photo I saw of a model on a port on MM. A girl was holding a weapon, wearing a Army beret. All I could see was that the beret wasn't fitted correctly at all, had no insignia, and to me, she looked like a fool. Nope, not sexy at all...

Well, these images are sexy. That counts, right?

D. Brian Nelson wrote:
I have more of a problem with the whole genre than with whether the stuff is real or not. 

First question is whether the picture is about the gun or the girl.  If it's about the gun, then the girl shouldn't be there.  If it's about the girl, then the gun should be another almost unnoticable prop, and that's hard to do with a gun. 

Or a motorcycle.

In general, the genre's been done way too much for something that difficult to get right.  And for a genre without a whole lot of purpose.

-Don

Kind of like bondage?

ak68 wrote:

Well, these images are sexy. That counts, right?

Wow, you just made my week. I've been called many things recently, but NOT sexy in any context. Thanks!
The funny thing is I dated a lot of "camp follower" type women when I was active duty, and I married the first woman I dated who wasn't impressed I was in the Army at all. Funny, huh? She absolutely HATES this stuff!

Ransom J wrote:

Nice shot, very nice.  You even got your fill light in! 

Personally, I would Photoshop out the nipple cover. I feel the pain, been there too often.

Anyway, Pop Quiz time:

Who of the three people would look the best holding the M-107?



-Glenn