This was a strange one I must admit, and thankfully an experience I haven't had to repeat.
So a few years ago I posted a casting for a shoot I wanted to do with a kind of Daisy Dukes theme. My friend had a large bet up truck that was the perfect prop so I advertised for a model for the look I had in mind.
I should stress I'd never ever want anyone to pose for a shoot that they weren't fully comfortable with. With that in mind I made it very clear in my casting that it would be a glamour shoot, a little bit sexy, edgy styling but no nudity needed. A model replied back who seemed to be really enthusiastic about the style. She said she had a few outfits in her wardrobe that would suit the look perfectly.
Fast forward to the shoot day and all went great. She looked fantastic, had exactly the styling we had discussed (wearing all her own outfits) and just all went to plan, or so I thought.
I had some images ready within a few days of the shoot and sent them over to the model. Her reaction was not what I expected. Apparently she thought she looked "too sexy" and wasn't comfortable with the shots. Keep in mind this model was wearing all her own outfits, posing without any direction from me....so I'm not sure how she expected to look.
This is where it got even stranger. She asked if I could only edit the "least sexy" shots from the shoot. I was pretty upfront with her and told her I'd rather not work on any shots then put out images that were the total opposite of what we intended on shooting (and actually succeeded too).
We agreed that shoot would just go unused. The shot in this post had been posted elsewhere so I don't mind sharing this one, but alas its only one from this shoot that will ever get a public viewing. Its a pity, as there's some pretty nice shots from this shoot that won't ever been seen.
nice photo
Thanking you :)
You know women have different, oposite thoughts about their wardrobe and looks. That’s why they always ask us: “How do I look?” 😬
Probably the girl’s beauty hasn’t been validated for some time
I'm not sure what it was to be honest. Thankfully I've only had 1 model do a U turn like this on me.
It just happens. I had several photoshoot disasters ... but not like the one happened to you.
My "favourite" is when model comes to the photoshoot, and you can't recognize the person. Because of photoshop amount in her portfolio, or because pics she sent to you are ~15kg outdated ;-)
Last photoshoot I tried to do started from the "oh, I forgot about makeup and don't have any cosmetics with me, can you fix it in photoshop?".
But I guess the winner on my side is a model who claimed to be a dancer, with serious stage experience, owner of a small off dance theater. Unfortunately, she was unable to not even do a pirouette, but even just turn in the place, without moving away from given point. I have better dance skills :D
I even still have somewhere on my disk the only photo from this photoshoot, named disaster.jpg ;-)
Yep you do come across some strange ones alright. Thats a bit mad claiming to be a dancer when she couldn't dance though, how on earth did she think she was going to get away with that?
I'm pretty sure she lived with a strong confidence that she actually is a dancer.
Of some kind of "free-dancing" style.
And I came to her as a bit painful reality check :P
I always have a fight in my head when it comes to such a situations during the shoot. One voice says "tell her to gtfo", and other "you should be nice to people". Usually I'm trying not to hurt model feelings at my own feelings cost :|
Haha I know the type. Thankfully I've only had a small few shoots where I've had to deal with full blown "delusionals" but I've heard a few horror stories from other photographers. You certainly do meet all sorts doing this stuff.
Dude that is so weird! I've had some weird responses and requests from clients before but this is just strange. Also, I can imagine it's probably pretty irritating for you now.
Yep its very odd. Especially as she was so happy with the shots on the day and so enthusiastic. Somebody at the time suggested maybe it was a boyfriend who didn't approve or something along those lines. Whatever the reason its unfortunate it ended up being a waste of time. Still an excuse to reshoot at some stage.
The write up and the photo made me really want to see the rest of them...
Alas they're locked away on an external drive never to be seen again :p
I haven't had that happen with any of my model shoots but I can see how she might have been shocked by seeing herself in such glamour images. If she doesn't have much experience with pro photographer and since she is relatively young, it can sometimes come as a shock to see yourself in a different light - so to speak. Its an excellent shot and its very unfortunate that the other shots will not see the light of day.
Possibly alright, people tend to look quite different under off camera directional light. This model did have a reasonable amount of experience though and seen the shots on the day and was delighted with them. It was annoying at the time but I can just chalk it up to experience now.
Then it's also possible she showed the pictures to friend, boyfriends, mother, etc., who didn't "like" them and she decided to change her tune.
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Thanks guys!
Great photography and very elegant post-production. I like it in color, it is interestingly illuminated, as well I can see part of the natural light and some of the existing light. I like the super. I am also going to publish my work on my blog, related to the portrait. Great job. Regards.
Thanking you kindly @micco4
That's rough...on the bright side...at least you have one killer shot to tell the story.
Yep not ideal but just means Ill get to reshoot it at some stage and will hopefully work out even better :)
Awesome post! I invite you to visit our blog and vote us back! And of course to enjoy our content :)
What a story, but at the end of the day you got a good picture, and a story disaster you wouldn't be telling us if she didn't refuse to work on the shoot anymore.
True, although she didnt so much refuse to work on the shoot any further, that was me. She wanted me to edit the least sexy shots...or as I put it "the shots that least achieved the purpose of the entire shoot" so I just told her I wouldn't be wasting any more of my time. Sure you can't win them all as the saying goes.
I feel you, sometimes you get caught in situations where someone's intention doesn't match what they are actually doing. It's best just to walk away instead of getting into a bigger mess!
Having those weird interactions with models seem to happen every now and than. I had some similar expieriences myself..
Well, I always tended to not edit the shoot and settle with the time loss..
Fine show btw! Love how you did the lighting on her face!
greetings from Amsterdam.
t.
Thanking you kindly, and greetings from Dublin.
Good pictures
I do think that all of us, photographers, have at least 2-3 sets locked away never to be seen by anyone because of random stuff that is out of our control. I started to think that this is part of the job, as someone will evnetually steal some of your iamges
Haha true, I've heard a few different photographer having various sets they couldn't use for one reason or another. As long as I'm still at the stage on enjoying a shoot then its not a complete waste of time, but it certainly would have been preferable to be able use these shots :)
I think Daisy Duke was the first girl I ever started fantasizing about as a young boy. And Princess Lea