RTÉ’s ‘The Model Scouts’ finished last night. The adults have been addicted in our house: the Mrs for the Fashion and the Model thing, me for all the Photographers featured.
I love seeing other Photographers work – I always learn something from them one way or another.
Lasting impressions? We’re both very impressed with IMG for starters.
And there were few surprises in the girls who did well or how hard they found it.
I thought it showed very well how personality and engagement are just as important – more important in fact – than good looks.
Which of course is good news for all of us! Photography is really about capturing and evoking emotion and being pretty doesn’t get you all they way there.
Working with models is very different from photographing ‘normal’ people: it is the model’s job to give a photographer what they want. It was interesting to hear the feedback from the photographers in the programme discussing which girls were ‘harder to work with’.
Most ordinary people just do what they do – many in fact feel very uncomfortable being photographed to start with and it is my job to make it as relaxing and ‘normal’ as possible in order to get the best photograph of them that I can.
January is the start of ‘seminar season’ for photographers. Traditionally a quiet time there’s a lot of training out there at all levels. Many of these use models. A good model is patient (they are being paid to be there) and they don’t need a lot of help posing or striking a look. It’s a great way to learn more about photography – just don’t expect all ‘real’ people to be so comfortable in front of the camera!
Well done to everyone involved but especially the girls who took part. They were all so young and thrown into a voyage of self-discovery that I certainly couldn’t have taken on at their age! Great job! Great TV!