Modeling

Well, this is awkward, but on Saturday I was a model. Before I get into the story of the photo shoot, let me start by saying that modeling is certainly something I've never considered as a career. But hey, try everything once, right? It all started because I wanted a cheap head shot that I could use in case I wanted to audition for any acting roles... like, um, as an extra in The Hobbit. Before I realized that the complicated working visa situation meant that the filmmakers would primarily be casting Kiwis as extras for The Hobbit, I felt that I couldn't let the opportunity pass by without trying. So I went about finding out how to get a free head shot. A site called modelmayhem.com helps models and photographers find each other for projects in their area, and I read on a message board that it was a good way to get a professional head shot if you don't want to pay an average $100. In exchange for the head shot, you model for the photographer in a Time For agreement (you get a few pictures to compensate for your time and the photographer gets to add to his/her portfolio).

A lot of the work on modelmayhem strikes me as desperate. I'll never understand why some women are so willing to be photographed in scantily-clad, provocative poses, showing everything they've got. I mean, good for them to be so bold, but we all have an ass and boobs. Why is there the need to advertise them to the world? But I digress. A local photographer contacted me, and his portfolio was artistic and competent, so I agreed to a TF shoot.

My wonderful friend Tanya came along and we met in a public place (I still had a knife in my purse just in case but the photographer doesn't need to know that). Poor Tanya wound up being our pack mule and carried all my changes of clothes, shoes, coat, etc., and got roped into being the photographer's assistant, helping him by holding the reflectors needed to get the necessary lighting. She's such a good sport and curious that she had a lot of fun. I've always loved that about you, Tanya! :)

To be honest, I thought the outfit he picked for me first was kinda cheesy. Black boots, black hat, and a white, strapless dress. I posed in an 1800s set-up by steam trains, water towers, and old buildings, and oddly enough, was sore from the poses. You have to contort your body to look like an "S" and when I told the photographer that I wasn't exactly comfortable, he said "If you're in pain, you're doing it right."

Yeah, those are my riding boots -- Durangos -- complete with authentically bowed-legs from genes and growing up on the back of a horse.

I was supposed to look at the train without turning my head...

I have new respect for models. Especially because I'm sure most of my shots turned out horribly thanks to my pained expressions and stiff stances. But apparently we looked professional enough to gather some attention. I hadn't noticed, but a train had just let off a bunch of tourists, and a rather rotund, polite man approached and asked the photographer if his friends from India could take pictures with his model. "You're asking the wrong person," the photographer replied, and I told them that I didn't mind and posed with each. Maybe one of the lads is in movies and I'll get calls from Bollywood soon... Ha.

A witch with a "fan"

After that location, I put on a dress I wasn't fond of (and thus didn't mind ruining) and we headed into the redwoods for some forest shots. It was rather cold and the sunlight was unpredictable, but I had fun climbing in trees.


My favorite part, however, was when I dragged myself through the mud to get dirty, then posed like Smeagol/Gollum in the hollow of a burned-out redwood. Of course, those were the shots the photographer said I probably wouldn't get a copy of, but it was fun to finally do a pose with some narrative dynamics.

Smeagol with Gollum in the reflection

Afterward, I washed up as best I could (...with water from another puddle) then we took some head shots by some trees. By then it was going on 4 hours and I was more than ready to go home. Unfortunately, I have a habit of wearing my thoughts on my face, and you can see my annoyance in some of the pictures. Oops!

This one's a sample from the photographer... hopefully it's okay that I'm sharing it

I don't have any of the finished pictures yet, but the ones I'm posting are a few that Tanya took while we set up and shot. Modeling is definitely not for me. I didn't mind having my picture taken (I mean, all I had to do was stand there, even though it was sometimes painful) but I'm not fond of looking at the pictures afterward. So it's a little embarrassing to share them... but by nature, blogs are vain and self-absorbed, which means it's no secret that I can be both at times, so I don't know what my qualms are about.

Oh, come on. No comments on my last post about Star-ving? Seriously, people, check it out!

Mackenzie's Momma -- Your mom is so lucky to have you as a daughter. What a fighter you are! :) And yes, we did manage to save our sims. Not that it did my Jonas Quinn sim any good. In the span of 24 hours, he was abducted by aliens, impregnated, and turned into a plant (while he was pregnant). None of those things have ever happened to one of my sims before, so I was both in shock and hysterics. Poor Jonas! And you get to meet Corin Nemec? How cool! You should definitely check out Star-ving then. He seems like he's got a great sense of humor. Oh, and about the weather -- as you well know -- it's not usually the fact that the weather is extreme that makes it worth mentioning, in my opinion, but rather the fact that people like you and I don't sit inside and look at it, but have to go out and labor in it, whether it's hail, torrential rain, 104 degrees, etc. ;)