Jan 12

Jan 12 The Opposite Side of the Camera | My Day as a model

beauty, confidence, glamour, photographer, women

The day i (Jessica Edler aka J Morgan Images,)was a model, it was overcast and even raining a some points. Stephanie from B Moore Artistry and I rode together with a quick stop at Starbucks of course. The ride was a long one out to Sarasota to meet up with two other photographers, and friends of mine, Kate and Lucy. I originally thought that it was going to be a meetup where we all practiced our ideas on each other and went with the flow of things-i was partially right. What i was partially wrong about, was the practicing on each other. I was the sole model that day and so began the official experience of being in front of the camera. 

The Gallery above is courtesy of Lucyna Aleksandra Portraits (Thanks Lucy!)

*Side story* My dream as a young girl was to be a model and travel the world modeling and eventually marrying a prince...oh and i also wanted a pink Ferrari like barbie had BUT that dream got crushed after over a grand was spent on Barbizon modeling school, no modeling jobs, the finale 'walk the runway thing" and the tiny fact that my height remained at 5'2" upon reaching it. I should have eaten my veggies.

We scoped out the dresses Lucy had fashioned, and went over the make up concepts and my heart kind of fluttered and the same time i was nervous. Having the camera(s) pointed at me in all seriousness was something new. I like a challenge though, so bring it on. I was in hair and makeup for 2 hours including the fancy airbrushing and hair skills of B. Moore Artistry then we drove with very dark clouds looming overhead to New college, and i sowre it was going to start downpouring the entire way there. It drizzled a bit and then simply went away leaving a perfectly cloudy sky.

Gallery above courtesy of Catherine at Catherine Ann Photography

We walked what seemed like a mile and got to the location near the water and began. The first outfit was a white set and super enchanting. I handed B my camera, changed some settings and said ok, have fun with it. (I love to challenge people. I love to give them things they don't usually work with, or situations they aren't normally in, and see what they come up with. It helps them step out of the box, and open other doors for themselves.) For me the challenge is always working with natural light. I love the control i get from being in a studio environment- sunlight always does what it wants!

So we spent the day going all over this area. i saw a pretty narrow area of rocks at the side of ledge ext to the water i didn't exactly want to get in on this cold windy day and climbed down the ladder. i attempted to give the girls creative spaces to shoot me from-because that is where i would want my models to go. Then to the actual rocks and water and dead horseshoe crab-i think that is what it was. It was such a work out being a model, i should do it more often. hah. i told them if they needed me to model for them again, it would charge $100 an hour!

Overall, even with the weather the way it was, (which, btw, overcast is my favorite time to shoot outdoors,) and the chillness of it all, it was a really fun day. Nerves existed just because i didn't want t let the girls down. i wanted to make sure i gave them angles to work with, variety and what they were there for-while still having fun. I hope i accomplished it all, cause i certainly had the fun part down!

Stephanie and i on the way home figured out that playing the license plate game on the way there and back, we found almost every state along the east coast along with multiple from Canada and Hawaii. Of course some scattered throughout the US as well. We also managed to turn up the tunes and just sing basically the entire way home-literally the perfect drive. First person to get in the car with me to not feel the need to talk the whole time and just enjoy the music, (i loved it-hopefully it doesn't mean i am horrible at conversing!) ha. Enjoy the last set of images courtesy of J Morgan Images by my stand photographer 'B.' You should get a kick out of some of these as i will title this a BLOOPER reel. Enjoy, and i hope you aren't too sick of looking at my face now!