Essay Project: Models Responses (Amber H)

Providing Models a space to speak in their own words their experience modeling artistic nudes:

Model: Amber H

(Age: 35 , Regular Shoot: __ times,  Nude shoots: Never shot nudes before. )

I just recently did my first shoot with Howard.

(I will talk about my initial impression from the very beginning of first contact, on through to the end of the shoot). 

At first, I looked at his rather detailed description of what he had planned to shoot, along with the large # of link examples of his work and I appreciated the clear concept he presented, along with his detailed, laid-out approach. I was very pleased with his work in his portfolios. There were a number of images that drew me in. I also really liked that the shoot would go toward multiple artistic mediums. 

I have never done a full nudity shoot before. But with everything considered, felt like this was a project I would be willing to make this jump, or exception, for. 

I talked with Howard at length over the phone, a few days after our first email correspondence and appreciated his down-to-earth openness and his willingness to answer any questions or concerns I had. This made me feel even more comfortable about my decision. 

However, as the shoot date was approaching, in all honesty, I was starting to get a bit anxious. And by the day of the shoot, I started to panic a bit. All kinds of paranoid thoughts and scenarios about my safety, as well as where the photos might ultimately end up, were passing through my mind! I just couldn't seem to help it... 

There is always an amount of blind trust (on both sides) that is needed, going into a first-time shoot with someone. You can plan, be as careful as possible, etc., but at the end of the day, you are either going to do the shoot, or you're not. No amount of pre-planning is necessarily fool-proof. You've just got to decide. I know this...Lol. But with the added pressure of a first nude shoot, I was teeter-tottering. 

I almost cancelled. I HATE flaking on any shoot but I was close to it with this one. On the day of the shoot, I was about to call Howard, to talk everything over with him again and to express my concerns, when he actually called me first, instead. After talking with him for a while, I felt more at ease again and decided to trust my initial intuition about the project and trust my instinct about Howard, and meet with him.  (He laughingly suggested that I take a picture of his license plate and send it to a friend. I laughed but still ended up doing just that. I took a pic of his license plate, snuck a pic of Howard himself (hee) and texted the pics, along with any other pertinent info, to a friend with a timeframe that I would try to call them by...just in case...Lol). 

The first moment of taking off my clothing was a little odd and uncomfortable but that feeling went away pretty quickly, since I had already made up my mind to do the shoot. In other words, I didn't let those feelings bother me and just tried to throw myself into the shoot and what Howard was saying he was wanting in the photos and positioning. Ants unfortunately crawling on me, aside, it was a pleasant beginning to the shoot - Lol. 

This was a wilderness shoot. Partially on land and a large majority in water. It was a beautiful location and very calming (which was also added help for me to relax and go with it all). 

I am a pretty flexible, open person when it comes to shooting and I like to try odd, different or abstract things, (if I feel comfortable enough to do so with that person and comfortable enough to express my ideas).  And I was very happy to find that Howard was open to suggestion and to trying new things. But he also knew what he was looking for as well, which is important for direction. So it was a preferred blend of approach for me. 

In all, I had a wonderful time. Howard was very easy to work with and very easy to talk to as well. (Unfortunately though, I accidentally shot past my time-frame that I said I would check in with my friend and saw that I had missed a call and a text from them. Oops. Felt bad about that and texted them immediately while leaving. Lol...so all was fine). 

I had a good shooting experience and I am looking very forward to seeing the end results of the photos!  

~Amber H