Planning

There is a certain magic to planning things properly, especially in the summer. Prague is a city where during the winter you can be bored to death from the lack of things to do, yet in the summer absolutely swamped by the work you'll have. At the moment I'm I am negotiating two jobs for next week. One is a photography shoot for a Malaysian company that I'm really quite excited about. The other is a commercial for a big American candy bar company. Both are quite big jobs, but for the American one I'm just a model, where as for the photography shoot, I'm the photographer. Should be interesting.

Yesterday I re-shot some of the model from the 'cowboy' series. In our first shooting he was as stiff as a board. It was his first shooting ever so I guess it's forgivable. It's tough when you are shooting new models for agencies because you always have to deal with models who might be pretty, but most likely don't have that 'it' factor that makes them truly beautifully. Beauty in fashion is really not about ones body as much as it is about ones own inner confidence and personality. Of course, most people wouldn't think so. The number of people I come across who lamblast models as stupid, shallow and dull is really astounding. Yet for all these stereotypes, I've got to admit that very rarely is this the case for successful models. Successful models are at the near tippy-top of our society, and for good reason. Not only do they have lovely bodies, but they also posses a certain set of social skills that make them as adept at handling social situations as Einstein handles physics. Beauty is not a 'wake up and it's obvious' type of thing. Regardless of a body type, it comes from within. To be beautiful you really need some sort of inner strength or confidence in your beauty. It's something you must subtly (emphasis on the subtle) convince others of.

But all this, for the most part, is something most young models don't yet understand. True, some have it from the very start, just born with it. Others cut their teeth in the casting process, learning the hard way through success and failure the faint emotional cues they get as the feedback registered on the faces of casting directors who watch them for no more than a minute. It's a tough road for sure. But the girls (or guys) who really want it don't give up. It's here, while waiting in long lines that models learn what works and what doesn't. When to smile and when to smirk. All the little things that happen when your not holding your number that can influence a career.