Guest blog James Digiorgio

This time in the Guest blog James Digiorgio or :
(JimmyD is a long-time, professional, glamour photographer who resides in Southern California.
He refers to himself simply as, “a guy who makes his living with cameras in his hands.” He’s been authoring a popular glamour photography blog, http://prettygirlshooter.blogspot.comfor nearly six years. His ebook, “Guerrilla Glamour,” is a highly-praised cyber-text on the subject of shooting glam, with special emphasis on keeping the processes as simple as possible, resisting multiplying difficulties beyond necessity. His ebook can be purchased and downloaded at http://guerillaglamour.com. His upcoming new ebook, “Guerrilla Headshots,” will soon be available.)

The Language of Love, Lust, Seduction and Photography

I’m an American. In America, as most everyone knows, we speak English as our national language. Actually, we speak American-English. Many Americans simply prefer to say we speak American. Saying that isn’t necessarily an arrogant statement. The English language has been around considerably longer than the US of A has been in existence. Most Americans are well aware of that. There are more than a few differences between the way English is spoken by those in England or other parts of the world and the way English is spoken by those in America. Some of those differences include spelling, pronunciation, sentence construction, slang and idiom, accents, and more.

Which brings me to photography.
Nice segue, no?
Probably not.
Photography, as most photographers know, has it’s own language. Much like the universal language of love, the language of photography speaks to people with feelings and emotions and so much more. No revelation there.

Some of the differences between the languages of love and photography are that photography uses pictures, instead of words, to communicate its messages. Love, on the other hand, makes use of many human abilities to convey it’s messages: Things like spoken words, body language, touch, expressions and more. Photography, of course, makes use of a few of those human abilities, especially when shooting people. While there are many differences between the languages of love and photography, one big similarity between the two is that both are generally understood, world-wide, by almost everyone. Which brings me to working with models, that is, photographing models.

Another nice segue.
Not.
There have been more than a few times I’ve been called upon to photograph models who either: A) Spoke no English (or American); or B) Spoke very little of it. Was it a problem? A bit. Not really. I suppose it sometimes seemed so; leastwise, at first. The majority of my jobs consist of shooting glamour and tease photography. When faced with photographing non-English-speaking glamour models, I’ve needed to use less common ways to communicate with them: Less common than simple speech, that is.

Occasionally, I’ve even called on the language of love to direct models: Love being a language that includes some of the same physical mannerisms, body language, and expressions used in glamour and tease. (Probably, in this case, the “language of love” would be more aptly labeled the “language of lust and seduction.”) It’s not that I was conveying my love, lust, or yearning for the beautiful, sexy, alluring, non-English-speaking models in front of me. (I’ll confess, a few of those things have occasionally crossed my mind when shooting them… not that the models were aware of it.) Instead, I was simply calling on ways to convey, usually through pantomiming and mimicking poses and expressions, that demonstrated the messages I wanted the models to communicate to the photo’s viewers. (As absurd or ridiculous as I look mimicking a sensual pose or “come hither” expressions… more so since I’m “playing” the female part.) As for that message, well, with much of glamour and tease photography, the message is fairly obvious. ‘Nuff said on that.

Directing through mime aside, one of the most important ingredients to shooting great images of models, sometimes transcending more technical aspects like lighting and exposure and composition, regardless if the model and photographer speak the same language, is a shooter’s ability to gain rapport with the models in front of his or her camera. Equally important is the shooter’s ability to help their models become as comfortable and open to direction as possible throughout the process.

Speaking a different language should never be a barrier to gaining rapport! Most everyone on this planet responds to the same behaviors and perceives the same “vibes,” recognizing the same attitudes and emotions that are exhibited during any human interaction, whether you’re simply engaging with someone socially or you’re photographing them for glamour shots. Even during those times when the model is posing without wardrobe. In my ebook, “Guerrilla Glamour,” I talk quite a bit about working with models. I also spend a lot of time discussing lighting and composition and gear and more. But in the book, when I’m covering the subject of models, I do so with special emphasis on directing them, posing them, and (perhaps most importantly) gaining rapport with them. I consider my ability to quickly gain rapport with models the single most important ingredient to the success of my work.

As a photographer shooting models of any sort, from glamour to fashion to commercial and beyond, you don’t need to be Mister (or Ms.) Personality to gain that rapport. You don’t even need to speak the same language! Often enough, gaining rapport with models is as easy as communicating, however that communication takes place: Through spoken language or otherwise. Trust is the primary goal of those communications. Simple trust is often a by-product of simple friendliness and other, easy-to-employ, social and communication skills. It’s surprising how often photographers overlook engaging in friendly, warm and sincere, social/communication skills. Whether that sometimes happens because of neglect or due to problems the photographer might be having with gear or other matters, or even some anxiety or insecurity the photographer is experiencing, i.e., at suddenly being presented with a beautiful model, really doesn’t matter. What does matter, and it’s something I know all too well, is one of the most important ingredients to snapping successful images of models is with the help of the simple rapport you should be working to develop with your models from the moment they walk onto your set until the moment they leave.

Models, even many experienced models, feel vulnerable or somewhat insecure out there in the lights. It might not be obvious but it’s often happening inside their heads. In addition to your creativity and technical competency, good model shooters exhibit good people skills. That means it’s so important to give models positive feedback: Plenty of it and often. Even if the words sometimes come across as rote and repetitive. Even if you and the model don’t speak the same language! You see, there’s a subtle yet powerful language that develops between models and photographers. It’s a language of positive feedback and encouragement. It usually works incredibly well whether you speak the same spoken language or not.