Breaking into modeling at middle age...
When I was a teenager, I wanted to be a fashion model-at least for a brief time. It was the late eighties and "supermodels" were the latest big thing. I looked up to Claudia Scheiffer, Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell who were big and up and coming stars. I dreamed of living their glamorous lives, traveling around the world to do photo shoots, wearing designer outfits and appearing on all kinds of magazine covers such as Vogue, Town and Country and Cosmopolitan. But sooner or later the dream of becoming an international model wore off. I soon learned I was not tall enough to be a model at only five foot six inches tall(the fashion model cut off is usually five foot eight in most countries) and I was not normally a small sized 2 to 6 which was the standard sizes of a fashion model, but more like a size 8 to 10. Despite my active lifestyle and healthy eating habits it would appear I would have to practically starve myself to get slim enough to be a model and I always had a healthy appetite. So my dreams of being a model died and were left behind as was my high school uniform and lifestyle. After going to University I soon settled in a career of fitness, holistic health and recreation. I would have to say it wasthrough teaching Yoga in particular that eventually got me in front of the camera and at least to some small extent I began living out some of my high school dreams.
Essentially, I started working with a few photographers because as a Yoga Instructor I thought it would be helpful to get some fit and effective photos of myself doing yoga poses. I figured if I could get some great photos of myself in action taken by a professional or semi-professional photographer I could attract new clients or even present an impressive picture of myself to Yoga Studios and or fitness clubs.
In the end this little project became a much bigger task then I initially intended. One thing I learned was it was not that easy to create beautiful and effective, super fit pictures of oneself even after one finds a photographer or two to work with. After answering numerous adds for a TFP(Time for Prints) photo shoot I managed to do a few casual shoots that were more casual and glamorous then Yoga oriented. Still, after I did a few glamour or casual shoots for some of these new or up and coming photographers, I was able to convince a few of them to do a Yoga Photo shoot with me. Still, it was a while before I was able to produce the type of photos I really wanted that would be physically effective and a little bit glamorous.
Plus, I realized that there are some modeling possibilities for those of us that do not have a picture perfect super model body, but enjoy being in the pictures and living a little bit of a glamorous life. Some of these modeling styles include: fit modeling, glamour modeling, hair and makeup modeling, as well as commercial modeling to name a few. But more about these modeling adventures later....
