I probably should start with a back story. I had been in Pittsburgh for about a year when a fellow photographer friend called me. Mel, told me about a young lady that he worked with on starting a modeling portfolio. She was in a tight spot financially and wanted to try modeling to help supplement her income. She had just had a baby and was a single mother. Mel asked me if it might be possible to help her with the portfolio, but not charge her very much. After about an hour long conversation with Mel, I told him if she was interested I could do a TFCD session with her.

Mel went ahead and gave my phone number to Lacye to call me. I got a call from her and she was really grateful that I was going to help her. Lacye asked many questions about modeling, most of them were about making money modeling on Model Mayhem. I had to be straight forward about making money from such modeling sites. For a model starting out trying to make money, her best chances will be modeling nude for photographers and figure studies for artist. Lacye informed me if she could make money she was open to those stills of modeling.

During my conversation with Lacye she asked me if I might be willing to primarily do a nude session with her. Even though she had not meet me, she trusted Mel who had recommended me, and during our conversation she felt like she would be comfortable working with me. She also was a little afraid of just walking in and doing a nude session with a stranger, which was what she was about to do with me. Before ending our call we set up a date and time, and the plans for the session.

Finally, the big day arrived for Lacye’s session. Personally, I like to keep these sessions really simple and relaxed. I like to start with a simple portrait session, first is a few head shots, then a couple wardrobe changes. Once I feel the model feels secure and comfortable, I will have her slowly start undressing as we proceed with the images. I also feel with new models, it’s best to keep the session one to two hours long. Modeling is fairly hard and fatiguing the first few times, so it’s best not to push the model too much.

Lacye and I worked great together and spent a little more than an hour for her session. Since Lacye actually lived a couple hours away we sat down at the computer to review the images and have some refreshments before she left. Before she left, she thanked me and said that the session was really fun. She also felt that I would do better at choosing the 10 images I promised for her portfolio.

After she left I reviewed the images again, and decided to surprise her with delivering 5 more images than she was promised. So the images I share on the blog are from Lacye’s portfolio session. We hope you enjoy them.

BTW! Things started looking up for her and she only done two modeling sessions after ours. Neither were nude, just sessions to help new photographers start a portfolio.

Photographically yours,
Larry