Submissions

Photo by Blue Note Images

Part of being a "freelance" model is submissions ( although, technically I have been signed by Kingdom Model  talent Agency and The Twisted Agency.  But Kingdom, my local agency deals more with "lifestyle" and commercial type work and Twisted is UK based, and still working on getting really established here in the States. So neither, at this point have gotten me any paid work)

You submit to magazines, you answer e-mails, send packets to casting calls, and you submit to  agencies ( as long as any agencies you are all ready signed with are non-exclusive ones)
I submitted to Inked Magazine to be one of their models as well as sending a packet with pictures and stats and such over to Famous Inked Models today ( which is a branch out of Famous Models) They  specialize in tattoo models, unlike many other agencies, that from what I see, don't quite know what to do with me. ( Which I don't mind, As I myself am not sure what my "nitch" is...though I know there is one!  They are based out of LA, but do bookings all over.  I am hopeful that they will see that there is a market for the older tattoo model, as I am all ready working and booking my own gigs.... but having a big agency might just give me the push I need to really get going.

Publication and Making it

                          Photo by: Michael Jones Sootie's Doll Photography

Many models have a goal... to "make it" but what does that mean?  Undoubtedly for many, Publication.  In a book, in a magazine, ads, bill boards. I am no exception, though my version of "making it" might be slightly different than some models.

I will never be a runway model ( with the slight possibility of being a"gimmick" in some show....you know the ones that use older people in mohawks, or people that are real sized.  Every year, some designer mixes these types  into the mix of the more typical runway fare. But then, the "gimmicks" are really never seen again)
I am too short, not thin enough , not young enough, and I am fine with that.

But my goal is still publication.
And I have been, over 13 times, in the last year- year and a half.  All of them small, web based magazines ( which means you can get them as a solely digital copy or order a printed copy, which is printed up and  bound per order...one at a time.  Usually though portals such as MagCloud)
I am also in an online catalog for a   clothing rental and sales business targeted to models  called The Clothed Image      and I will soon be online for a company called ECONICA ( so far just on Etsy, but she will be launching a stand alone website soon)  BUT..

But does that mean I have "made it" ? Not in my own eyes.  Not one of the publications paid, or the catalog work. ( aside from barter...which is awesome too, I have zero complaints) So what does "making it" mean to me?

Paid work,weather it be being paid by the photographer, or by the business that pictures are being taken for.  Publication in a magazine that one could get at a newsstand.  Work for more catalogs . So what am I saying? More steady paid work.  So goals for this year:
1. Publication in print ( I have done sort of...more on that later-though I will work on a magazine as soon as my tattoo is done)
2. Representation of more clothing and accessory lines .
3. Continuing to be in web based magazines, and web based sites for exposure.
4. Continuing entering contests, not necessarily to win ( though that would be nice) but for the exposure.

 I DO have agency representation ( which for some people, never happens...not with a real life, brick and mortar agency) But as wonderful and nice as they are , over at Kingdom Model Talent Agency I do not leave my working solely in their hands.  I submit sets to magazines, web sites, I check the sites for gigs, almost every day. Lots and lots of e-mails....and network, network, network.

Sometimes things fall into place, sometimes they do not.
I submitted images from the set above to a very arty magazine, I just got word that they like the look, but they are not of the quality that they are looking for.  Such is life....do I resubmit them somewhere else?  Possibly. Or I post them on my FaceBook fan page, and then that is as far as they go.... these are decisions to be made.
I responded to a casting call on ModelMayhem from a wonderful photographer I had worked with a year, maybe a year and a half ago, Gracie Hagen.  She is bubbly and funny and very talented with an unusual eye( and has a great smooshy faced /exotic shorthair cat)  
She is doing a series called Illusions of the Body that has been written up in the Daily Mail  and  Huffington Post  as well as a host of other blogs and websites.  ( note, if you visit the links....they may not be suitable for work viewing, they are nude portraits)
Her concept is this. Create double images with the same model, lighting, post process, background.  One image is in a more conventional "pretty" or model like pose. One that shows off and is meant to be gorgeous.  The next image is sloughed, pulled in, hunched over.... very definitely not pretty.  What I took from it ( and I will not put words in her mouth, this is simply my take on it.  ) It speaks to how we present ourselves, and others perceptions.  If I stand or walk or look "thus"  I am pretty, If I stand or walk or look "this" then I am awkward, and not attractive.  But I am the same regardless.
She has used models, non models, male , female and ALL different body types.  She needed a redhead... and there we go.  I will be published , along with the 49 or so other people in her 8x10 book "Illusions of the Body" around May 1.
SO...Into one publication yesterday, and refused by another....that is this business.  Some you make,some you don't .