4:55 pm: Hi! I just got your email. Sure, I’d be more than happy to fill in tonight. Uh, but just so you know, I may not be able to get to my apartment and back in time to get my modeling bag, so I might have to be nude the entire time, so I just wanted to make sure that was okay with you first.
5:00 pm: Okay, it was fine with them. But the studio’s not that far from my apartment, so I should be able to make it back in time to change into something a little more comfortable (like shorts and a t-shirt) and grab my robe.
5:30 pm: Great! I can get changed, pack my gym bag with my robe, and head out the door!
5:40 pm: Hi, I’m Jason! P. told me I needed to check in. Oh great, you’ve got an envelope in cash all ready for me! So where do I go from here? Down the stairs and to the front? Great!
5:45 pm: Are you A.? I’m Jason. Okay, I can get changed in the next room?
5:50 pm: A reclining pose? On a chaise? Fantastic! I’d love to tell you how impossible it’s been for me to be offered a reclining pose for the entire class. My ship’s finally come in!
6:10 pm: Time to start! Yeah, I can hold pose for five minutes while people do quick sketches from different vantage points across the room to see what location works best for them.
6:15 pm: Yeah, I can hold my neck in this position for 20 minutes a pop. I’ve done plenty of portrait gigs, so I’m definitely set. I can't possibly convey how good this feels to recline back, completely nude, for the next few hours and totally get paid for it! I feel amazingly relaxed and at peace.
6:35 pm: Wow, I’m getting compliments already! And I’m literally sitting on my ass!
6:45 pm: Okay, you think my leg was moved more towards my right? Over? Over? Over? Over? Ov… okay, right here? Cool. My shoulder was over here? Here? He… right here? Great, let’s get started!
6:50 pm: Before we break next, would you be able to mark me? Oh no, don’t worry. I should have said something before I broke pose before the break. Yeah, that’s definitely enough tape. Okay, one more mark by my shoulders, just in case.
7:15 pm: Yeah, I can time my breaks. Uh, didn’t realize you weren’t keeping time. Didn’t really think it was my call as to returning to pose without your go-ahead. It’s really not my place to get back into pose and basically tell you when you should be teaching your class, but if you want me to do so, it doesn’t really affect my pay.
7:55 pm: Yeah, I can hold this pose for 30 minutes straight, no problems!
8:25 pm: Thanks for having me everyone! I really had a great time!
8:30 pm: *opens envelope handed to me prior to class* Whoooo! $40 in cash for 2.5 hours of reclining in the nude. I can definitely get used to this!
8:40 pm: Walk out into the cool evening sky. Swear I’ll use it to pay for that copy of Alan Wake for the Xbox 360. End up using it to pay for food and beer for the weekend. Eh, who cares? It’s emergency modeling money. It’s easy come, easy go. It’s not like the money I sweat for nine to five.
Yeah, it was total luck. A studio I solicited several times since, wait for it... 2008(!) got back in touch with me right before I left work for the day. As luck would have it, I checked my hotmail right before I powered down, and found the golden ticket from the place that, until today, never got back in touch with me. Being a graceful, grateful (and greedy) type, I promptly called them in response to an email they responded to that was originally sent by me a year ago and kindly offered my services. No hard feelings. When opportunity calls collect, you gotta accept the charges! It was a super chill environment, with really supportive and friendly students, and I got to recline on a chaise the entire time. Aaaaand, after sending them a thank-you email, they said they'd contact me in October to formally put me on their schedule.
What I want you to take away from this is that, even though some doors may be closed to you initially, they may very well open to you later on, when you least expect it. It's happened to me several times, and it may very well happen to you too. How you choose to handle it, either gracefully (wow, in their time of need, they remembered me) or with spite (oh, those fuckers, coming to me now, when they can't find anyone!), is your call to make.
Just don't get discouraged if your initial efforts in establishing yourself as an art model get rebuffed. Don't take it personally. Those doors have a funny tendency to get reopened when you least expect it.
2 comments:
Great lessons from an unexpected and easy session! xoxo
Thanks CityGirl! I had emailed this place a few times since I started modeling, and never heard back from them. Figuring there was no interest, I put them off my radar screen.
Talk about luck! I was just getting ready to power down and leave for the day, and on a whim, decided to check my email. I could have easily lost this opportunity, but now they say they'll have be back in October!
Post a Comment