Top European Fashion Models.

While a lot of photographers had a say on the subject, I choose to focus on the comments made by a qualified photographer with over 20 years in the community. His responses were very informative and interesting, to say the least. Whether they are true or not is of course unknown, and your experience may vary greatly.

Photographer Interview:

Me: How long have you been in the fashion model industry?

Photographer: I started about 20 years ago shooting for a small online firm that worked with stock photographs. Mostly I worked with self-employed models and created the content that the business would later sell along with the photograph license. After about 2 years I branched out on my own and started to work in the fashion business. My work was 100% in the USA for the first few years and I worked well with models ranging from formal evening wear, designer outfits, to Playboy style artistic work and enjoyment magazines for instance Maxim. I treated the job as a expert and always worked with top level models.

Me: So when did you start travelling abroad to work with models and what main difference did you realize?

Photographer: My very first trip to Europe was about 6 years ago. I started out working in Prague. The commitment for this built up little by little over time. Essentially I was having more and more trouble finding proper American models. Not because of their 'look', but because the customs was changing so fast in regards to on-line modeling and freelancer photographers. For example I would typically be required to pay for the model's boyfriend to attend the photo-shoot to ensure that nothing 'funny' was going on. Or to pay for a bodyguard/chaperon to be present at the shoot and during the interview. Now I fully comprehend the need for essential safety, but I am a pro photographer with a huge profile and years of knowledge. Also the models I worked with frequently came from agencies and talent scouts, not Craigslist. So over time it became very awkward to work together with American models. I even begun to feel 'sleazy', as if what I was doing was in some manner shady. This feeling was not from the material I produced, but from the model's actions toward me. Also to this the selling price started to go way up while the level of quality started to drop significantly.

My initial photo-shoot in Prague was an unbelievable working experience. I contracted the casting call through an agency. Upon arrival I found out that there were over 100 candidates, some from as far away as Brno (a two hour drive). My standard pay-rate was more the double the common pay-rate that models generally obtain from local shooters. The models treated me with great respect and openness, which was a marvelous distinction from the paranoid US models. I traveled with a modest crew composed of a make-up artist and staff. We hired a massive apartment that we created into a studio room for the photo-shoot. The dwelling was over 5000 square feet and may have cost 1000s in the states. However we were able to organise the stay for $1200 (which covered Fourteen days).

The models also came well prepared. What I mean by this is the models essentially knew how to pose and what fashion of imagery I was searching for. Prior to the photo-shoot we have a casting and I display the image variations and critique the actual type of work I am in search of. I do this in America as well but despite my prep work the models generally show up having no clue and I essentially have to spend around 20-30 minutes going over the posing styles and overall feel I am trying to accomplish from the pictures. I was cheerily surprised to see that all of the European models practiced previous to arriving at the shoot.

Me: Does this imply you will not work with American models anymore?

Photographer: Well In my opinion it may seem is if I am coming down to hard on US models and I don't mean for that to be the case. I have previously worked with some astonishingly professional American models. Nevertheless the feeling lately in relation to American models appears amateur. I have experienced entire photo-shoots completely ruined because the model was not organized or simply changed her mind mid-shoot. So for the present time I think I will keep with European models. male modeling jobs