One of the first steps in preparing a shoot is to find the models.  Depending on your background and your budget, these might be professional, amateur, family, friends or even people off the street.

Should I work with professional models?

The value of a professional model has less to do with their good looks and more to do with the ability to pose naturally and communicate different emotions clearly.  Working with a professional will ensure that you get the good images quickly and frequently, since their experience enables them to anticipate what you want, avoid unflattering positions/expressions and come prepared to work hard during a shoot.  Modeling fees vary by country/city, so you can contact a local model agency in your area to find out the cost.  If you are just starting to shoot model-released people pictures, you might prefer to practice first with friends or family.

What if I can’t afford to pay a professional?

Working with free or low cost models is something that some stock photographers have made into an art form, by dedicating specific sections on their websites to attracting and instructing potential models to be.  Generally, photographers that work with amateur models will offer free images/prints for portfolio, the promise of payment after a certain number of successful test sessions or some other exchange.  To avoid future hassles, be sure that the model clearly understands what they will receive and what is expected of them (more below).

What to keep in mind with amateurs?

If working with amateurs (including family members and friends), you must explain clearly that they will need to sign a model release.  A model release (our standard releases here) is a legal agreement between you and a model that you may use their photos for commercial/editorial purposes around the world.  They should understand that their photos will be seen on the internet and sold for any use (excluding sensitive, derogatory, pornographic, or illicit uses) both now and in the future (even if they are no longer your girl/boyfriend/wife/husband!). 

Also keep in mind that amateurs might not know how to pose for photos.  YouTube has a number of videos on “Model posing” or “modeling tips” that might give them ideas, although be aware that there’s a big difference between fashion modeling and stock modeling.  You should be prepared to direct them during your photo-session.  To do that, you´ll need to know what photos you´d like to make and how to communicate that to your models.  For example, maybe you want a photo of an senior couple on a sofa that communicates security and comfort.  You should tell them where to sit, explain the feeling of security that you´re trying to get, encourage them to smile, look at each other/or the camera, and keep talking to them until they relax and begin to seem natural in the situation you´ve created. To achieve this with amateurs/nonmodels, a photographer must have the ability to connect easily with people, put them at ease and inspire confidence. 

If you´re still not really sure how to choose your models, don´t worry, we´ll be posting a top 10 dos and don´ts for models list next...

Our next age fotostock photographer in the 10 x 10 series is Iolanda Astor.  Astor's images explore a world of texture, contrast and gestures, finding the potent moment when shadows meet the light.  In the stock photography industry, predictive and white lit images are the most commercially successful and the market doesn’t seem to pay enough attention to fine-tuned artistic sensibility, but at age fotostock we do appreciate a solid creative vision.

See more of Iolanda Astor´s work at age fotostock or at her personal website. 

Q: Choose 3 words that describe you.

A: Sensitive, observant and obsessive.

Q: Why did you choose to be a photographer?

A: I guess because I like to watch things (almost pathologically), tell stories, and create feelings & emotions ... and due to the direct influence of my father, a great amateur photographer, who bought me my first camera when I was three. I studied photography at the Institut Fotogràfic de Catalunya (Photography Institute of Catalunya) and I worked professionally in video, film and television.

Q: Any special artistic influences?

A: I’m sure there are many, but they come without trying.  I don´t really mythicize. I like to watch everything around me; if you keep watching, you see such interesting, everyday things. Undoubtedly, I am most moved by light, but also by people and their gestures, strange situations, forms and abstractions of nature ...

Q: What’s your favorite lens and why?

A: I don’t have a favorite, although usually I work between 35 and 135mm. If I had to choose a single lens, I would pick the 35mm for its versatility.

Q: Are you more technical or intuitive in your photography?

A: Definitely intuitive, although I believe it is important to master technique in order to forget about it. I prefer a photo that excites me, whether it’s technically perfect or not, over a technically perfect postcard. I have a problem: I do not like “pretty” pictures.

Q: What’s the Image that you are still hoping to make?

A: I don’t think I’ll ever make it. You could say that I am eternally unsatisfied, photographically speaking, of course.

Q: Why did you choose age fotostock to represent your photography?

A: Because I’ve known of age for many years and knew people who worked there and could speak for its professionalism.

Q: Do you promote yourself through social networks (facebook, twitter, blog,...)?  Is it helpful?

A: The truth is that I don’t use them.

Q: What is the best or worst photographic advice that you have ever received?

A: Among the worst, to make my photography more commercial… a disaster. And among best was when Alfonso Gutierrez told me to be true to myself in my photos.

Q: If you weren’t a photographer, what would you be?

A: I've already done other things, but right now I don’t know ... I'd have to think about it.

You might finish your shopping the night before Christmas, but image buyers don´t!  Image buyers preparing for Christmas campaigns have already started looking for photos.  What will they find?  Your fresh images of sandcastles and bikinis or your one year old images of the children opening Christmas gifts? 

This photo was sent at the end of August.  Good job, Franck!

Our expert photo-researchers recommend submitting your seasonal images 3-4 months before the actual season, so that they appear on our website right when the buyers are looking for them.  It’s not easy to plan and shoot so far ahead, and in some cases, it might be impossible or too expensive, but there are many seasonal images of objects or models which can be made in advance and released into the market right when the buyers want to buy them. 

The following calendar can help you transform from a procrastinator to a strategic planner:

JANUARY - Submit for Mother's day
Photos of gifts, homemade cards, hugs, kisses & other affectionate moments between mother/grandmother and children, spending time together (cooking, playing, talking, sports, crafts) portraits of mothers.

FEBRUARY - Submit for Father’s day & a Birthday Party
Like with Mother's day, photos of gifts, hugs, kisses and affectionate moments between father/grandfather and children, spending time together (sports, talking, playing, cooking, etc) & portraits of fathers.
Also, you can shoot a kid’s birthday party or one for a senior with photos of balloons, candles, cake, gifts, games, surrounded by family or friends etc.

MARCH - Submit for summertime
Show models with summery clothing/sandals, preparations for the summer like putting sunscreen on kids, sunglasses, drinking water, etc.
Also, make images of couples/families preparing and enjoying vacations.

APRIL - Submit for summertime
Photos of a family on a picnic or outing in a park, relaxing on a picnic blanket, details of the picnic food.

MAY - Submit for “Back to school”
Photos of children preparing/going back to school and details of school materials of all kind. This subject was fully covered in this blog entry.

JUNE- Submit for Autumn & Halloween
Photos of people dressed in fall clothing, hats, scarves, etc.
Also photograph pumpkins that are finished or being carved, children in costumes, candy for trick or treating, autumn fruit.

JULY - Submit for Thanksgiving
Photos of traditional food like the turkey, pies, etc and a family eating together at a table full of food. 

AUGUST  - Submit for Christmas and Winter
Photos of Christmas ornaments and tree, gifts, mistletoe, hot chocolate, gingerbread cookies and other traditional foods.
Shoot excited/happy kids, adults and kids opening gifts, playing with new toys (the kids at least).

SEPTEMBER - Submit for New Year
Photos of champagne, toasts, clocks striking 12 o’clock, people kissing each other and dressed for a party, lists of New Year’s intentions, illustrate the most common intentions (quitting smoking, diet, etc).

OCTOBER - Submit for Valentine's
Photos of couples holding hands, kissing, hugging, talking & giving gifts, hearts, chocolates, romantic gifts, ring boxes, love letters or a kid’s Valentine.  Make portraits that convey happiness and excitement.

NOVEMBER - Submit for springtime & "Operation Bikini"
Images of spring cleaning, cleaning equipment and products (natural)
Also, you can shoot healthy foods to get in shape for the beach and people exercising.

DECEMBER- Submit for Easter
Easter eggs, baskets, chicks, rabbits, sweets, stuffed animals, spring flowers such as narcissus, children with flowers, bright colored clothes, etc.

Nowadays, any photographer who is serious about making a living in stock, must plan strategically to make the right photos at the right time.