Answers to Zach's Questions

Zach asked: "Does the modeling gig pay well? Is it a tedious process? Is it fun? This is something you have to blog about sometime!"

Yes, it does pay well, depending on the job. Sometimes the job takes three hours and you make $150 bucks. Other times, you work for a day (10 hours or so) and make 700 bucks. People with more experience than me make maybe twice or three times that amount. The agency, if you work through one, takes about 20% of your pay. So, it does pay well, if you're used to making less than $20 an hour, which I am. The only real downside is that you have to handle your own taxes, and that can be a bit stressful.

I really enjoy the work. It can be extremely intimidating, but you meet interesting people. I'm pretty social so I don't mind meeting new people and I'm relatively good at getting to know them and getting comfortable with them in a short amount of time. It feels like an adventure. Of course, I also have a lot of insecurity, so it's hard to get over that initially.

The work itself is a lot harder than you'd think. It's hard to smile and relax with people staring at you and a camera in your face. You have to change poses after every camera click, so you have to constantly be thinking ahead. I have to make squinty faces and do facial acrobatics to stretch my face and let it relax.

If you're shooting for a clothing line, you end up changing a lot. For the Life is Good shoot, I probably tried on thirty or so tee shirts, several backpacks, four or five sets of mittens and gloves and various vests, sweatshirts and pants. I often had to change in really cold weather; there was snow on the ground and I posed in tee shirts. My fingers were freezing and the worst was changing from one shirt to another and being in 10 degree weather with a tank top on. The shots with me in the backpacks and hats were all taken in the rain and it was hard to keep my eyes open. When I did, I got pelted in the eyes with icy raindrops.

It's also hard to shoot in public places. Some of the photos for the Life is Good shoot were done in a supermarket and a cafe. People got pretty curious about what was going on and would watch, which made me pretty self-conscious.

I really love it. I mean, it's definitely hard...after a full day of smiling, your face hurts and you just want to scowl, but it's fun. And it pays well. A couple of jobs a year would be a real help, say, if I were in school full time.