I am so pleased to be able to show all of you an in-depth, behind the scenes look at my friend and model, Katie Johnson. I started working with her in February 2010, me as Photographer and her as Model. Since then I have come to not only love her as a person but also as an artist. She puts the most incredible enthusiasm into every project, and she does it with a smile and soul-baring spirit. It seemed obvious to me that if I was going to showcase someone, the first person up would have to be Katie, an artist I have come to admire and an artist I am inspired by. Here is an essay that she wrote on fine art modeling as well as an interview I did with her to follow:
Canvas, Marble and Clay: An Art Model’s Experience.
by Katie Johnson
Before I get into Art Modeling, I want to back up and tell you a story from my senior year of high school. Context is key for anything. I’d like to share mine with you ..
I went to a very conservative, traditional, southern all girls school; the kind of place that still celebrated May Day and handed out demerits for uniform violations. You get the idea…
A traditional May Pole Dance... Ahh memories...
So, one day the school paper run an article on world religions/different interpretations of God. Risky. However, they soften the “radical” statement by printing this image next to it:
The Creation of Adam. Michelangelo. 1508-1512.
(It was printed about this size and in the same muted gray tones.)
The logic was, “At least putting a ‘Christian’ painting with the article might curb the criticism.”
…About two hours after the article was released the school administration started to get phone calls. Lots of phone calls. From angry parents. But, they weren’t angry about the article. They were offended by the image. “What kind of school would let our girls be exposed to this?” –Wait a minute. Exposed to what? Apparently the scandal was this: our fine institution had put a naked man on the cover of the school paper. “What if the sixth graders saw that?” The papers were pulled. The image was removed.
My friends and I felt emotions surge through us very quickly: shock, confusion, amusement, anger, outrage, and finally chagrined resolve. We knew what we had to do… Into the library we went and started up every computer. We googled ”nude art”, “Rodin”, “Da Vinci”, and even the already martyred “Michelangelo.” We hit: Print.
We took stacks by the hundreds and littered the upper school hallways. In solidarity, the history, language, and English professors taped prints on their classroom doors. It was moment of such triumph and joy. After all, when one door closes you open another. If there isn’t one to be found, you don’t sit captive; you bust down the wall.
Flash forward six years. I now live and work in Los Angeles. Among other things, I am an Art Model. It’s not something I sought out or pursued; I came out here to be a writer. But, when David LaChapelle asked me to pose for him it wasn’t a question of whether or not I wanted to be a “model.” It was something I had to do. The conviction had always been in my heart; this was my chance to let it take wing. But a pair of wings doesn’t lend itself to immediate flight. Dedication and discipline must first be employed, or you’ll find yourself flapping like an idiot…or worse, falling like a rock. To be an art model I had to learn the art of modeling. That art is what I’d like to share with you…
Traditional artists use basic materials as starting points. For example: canvas, marble and clay. Photographers use models in a similar fashion.
Canvas: stretched, primed, and gessoed. It’s a painter’s foundation. Posing like this requires active stillness; you are fully aware and engaged, just actively choosing stillness. Don’t lose your energy. Just be still. This idea of active stillness is not limited to physical moment. Sometimes it’s much more of a mental stillness. In a “less is more” way, all the photographer needs from you is to exist in the frame. Nothing more or less.
This is me literally being the canvas for SMASHBOX:
Makeup Artist Kayla Meiegard.
In this “Family Portrait” from Fay Baldwin’s All American Family series she is painting the narrative onto her models.
"Family Portrait" from Fay Baldwin's series All American Family.
If you’re working with a photographer who wants a canvas remember to actively listen. You also have to understand that the image is not about you: it’s about what’s happening on and around you. You’re just the primary layer. Marble: Strong. Finite. Organic. The opposite of canvas; the marble is the art. An artist starts with a full chunk then takes away all the parts that are not in service of his vision. As Michelangelo said, “I saw the angel in the marble and I carved to set him free.”
When a photographer wants a model to be marble she usually sees something inside you that matches her concept. Your task then is to understand what piece of you she wants and allow the rest to be chiseled away…
Brooke Shaden's "the evolution of generations"
In ”the evolution of generations” Brooke said she wanted to show “Mother Earth” as a woman with (almost) nothing left to give. She wanted my body to mirror body the couture and the texture of the dry California mountains. The red lilies reach beautifully towards the sunburst in the heavens; but the body stays in with the barren earth. For the shot there isn’t any external “character work.” There’s deep interpersonal reflection: the character is you. If a photographer wants you to be marble you both must understand: she’s asking a lot of you. She’s asking to capture a piece of your soul in the image.
*A note to photographers: If you’re going to ask this of your model be technically good enough to do it justice. There are too many images out there where you see a physically/emotionally vulnerable model in a frankly bad picture. Composition, lighting, editing… know the tools of your trade. Practice.
Clay: Humble. Malleable. Messy. Anyone who’s taken a beginner pottery class knows the pure fun of working with clay. There’s nothing pretentious about it: you take it in your hands and make something. You can have a starting vision, but you don’t have to. You can squish the original and start over. Clay doesn’t care. It’s (forgive the cliché) putty in your hands.
Excerpt from David LaChapelle's "Bliss Amongst Chaos"
For “Bliss Amongst Chaos” David had the idea of a 1932 bourgeois new year’s eve party stormed by an angry mob of opposed workers. He did a few water colors first; he had the general moment and tone of the piece in his mind. That being said, in order to get this image this whole set became living clay in his hands. No costume, makeup, pose, or even set piece is ever 100% set or safe. My joke is that “No, David.” is simply not in my vocabulary. For example, when he told me to get up on the hood of the car (by car I mean original 1932 Maybach Zeppelin) the Mercedes Benz executives overseeing the shoot starting to panic. “No! She can’t! She’ll scratch the car!” David waved them off. “No she won’t… she’s little. Katie: get on the car.” I started for it. The execs steps forward, “Do not get on the car.” I looked at the suits. I looked at David. I got on the car. The three business men were dumbfounded. So much so, in fact, that they sheepishly returned to the sidelines. David gave me a hint of a smile and returned to his camera. The show was back on.
If I hadn’t have “been clay” in that situation it could have potentially escalated. If an artist asks you to be clay, and you accept, then you move for their hand alone.
Whether canvas, marble, clay, or some hybrid creation, what really matters is your relationship with the photographer and mutual understanding of the concept. An art model should never be self conscious but always be self aware.
I hope this little peak into my world provides some insight. Art Models don’t just “show up to be pretty.” Like any other member of a creative team, we show up well prepared and ready to contribute. It’s been a long journey for me from my high school days to here. While I don’t think that my alma mater would approve of me “taking off my clothes for pictures.” I can give credit where it’s due. They’re the ones who taught me that “A girl’s honor is her most prized possession.” And that’s a conviction I’ve always honored to the best of my ability.
–
INTERVIEW: Katie Johnson
1. How important is it, as a fine art model, to get into character and prepare for your photo shoots? What techniques do you use to get into the character?
Character work is vital. For me, there is no difference in the preparation for a still shoot than for film or theater. With all three formats you’re conveying universal emotional truths. The only difference with a still shoot is you only get one frame to do it. Therefore both model and photographer must be fully aware of both what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. Every pixel should serve the higher concept. As the model, you’re usually taking up a lot of those pixels/space in the frame. To walk in unprepared is amateurish and detrimental to the work.
For me, “getting into character” is about finding the core emotional beats and relating to them personally. In order to do that, I always start with research. In the excerpt below from David LaChapelle’s Auguries of Innocence I’m portraying Mary Magdalene (right) at the moment when she, along with Mary the Mother (center) and Mary of Cleopas (left), receive Jesus’ body from the cross.
Auguries of Innocence excerpt - (c) David LaChapelle
Mary at the foot of the cross -one of my character/ body language references.
There’s a lot of mythos around the relationship between Mary Magdalene and Jesus. There are plenty of unanswered questions in the Biblical text; and plenty of vacuum deductions ranging from academia to pop culture. So you do your research, you gather all the data out there, and then you pick and choose the skeletal structure for your interpretation. “Your interpretation” of course coming out of the photographer’s original concept. David said, “The love of your life is dead.” That’s a very specific emotional starting point. Building from there, I found that Jesus was Mary’s Hope. At a time when prostitutes had no right, voice, or authority in the world Jesus offered Mary dignity and place among the his disciples. Whether she saw him a lover, savior, teacher, or friend: the recurring theme is Hope. And when you crucify hope, you have nothing left.
We shot this section of the image isolated on green screen. David cleared the studio, dimed the work lights, and stopped all production. He played Jeff’s Buckley’s Hallelujah and had PA’s with sprinklers simulating rain fall… David yelled out to us “It’s the end of the world!” he made us lift, time and again, the dead weight of the body… Notice my gaze – were you to draw a straight line out from my eyes it would end in his. “Love bares all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:7 NAS) because I created a full, dynamic character long before I walked on set, I was able to hold fast to Mary’s truth in the midst of the chaos.
2. What has been your most rewarding shoot, the one you have felt the most connected with? Why?
They’ve all been rewarding beyond measure! That being said, the one that stands out above the rest is David LaChapelle’s The Deluge.
Not only was this my first experience Art Modeling ; this was my first experience being naked in front of anyone. I was nineteen years old. We had a cast of 30 and crew of 50+ … there were industrial fans, buckets of water, blinding lights, and hours of holding painful tableaus. I lost feeling in my left leg and right arm multiple times. I even lost a contact lens from the fans… but beyond the sensory overload It was humbling to witness the respectful, professional, reverence with which the crew treated myself and the other models. We (women) have this often justifiable stigma about the lustful eyes of men. However, to borrow from Eleanor Roosevelt, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Being treated with such professionalism on The Deluge gave me the confidence to walk on to any set with authority and demand the same level of respect.
PHOTO Magazine Cover, 2007 - Excerpt from The Deluge (c) David LaChapelle.
The nudity in The Deluge is an equalizer. When the flood waters rain down it doesn’t matter who you think you are, pretend to be, or what clothes you chose to hide under… we’re all just souls in bodies. Bodies are all pretty much the same… nothing more or less then what we’re made to be. Choosing to stand with David LaChapelle for this Renaissance view of humanity in the most aggressive and combative way possible, I realized that I, a “nice little blonde girl,” had within me nerves of steel required to stand for what I believed in. It was one of the most rewarding moments of my life.
3. What have you learned about yourself, if anything, through the world of modeling? Have you learned anything about yourself specifically through becoming different characters?
Ha, I’ve learned that, in the immortal words of Christopher Robin to Winnie the Pooh:
“You‘re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”
Specifically, I’ve learned a lot about myself working through Brooke Shaden’s Ophelia Series. It’s by far the most personal project I’ve done to date. Also, working in a 10 image narrative format, there’s a lot more stages in her journey to represent.
Ophelia starts out as archetypal “Feminine Goodness.” But as the fundamental structure of her “perfect” world is destroyed she, vulnerable and ill-equipped, loses her mind. In her final (and perhaps only) autonomous act she throws herself into the river. And there alone in the dark, cold water she lives and understands more than she ever did … so at the perfect moment where her soul is finally complete, it escapes her lifeless body… a moment both beautiful and tragic.
I greatly admire Brooke for taking on such a vast and weighty piece. When we first discussed the idea she made it clear that her study of Ophelia was primarily psycho-sexual. Addressing female sexuality in general is dangerous waters. On top of that to use photography and then to use a nude: you have a potential tasteless disaster. Fortunately, Brooke’s vision and craft is so beyond measure she dodges both cliché and pornography at every turn. “a dance with self” – excerpt from Brooke Shaden’s Ophelia Series(c)
I know it’s Hamlet’s line, but I feel like it expresses
Ophelia’s essence in our collaboration:
“If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart
Absent thee from felicity a while,
And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain
To tell my story.”
-Hamlet, Act V, Scene 2, pg 17.
4. One facet of fine art modeling can be nude or implied nude shoots. What made you decide to use your body in this way? What conditions do you have for agreeing to a nude shoot?
The word “Consecrate” literally means: to associate with the scared. When I chose to participate in an image, I consecrate my body to Art.
My conditions: Trust in the artist. Confidence in their talent. Belief in their body of work.
5. What is your advice to people who would like to try fine art modeling, or just modeling in general? What is your advice to photographers who would like to begin shooting models?
Cragislist. Don’t do it. ( I kid… mostly.)
No, seriously models: listen to your gut. Really think, pray, and ponder why you do what you do. It’s your body. Never think: “Okay, maybe no one will see this.” Trust me: Everyone will see it. So only lend your body to images about which you are proud and passionate. Don’t seek the approval of the crowd; you likely won’t get it. And even if you do, crowds are notoriously fickle….
Photographers: NEVER ask a model to do anything you honestly would not do yourself. The choice to use a model should be in service of the image (ie, the best casting choice) not “I wonder what this will look like…”, “Hey, can you try this… That’d be cool!”, or “Well, I’m not comfortable being nude but I bet I can get a model to do it for me!” -That kind of energy will kill your work. Trust me, you don’t have to say anything, your model will know… it’s an enegry thing. When you sit in the “safe zone” behind the lens and then demand so much from your model, it becomes a really negative power dymanic. You have to veiw your model as an equal collaborator. If you want to start shooting nudes, honestly, start with self portairts. You don’t have to publish, print, or show them to anyone. But you will learn worlds about what it take to be on the otherside. And, it is another world….
