Category Archives: Film Photography

The subject of today’s post is the time my niece (aged 12 at the moment) was wanting to do some paid modeling work ( 😉 ) for me last month. She was getting excited, asking me how much I might possibly pay her to be my model. She wanted to know what the MAX amount I might pay her for this session. In sort of a teasing manner, I said “Oh, well, if you want over x amount of dollars, it’d have to be something extraordinary.” She wanted to know what constituted “extraordinary.” Just for grins and giggles, I suggested maybe if she’d wear the tiara from her graduation ceremony at church last year (a sparkly tiara being something she would NOT want to be caught dead in under normal circumstances,) I would consider that extraordinary and would give her a higher “modeling fee.”

She ran into her room and grabbed the box which had been housing the tiara since she had been required to wear it for the ceremony at church last year. I guarantee you she hadn’t given that thing a second thought until the day of our photo shoot. I told her to put it on, so I could see if I really did like the idea of photographing her in it. She popped it on her head and sat down next to me to start figuring out ideas for the photo shoot. I was laughing SO HARD (on the inside – didn’t want her to think I was making fun of her) because she would pitch an idea, look over her glasses at me with a twinkle in her eyes, and say “Would that be ‘extraordinary’??” This went on for quite awhile, between pitching ideas and fee negotiations. Eventually, AM said “What if I were holding my bo staff* and had the tiara on??” She thought that combo would be worth a high sum. A tough princess vibe for the shoot? What was really making me laugh was the fact that she was running around with the tiara on her head the whole time that we were trying to figure out the details of the photo shoot – much longer than would have been required to wear it in the photos. I was thinking, “Girl, don’t you realize you’re wearing that tiara for free while you’re running around trying to plan these photos??”

Yashica-Mat • Ilford HP5 Plus
(+ the Impossible Project gold frame shot with my Polaroid SX-70 Sonar)

And you know what? After all that planning, I just took 12 photos with my Yashica TLR (well, and the Polaroid one at the top of the post.) There were only a few I really liked enough to show off.  But I just think so fondly of this session because of the planning portion when my niece had that glimmer in her eyes, trying to think of something extraordinary for the photos. ♥♥♥
*Don’t worry, internet, my niece doesn’t really have a bo staff. It’s a broom handle that has tape on it in strategic places, that she and my dad made to go with a Halloween costume a couple of years ago.