WNY Models

Larisa · by **Larisa** on April 13th, 2004, 2:41 pm

Just thought I'd start up a convo.....

What triggered your interest in photography/modeling/etc... ?!?!

wnymodels · by **wnymodels** on May 16th, 2004, 1:29 pm

no replies on this?

Kelly · by **Kelly** on May 16th, 2004, 3:41 pm

For me, I think it was my whole family always telling me that I should give it a try. After that, I searched online for awhile and got started all by myself. It took awhile to convince mom that it would be ok though.

Image by Jason Mahshie

alli_b · by **alli_b** on May 16th, 2004, 5:59 pm

i never thought of modelling in my entire life, i would always look at myself and say yeah right like someone like me would be in front of a camera, i was always shy growing up and so self conscious of myself, until i went to college, and i posed for my drawing class with my clothes on(cause i felt weird taking them off, since it was my drawing class) and i was approached by someone after class, and happens to be fellow moderator and member mark k.....asked if i wanted to shoot one night and i said ya know what the hell, ill give it a shot and after them 4 hours of shooting and i was so excited to see the proofs and pictures that since then i was hooked and couldnt wait for more shoots in the future and now 4 years later im still in it and love it and mark i owe a lot of thanks to to make me feel better about myself and to make me feel beautiful!!

KHatch · by **KHatch** on May 16th, 2004, 6:16 pm

Great thread. I didn't see it before.

It started for me in 8th grade when I took my first photography class. During class (or even study halls) we could go outside, back into the woods and shoot photos. We used a Yashica D tlr. I had a blast. It was another visual voice for me to complement my drawing and painting. I also fell in love with processing and printing in the darkroom. After growing tired of borrowing the schools camera, I bought my first slr in 11th grade (before my first car). I was amazed at how things weren't reversed when looking through the viewfinder.

I wasn't serious until doing my grad work and was inspired by Diane Arbus and Irving Penn. If you haven't seen Penn's work, go to your local library.

Larisa · by **Larisa** on May 17th, 2004, 9:22 pm

I've always had a need to express myself, photography and acting/modeling just became my outlet. I LOVE meeting people (god do I blab a lot.... hahah). And when it comes to expressing myself infront of the camera, well, I always liked having all the attention lol

MarkK · by **MarkK** on May 17th, 2004, 11:33 pm

Take an 8 year old boy, give him a poloriod insta-matic for his birthday and leave him alone with a 16 year old babysitter a few days later...

That's my first actual recollection of me being a photographer. I didn't take it seriously until my senior year in high school when I had to take an art course to graduate. I never liked to draw, my pottery peices always blew up in the kiln and my paintings were often confused for a talented fourth grader. Photography it was, then.

I can also tell you when I got hooked and knew photography would be a part of me forever. It was when I saw my first image emerge while being agitated in the developer. I didn't realize I was holding my breath. It was magic. To this day I still live for that same feeling as that's when I know I have something special whether it's when I'm shooting or processing. A digital scan of that very first image is below.

After 8 years in the real world I realized life was too short not to be doing the things you love to do so I re-enrolled into college, this time for a BFA (my first degree was a BA in Writing Arts). Ironically enough, I had to take 3 drawing courses, a cermics course, a painting course and ohers to graduate that I avoided in high school. That part of my life was concluded this past weekend. Now it's on for the MFA so that I may teach photography and graphics at the college level and pass that magical feeling on to others.

WNY Models

Inspiration - How did it all start?!

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