I got an email with what will probably be the last of my kids modeling photos. Since we no longer live by Tokyo it isn't really something we can do anymore. Yes, it would be possible, but it would take much more effort than it is worth. It was fun to see these pictures of Beatrix. I'm glad we had the opportunity to do it while we could.
She totally rocked this shoot by the way. It was probably the first and only shoot she did where she wasn't scared.
Tucker did his first modeling job and it was for North Face. Go here and here to see it on the website. Just in case those links don't work forever, I'll go ahead and post the screen shots I took.
This was by far one of the easiest modeling jobs we have done. Probably the easiest. We were there for less than two hours total. I also think that Tucker being older and not completely terrified of a bunch of strangers staring at him made it a breeze. He was very nervous though. We have lived here for almost three years and during this time the other kids have done several modeling jobs yet Tucker hasn't done any. I think there are just more jobs for the younger kids. Waiting so long made it a little scary.
I love to see the background photos so here you go. They usually have some sort of sheet with the clothing items and also a picture of the model on the sheet. Sometimes they even have stick type people in certain positions. I think this is just so everyone is clear on which models are wearing what and what exact poses they need.
The model always gets called over for hair. Sometimes they get dressed first and sometimes they do hair first. For Tucker this took about 10 seconds. They pretty much left him as he was.
There is usually a lot of waiting and downtime. But not on this day. They were ready to go, so Tucker went straight over to the other side of the room and got started. I also think it was so quick and easy because he was the only model, there was no one else he had to coordinate with.
Sometimes the photographer has certain poses they want the model to do and sometimes they want them to just stand there or move around on their own. It just depends on the photographer about how vocal they are and how much direction they give.
There is always a snack table. Usually it has lots of candy for the kids and juice boxes or other random things.
The photographer has their camera set up to display immediately on the computer so they can look over at anytime during the shots.
This was a really easy shoot for Tucker. Everything they had him do was not really a problem. He even got to play with a tennis ball for a few pictures. It is kind of cool how the tennis ball was not in any of the pictures. Even the ones that were instantly showing up on the computer. I'm not sure how they did that.
Check out the video of Tucker modeling. Sorry there is no sound, the microphone on my phone was broken.
Overall, this was not a high paying job. Probably close to $100 after we take out the money we spent on tolls and parking. But it was a really fun experience. I know Tucker is glad that he got to try it out and see what the modeling world here in Japan is all about.
It is kind of funny because we had no idea she was on the cover, and this is a big magazine and a big close up of just her. I think our agent or maybe Lee jeans, who she was doing the shoot for, should have told up. I was in no rush to order and even got it a couple months late.
She is in the magazine a couple times but here is a better shot of her main picture.
I think it is really exciting and that she looks awesome! Scarlett on the other hand doesn't like that they drew freckles on her and she doesn't want people to see it.
Here are some pictures I took on my phone from the shoot way back in August.
Photos from Beatrix's first modeling shoot were posted online.
She did really well the whole time. She was getting really tired I was worried that she would just scream. Each time I put her down she did scream for about 30 seconds but settled down quickly. I liked working with this company because they were really quick with the babies.
I'm glad she got a job while she was still young and before any stranger anxiety started to kick in.
Yep, those are her hands. :) I only know because I watched them take the pictures. Uniqlo really reminds me of the Japanese version on Old Navy.
They didn't use very many of her pictures, but that is ok, she still got paid. This modeling job paid more than most so I was happy to do it. The actual photo shoot was a struggle for Calista. They wanted her sleeping, and she was not having that. I tried for over an hour to get her to fall asleep. Then they took a couple pictures and tried to repose her and she woke up screaming. It was pretty horrible for her. The whole thing was frustrating because if she did a good job and they liked her pictures then they were going to pay her twice as much money. Two-year-olds don't care about money though. I'll have to remind her of this when she is older and wants more money in her college fund.
One reason this job was great was that Beatrix got to be the stand by model. So she got paid just for showing up, and she was going to show up anyway because Calista was getting her pictures taken. So it was pretty lucky for her.
I was hoping to get some sort of print version of Calista's pictures to save for her, but it looks like these will only be used online. So someday I'll probably take her on another job. My goal was to get something for each of them to save kind of as a souvenir to remind them that we lived in Japan.
It wasn't until watching Scarlett at this Kate Spade shoot that I realized how much she really seems like a professional model. She has came such a long way from her first shoot, it is really amazing. I was talking to a friend about it and she thought it was funny how they call the kids and babies models. At first I might have thought the same thing, but not anymore. Some of these kids do everything just like an adult model and at the shoots they really treat them like the model. It really is a job for them and I feel like I'm supporting them and kind of an afterthought.
The catalog came out a couple days ago and we were thrilled that Scarlett was on the cover. There is a link to the catalog here. But we went to the actual store to hunt down a couple hard copies to keep. Sometimes the agencies give out a copy for the models and sometimes they don't, it just depends on what they are given. We never get to keep any of the clothing, which is a bummer.
It is so funny to see which pictures they liked and put online or in print. Like this next one of Scarlett, why did they choose her grumpiest face? I know it happens, but she has not been to a shoot yet where they ask her to smile.
Now I want to share the background and set up of the photo shoot. Above you can see the two pictures they took from this set up.
The clients are usually very particular and want everything exactly the way they have in mind.
Lots of people are there to watch and make you feel weird. One person is dedicated to helping the kids get dressed and have snacks. Then there is the hair person, the photographer, and others that I really don't know what they do.
There is usually some sort of plan up on the wall with the clothing and kids pictures.
And there is usually lots and lots of waiting and downtime. Like we could be there an hour or two and do nothing. There are usually more then one child taking pictures and they rotate individuals and groups to get the shots they want. They are in no rush at all. I did go to two shoots where we were busy pretty much the whole time, but generally we are all very bored the whole time.
I took a video of the last shoot Scarlett did.
And here is Scarlett at the Kate Spade store, holding the catalog, standing in front of the mannequin that is wearing the dress she is wearing on the cover. The employee's were very excited that she was there. They took pictures and seemed more excited about it than Scarlett. I was probably more excited than she was as well. Calista really wanted out of the stroller and to be done for the day. She is not a fan of hour long train rides.
