Introducing... Emma Starmore Smith
Introducing... Emma Starmore Smith
From what I remember, Emma and I crossed paths on Instagram, possibly from her following me from doing a search of North Wales on Purpleport. At the time, however, she was based out of Brighton, and being so far south puts a strain on the available budget for travel, so that then is reflected in what we pass on, and in turn then have to charge photographers, so it was never really thought about that she may end up at the studio. We have had models from the south coast before, but often they're touring and what not, which helps with the travel costs as they're already on the road and coming from a closer location. Being a newer face on the scene, it's also hard to predict how studio days will sell too.
I always say it, but North Wales is HARD! It's not flush with money, and often photographers will travel themselves an hour or two to use us, so while we're an attractive unique prospect, we have to factor in their travel time and cost too. Models, or 'models', often see sold out days here and think that we're a cash cow, and they don't have to have a reputation or work hard to push a date to make it sell given we have such insane facilities.. that is simply is not the case. A studio day is a joint venture between the studio and model, it's not a guaranteed pay day, it's not a free for all, and over pricing it will mean it will not sell.. and that's before fracturing in timing and dumb luck, even with a big rep as a model.
As it transpired, however, Brighton was where she was at uni, and in reality she lived about 10 minutes away. She was shocked that this place in North Wales now existed, and I was shocked that there was a commercial style model in North Wales. If there's one question I get asked a lot, it's who are your roaster of local models, and being honest, there aren't any. There's plenty around who don't have commercial appeal, and who maybe enjoy modelling, but that's not a model to me. Having a niche and/or wide commercial appeal, where you can pose and emote freely, who is bringing something to the narrative being shot that in turn lights up the image; that's what equates to modelling. It is a job and a skill set, otherwise it's just the photographer working to make someone standing in front of a camera look better.
So here I was, with a new local model, and where I could finally offer a name to people asking, and also potentially organise some tutorial days and other events without the hassle of travel and logistics... or so I thought. We discussed ideas, she assured me she now lived in North Wales, and then about a week later, she was looking to move to Kent after she learnt from me that being a studio assistant was a job, and she'd since found such a job down South and was moving down around the Christmas period. Fast-forward a couple of months, and I've since heard recently she's in Dubai and doing flight attendant stuff... so god knows where she is and what she's doing, but she still has her family home up here in North Wales though, so you can always message her to see if she's around.. and then prey she's not in Antarctica a week later. These kids and their indecisiveness, ay!?