Let's start simple. There are a lot more nit-picky things I would love to post but they're more my own personal pet peeves and not necessarily rules that everyone needs to adhere to. That being said, I'm sure some people also have their own rules. These are just guidelines.
1) Do no touch the model. This is an obvious one but it's an easy rule to break, for example if a model asks for assistance. That's what the other people on your team are for.
2) Minimum safe distance. Keep a sort of wall between yourself and the model. This is sort of a part of rule number 1 and applies to all projects, not just nudes. This helps ensure that the model feels like his/her space is being respected.
3) No lewd comments. This means no saying "You have a great ass!" or anything of the sort to the model during a shoot. This shouldn't change when you become friends and is a crucial rule in how you treat models. We are not just meat, inside of that we are people too and rude comments are a great way to make most of us not want to work with you. This also applies to anyone else involved in the shoot. It is completely unacceptable for a photographer to pull his/her assistant aside and make comments about the model. You are free to do this during your own time.
4) Pre-shoot contact. This should be solely about the shoot, planning and agreeing on what is to happen during. This is not the time to tell a model you think she's the hottest piece of ass you've ever seen. These messages should be polite, succinct and (in an ideal world) rife with proper grammar and spelling.
5) Signing a Release. You must ask beforehand as not all models will agree to sign a release. When doing so, it is absolutely not okay to try and coerce a model into signing a document. For the contract to be valid it must be signed by the model, with a witness, to ensure that no one is being coerced.
6) During the shoot: Assistants. Generally if you're going to have an assistant you should have a female assistant with a female model and the same applies for male models and assistants. Some photographers will only use female assistants. It is imperative that if there is going to be an assistant at the shoot that you make it clear to the model which gender the assistant is and if they have a problem with it. If they do you are in no way allowed to harass the model. You can either find an assistant they are comfortable with or you can decline to shoot with them.
7) After the shoot: contact. This should only be to send images, plan another shoot or to thank the creatives that were a part of the project. (I'm always more inclined to work with photographers when they do this, just saying...)
8) Criticism. Basically keep it to yourself. It's not up to you to judge anyone else involved in the project and if you feel the need: take it to texts. Send your BFF or whatever a text about how "Omg the makeup is terribad" or whatever else you want. During a project you should be polite, well mannered. If you can't think of anything to talk about with the people around you simply explain that you work better without being distracted and put on some headphones.
9) Direction. So this is a weird one to have to mention but it has happened before where directions have been seen as offensive. "Could you suck in your stomach?" There is nothing wrong with this, in theory, except that you are making a model feel insecure. "Could you take that out and redo her hair? It needs to be neater." Again, nothing wrong with this, but keep in mind that you are an artist working with other artists. We tend to be fragile people and as such consider your words carefully before you say them. Consider directing a model to simply inhale and lift their rib cage or something of the sort. It sounds a lot less like "You've got fat rolls" and a lot more like "I would like you to look as awesome as possible."
10) STUDIO. This should be fairly common sense but just in case: keep your space clean. No cigarette butts and TRY NOT to SMOKE in the area. (I personally am terribly allergic to cigarettes.) Panties and clothes, clean or otherwise, don't need to be seen (or smelled... ick) by anyone other than you so put that shit in your laundry basket or away. Your floor? Should be clean. If you're shooting in your apartment it should NOT smell funky. There should be no porn on your walls or in any way visible (unless that's what you shoot..., that's a different story.) There should be nothing potentially offensive to the creatives you are inviting into your space. No notes, posters, articles of clothing, nothing. There should be no bondage gear or anything inappropriate and irrelevant to the shoot in the room. No offensive music (this means no rap about bitches and sluts, skanks and hoes, etc). Basically keep it clean.
5) Public Image. This one is rather important and applies to models and photographers too. Reputation is everything in this industry. I recently read an article about a photographer who shoots nudes... well, in the nude. The entire set is naked and it's supposed to make the model feel comfortable. Does it work? Maybe. I'm sure there are better ways. In the end: your reputation is everything. If you have an awesome rep and someone badmouths you, the chances of it actually affecting you are minimal. If you already have a bad rap then the more others pile on, the worse it gets. On the other hand... if you have a bad reputation and someone has a good experience working with you then great, tell them to tell everyone they know. Aim to always be in people's good books.
As per usual, a video ! This one is by Michelle Phan (are you sick of her yet?) and it's about the different ways to apply liquid liner. Hope that's helpful for some of you!
Be safe, be smart and of course: be awesome!
-Nicola Sasky
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