P#23 Q4A: What Do Model Mayhem, Taxi Cabs and Hotel Concierges Have in Common?

A Wealth of Resources

Scott Stulberg: When I went to China and Thailand with my friend, we went on the Internet before we left and we went to Model Mayhem and other sites that deal with international models.

You can find models in any country on these international modeling sites. Sometimes, they charge $100 an hour, sometimes less, sometimes a little more -- but it's totally worth it because you can see what they look like, you can see how old they are, how tall they are, what their body looks like, if they have a good face, and if they're going to serve what you need.

We do this a lot, especially in Asia. We'll get models from sites like Model Mayhem and we'll shoot in hotel rooms, we'll go outdoors, or we'll shoot in little tuktuks or vehicles -- depending on what we're doing to get a good stock image or good travel image.

That's one thing that is very helpful. The other thing is talking to your taxi driver. They can help tremendously. I'll say, "I need a girl that's five feet eight, and very thin with long black hair, blah, blah, blah, blah," I can't even tell you how much these taxi drivers or even the hotel staff will help you find somebody that will be exactly what you want. This happens all the time.

They know what to do and they can set you up, and they can drive you there. Then you can negotiate a price. Sometimes the taxi driver will get some kind of compensation for that but that's what I do. I either check it on the Internet first or I ask the taxi driver or the hotel staff.

You also can walk down the streets, whether you're in India or Budapest or wherever you are, and meet people, but it's a lot harder because they don't know who you are and it's not that they don't trust you, but a lot of people are very shy.

If I see somebody that's perfect, like this little girl at the Dodger game, I'll say, "Please check out my stuff. I would love to do this," but if you're in Europe and you're walking down the street, you see a great sight, and then you see the perfect person, they're not always going to say, "Okay, here, I'll be your model for you."

If you already have the model with you and you're exploring, then you can set up and you can be shooting right out of the gate. That's why taxi drivers, hotel concierges and sites like Model Mayhem are so vital to good travel photography.

In Summary

If you want to find a good model, there's more than one place to go. According to Scott Stulberg, you should consider all of your options, the most resourceful ones being taxi drivers, hotel concierges and websites like Model Mayhem.