P#23 Q4B: How Do You Get Models to Pose for Those One-of-a-Kind Travel Shots?

Breaking the Barriers

Scott Stulberg: A lot of people have trouble approaching subjects and trying to shoot. You tend to get very comfortable with it when you become a stock photographer.

I love shooting people around the world, in town, in the studio, on location, and everywhere. I just love shooting people. It's probably the number one thing that stock agencies want are people in your travel shots, but it's also the number one thing I love to photograph.

I don't have a problem approaching people. Many people do have problems with this aspect of photography. That's why they're like grab shooters. They whip out the long lens, they shoot from a distance, and they go on.

But they're not going to get that perfect shot that you could get setting that little girl up in a hut in the middle of Cambodia. They're looking up rather than walking down. That little girl's going to be playing, and they're not going to get the girl posed and in a great position.

You have to learn how to break the ice a little and come up and say, "Oh my gosh, your daughter is beautiful. I would love to photograph her. Do you think I could?" Or maybe show them some images that you've already shot or tell them, "I would love to send you some pictures. Could I photograph your wife with the basket over there in the river?"

Then once you break the ice and the people are kind of comfortable with you, you can offer to pay them. I go, "I'd love to pay you to be able to shoot your family over there in that hut," or wherever it is.

You're not just going to the top of the Eiffel Tower and say, "Oh, could you pose right here?" No, no, you're talking about beautiful images of people in unique locations -- like India. I want to shoot beautiful people all over the world, and of course I'm going to try and offer them money because they don't have the Internet and I'm sure a lot of these people are broke.

I like to take pictures of people washing their clothes in the Ganges, or wherever I'm going to be, so I'm going to bring plenty of extra dollar bills with me, American dollar bills, or I change it into Indian money. I pay these people and then I try and shoot them naturally, and many times posed.

Sometimes I'll put two or three people together, do some different colorful things, see what they're wearing, if they have anything else they can do, and put them where I want, shoot them how I want. Whatever you can do to approach them, make them feel comfortable, compensate them -- that is going to give you the travel shots you want.

Many of these images you see in books and magazines, they weren't just people walking by getting that shot. Steve McCurry who did that famous Afghan girl shot with the green eyes, he wasn't just walking by. He might have just found her but he definitely said, "Can I shoot your daughter," and he put her in that little pose. She wasn't just sitting there, she looked up and he happened to be there.

Getting these great travel shots means a little bit of work and then it's going to pay off at the end; if you can compensate them for it, all the better.

To Conclude

Want to know what makes an extraordinary travel shot stand apart from a mediocre one? According to Scott Stulberg it's all about getting the right poses, and that means working with live people. To get models to pose for your travel shots, try some good old-fashioned personal charm, and add it to cold-hard cash for a sure win.