Ben Zander is a Bangkok Photographer and the creative director of Rawproductions Co., Ltd. – based in Thailand. He specializes in fashion and commercial photography in general, portraiture, and various “social change” projects. Ben Zander and his team (Raw Productions Co., Ltd.) are able to take on full production responsibility for both local and international clients looking to shoot in some of Thailand’s many beautiful locations. From pre-production to post-production, from airport arrival to departure, they make it happen. Ben Zander is known for his stunning portraiture and charitable projects to help the environment.
Ben Zander also offers photography workshops where aspiring commercial photographers will learn the following:
The essentials: camera & lenses, light physics, single and multiple speed lights & strobes, light modifiers, lighting techniques, investing in the right equipment, setting up a studio.
Getting started: making and marketing a portfolio, rules of the game with clients, models and make up-artists, post-processing using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, workflow from shooting tethered to client proofing.
Real life exercises: mastering basic portraiture to running a set on location, guided photoshoots with models in a studio, on a beach, on a helipad of a skyscraper and other amazing locations.
Ben Zander is a Bangkok Photographer and the creative director of Rawproductions Co., Ltd. – based in Thailand. He specializes in fashion and commercial photography in general, portraiture, and various “social change” projects. Ben Zander and his team (Raw Productions Co., Ltd.) are able to take on full production responsibility for both local and international clients looking to shoot in some of Thailand’s many beautiful locations. From pre-production to post-production, from airport arrival to departure, they make it happen. Ben Zander is known for his stunning portraiture and charitable projects to help the environment.
Ben Zander also offers photography workshops where aspiring commercial photographers will learn the following:
The essentials: camera & lenses, light physics, single and multiple speed lights & strobes, light modifiers, lighting techniques, investing in the right equipment, setting up a studio.
Getting started: making and marketing a portfolio, rules of the game with clients, models and make up-artists, post-processing using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, workflow from shooting tethered to client proofing.
Real life exercises: mastering basic portraiture to running a set on location, guided photoshoots with models in a studio, on a beach, on a helipad of a skyscraper and other amazing locations.
Ben Zander is a Bangkok Photographer and the creative director of Rawproductions Co., Ltd. – based in Thailand. He specializes in fashion and commercial photography in general, portraiture, and various “social change” projects. Ben Zander and his team (Raw Productions Co., Ltd.) are able to take on full production responsibility for both local and international clients looking to shoot in some of Thailand’s many beautiful locations. From pre-production to post-production, from airport arrival to departure, they make it happen. Ben Zander is known for his stunning portraiture and charitable projects to help the environment.
Ben Zander also offers photography workshops where aspiring commercial photographers will learn the following:
The essentials: camera & lenses, light physics, single and multiple speed lights & strobes, light modifiers, lighting techniques, investing in the right equipment, setting up a studio.
Getting started: making and marketing a portfolio, rules of the game with clients, models and make up-artists, post-processing using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, workflow from shooting tethered to client proofing.
Real life exercises: mastering basic portraiture to running a set on location, guided photoshoots with models in a studio, on a beach, on a helipad of a skyscraper and other amazing locations.
So this is an article I have wanted to write for a while, as it would be a good resource to have on my website for a minority of assignment requests I receive from time to time. The subject matter is also something aspiring photographers should take to heart. I wish I had come across a similar text early in my own career. Anyway, here we go: How clients can kill their own commercial photoshoot, and how to help them not to.
First of all, the process of becoming a professional fashion and/or advertising photographer is done in different stages. In the beginning you are transitioning into getting paid at all, most often by private clients. In my experience these clients are often humble and flexible, and they will take your advice. Undertaking a photoshoot is a rare occasion for them, and it is exciting. Shooting for them is a very low pressure situation most of the time. The reason they come to you is because they don’t have a lot of experience, or a big budget.
After getting paid to shoot, you transition into shooting for commercial clients. In stead of shooting “portraits”, (the people in front of you) you slowly re-calibrate your way of seeing into shooting products and making that look good (in those cases an advertising shoot is not done in a group or single portrait style). You need to connect with model agencies, create a team around you with makeup artists, stylists, et cetera. In the beginning of this stage, you will meet a variety of different clients with varying degrees of experience and expectations. Odds are, the more established, accomplished and experienced you are yourself, the more professional and experienced your clients will be as well. They can afford you, and they understand the difference. At this latter stage, you will also turn down clients from time to time.
Before you arrive at the last stage, where you are confident enough and willing to turn down commercial work from clients, unless certain terms are met, there is a period where you are vulnerable to setting both yourself and your client up for disaster.
It usually starts with the negotiations with an inexperienced commercial client before the shoot. The goal for the client seems to be to put as many looks/changes/products into the production time as possible. Perhaps a price has already has been agreed upon, and then the client starts to inflate the scope in various ways thereafter. It is not an uncommon strategy for an inexperienced client to downplay the expectations of a shoot before the price is set, and then shift gear and start inflating, moving the boundaries gradually thereafter. An inexperienced photographer will often cave in, scared to make the client unhappy.
The inexperienced client can also engage in another negotiating strategy, namely avoiding clarity on deliverables to push the photographer on extra service: “Ah, I thought editing was included in the price”. Again, an inexperienced photographer will allow this to happen, so it is not entirely the clients fault. It just destroys the good relationship you are trying to build with your client.
Sometimes the inexperienced client will openly want to put too much work into the time available from the beginning. They know the price they want to pay, and they know how much they want to shoot, even before talking to the photographer. If the client can get the photographer shoot 30 garments in a day on location in stead of 15, for the same price, the client thinks this is a “win”. The client will even offer production advice and solutions to the photographer, as to how the work load can be met in the very limited time. Perhaps it even sounds doable from a purely theoretical standpoint. The inexperienced photographer will perhaps even get convinced by the client and agree to the terms, or simply cave in in fear of losing the client. In such cases, it is the photographers responsibility to protect the client from him or her self. But it can be very difficult, and take more guts than you have.
The difference between an inexperienced client, and an experienced client, is that the former does not understand the difference between negotiating and buying iPads and a campaign photoshoot. The inexperienced client thinks: “I just negotiated 30 iPads in stead of 15 iPads for the same price”. Believing that a photoshoot is a standardized object, that the product quality will remain static, it’s just a question of getting the price down. Both inexperienced and experienced photographers knows that the quality of the images will be vastly affected by the time and resource restrictions that is being put on a given production. If a client wants to shoot 30 looks on location, in a day, he or she might think that they will get campaign quality images, but the truth is it will be more like a catalogue shoot. In some cases the clients will even fly to a different country with their garments, hire a professional photographer that can give them something amazing, but then sabotage it because they insist on shooting their whole clothing line in a day, for example, or to save a thousand dollars. The production becomes too greedy, and get’s killed.
The fact is that the extra special quality that a professional photographer can deliver, is extremely vulnerable, and the first thing that goes down the toilet when you don’t allow for sufficient time and resources to be put into the production. The inexperienced client is actually better off buying a camera and shooting themselves at home. What is the point?
The experienced client knows this, and will engage in a dialogue with a professional photographer and listen to what is being said, what is needed, and how the client can achieve the kind of images he or she wants, or how the photographer can deliver the type of images the client has seen on the photographers portfolio. The experienced client knows that the photographer is mainly concerned with creating something amazing and beautiful to be proud of. Not screwing the client over by over charging.
If an inexperienced photographer encounters an inexperienced client, that perhaps comes from a haggling culture as well, the stage is truly set for a shitty production that will make both the client and photographer unhappy. The client will not remember how little was paid, only the bad quality of the photos in the end (The iPads does not work!). The photographer get’s underpaid for something not even suitable for Instagram.
It is not fair to criticize clients for being inexperienced. It is not their job to know the difference between buying a iPad and buying a campaign photoshoot. It is difficult to understand everything that goes in to making images that looks like the ones on billboards and magazines. Unfortunately they will always find photographers that will agree to unrealistic terms, because these are not confident enough to educate and override the client, or turn them down. Some photographers will accept anything because they don’t get enough work, and need the business.
In short, an experienced client is able to balance their own financial pressures with their quality needs, and they understand the difference between buying a campaign shoot and a shipment of iPads. Less is more. Handle the photographer with care, or you risk forcing him to lie to you. Or maybe you are just fooling yourself.
An experienced photographer is confident enough to guide and educate an inexperienced client so that he or she may have realistic expectations, and if this is not possible, have the guts to turn them down. Accepting all kinds of work will only take you so far. To go beyond that, you need to be ready to turn down work, even if you could use the money. At least, this is what I think. Have a great day!
So this is an article I have wanted to write for a while, as it would be a good resource to have on my website for a minority of assignment requests I receive from time to time. The subject matter is also something aspiring photographers should take to heart. I wish I had come across a similar text early in my own career. Anyway, here we go: How clients can kill their own commercial photoshoot, and how to help them not to.
First of all, the process of becoming a professional fashion and/or advertising photographer is done in different stages. In the beginning you are transitioning into getting paid at all, most often by private clients. In my experience these clients are often humble and flexible, and they will take your advice. Undertaking a photoshoot is a rare occasion for them, and it is exciting. Shooting for them is a very low pressure situation most of the time. The reason they come to you is because they don’t have a lot of experience, or a big budget.
After getting paid to shoot, you transition into shooting for commercial clients. In stead of shooting “portraits”, (the people in front of you) you slowly re-calibrate your way of seeing into shooting products and making that look good (in those cases an advertising shoot is not done in a group or single portrait style). You need to connect with model agencies, create a team around you with makeup artists, stylists, et cetera. In the beginning of this stage, you will meet a variety of different clients with varying degrees of experience and expectations. Odds are, the more established, accomplished and experienced you are yourself, the more professional and experienced your clients will be as well. They can afford you, and they understand the difference. At this latter stage, you will also turn down clients from time to time.
Before you arrive at the last stage, where you are confident enough and willing to turn down commercial work from clients, unless certain terms are met, there is a period where you are vulnerable to setting both yourself and your client up for disaster.
It usually starts with the negotiations with an inexperienced commercial client before the shoot. The goal for the client seems to be to put as many looks/changes/products into the production time as possible. Perhaps a price has already has been agreed upon, and then the client starts to inflate the scope in various ways thereafter. It is not an uncommon strategy for an inexperienced client to downplay the expectations of a shoot before the price is set, and then shift gear and start inflating, moving the boundaries gradually thereafter. An inexperienced photographer will often cave in, scared to make the client unhappy.
The inexperienced client can also engage in another negotiating strategy, namely avoiding clarity on deliverables to push the photographer on extra service: “Ah, I thought editing was included in the price”. Again, an inexperienced photographer will allow this to happen, so it is not entirely the clients fault. It just destroys the good relationship you are trying to build with your client.
Sometimes the inexperienced client will openly want to put too much work into the time available from the beginning. They know the price they want to pay, and they know how much they want to shoot, even before talking to the photographer. If the client can get the photographer shoot 30 garments in a day on location in stead of 15, for the same price, the client thinks this is a “win”. The client will even offer production advice and solutions to the photographer, as to how the work load can be met in the very limited time. Perhaps it even sounds doable from a purely theoretical standpoint. The inexperienced photographer will perhaps even get convinced by the client and agree to the terms, or simply cave in in fear of losing the client. In such cases, it is the photographers responsibility to protect the client from him or her self. But it can be very difficult, and take more guts than you have.
The difference between an inexperienced client, and an experienced client, is that the former does not understand the difference between negotiating and buying iPads and a campaign photoshoot. The inexperienced client thinks: “I just negotiated 30 iPads in stead of 15 iPads for the same price”. Believing that a photoshoot is a standardized object, that the product quality will remain static, it’s just a question of getting the price down. Both inexperienced and experienced photographers knows that the quality of the images will be vastly affected by the time and resource restrictions that is being put on a given production. If a client wants to shoot 30 looks on location, in a day, he or she might think that they will get campaign quality images, but the truth is it will be more like a catalogue shoot. In some cases the clients will even fly to a different country with their garments, hire a professional photographer that can give them something amazing, but then sabotage it because they insist on shooting their whole clothing line in a day, for example, or to save a thousand dollars. The production becomes too greedy, and get’s killed.
The fact is that the extra special quality that a professional photographer can deliver, is extremely vulnerable, and the first thing that goes down the toilet when you don’t allow for sufficient time and resources to be put into the production. The inexperienced client is actually better off buying a camera and shooting themselves at home. What is the point?
The experienced client knows this, and will engage in a dialogue with a professional photographer and listen to what is being said, what is needed, and how the client can achieve the kind of images he or she wants, or how the photographer can deliver the type of images the client has seen on the photographers portfolio. The experienced client knows that the photographer is mainly concerned with creating something amazing and beautiful to be proud of. Not screwing the client over by over charging.
If an inexperienced photographer encounters an inexperienced client, that perhaps comes from a haggling culture as well, the stage is truly set for a shitty production that will make both the client and photographer unhappy. The client will not remember how little was paid, only the bad quality of the photos in the end (The iPads does not work!). The photographer get’s underpaid for something not even suitable for Instagram.
It is not fair to criticize clients for being inexperienced. It is not their job to know the difference between buying a iPad and buying a campaign photoshoot. It is difficult to understand everything that goes in to making images that looks like the ones on billboards and magazines. Unfortunately they will always find photographers that will agree to unrealistic terms, because these are not confident enough to educate and override the client, or turn them down. Some photographers will accept anything because they don’t get enough work, and need the business.
In short, an experienced client is able to balance their own financial pressures with their quality needs, and they understand the difference between buying a campaign shoot and a shipment of iPads. Less is more. Handle the photographer with care, or you risk forcing him to lie to you. Or maybe you are just fooling yourself. An experienced photographer is confident enough to guide and educate an inexperienced client so that he or she may have realistic expectations, and if this is not possible, have the guts to turn them down. Accepting all kinds of work will only take you so far. To go beyond that, you need to be ready to turn down work, even if you could use the money. At least, this is what I think. Have a great day!
So this is an article I have wanted to write for a while, as it would be a good resource to have on my website for a minority of assignment requests I receive from time to time. The subject matter is also something aspiring photographers should take to heart. I wish I had come across a similar text early in my own career. Anyway, here we go: How clients can kill their own commercial photoshoot, and how to help them not to.
First of all, the process of becoming a professional fashion and/or advertising photographer is done in different stages. In the beginning you are transitioning into getting paid at all, most often by private clients. In my experience these clients are often humble and flexible, and they will take your advice. Undertaking a photoshoot is a rare occasion for them, and it is exciting. Shooting for them is a very low pressure situation most of the time. The reason they come to you is because they don’t have a lot of experience, or a big budget.
After getting paid to shoot, you transition into shooting for commercial clients. In stead of shooting “portraits”, (the people in front of you) you slowly re-calibrate your way of seeing into shooting products and making that look good (in those cases an advertising shoot is not done in a group or single portrait style). You need to connect with model agencies, create a team around you with makeup artists, stylists, et cetera. In the beginning of this stage, you will meet a variety of different clients with varying degrees of experience and expectations. Odds are, the more established, accomplished and experienced you are yourself, the more professional and experienced your clients will be as well. They can afford you, and they understand the difference. At this latter stage, you will also turn down clients from time to time.
Before you arrive at the last stage, where you are confident enough and willing to turn down commercial work from clients, unless certain terms are met, there is a period where you are vulnerable to setting both yourself and your client up for disaster.
It usually starts with the negotiations with an inexperienced commercial client before the shoot. The goal for the client seems to be to put as many looks/changes/products into the production time as possible. Perhaps a price has already has been agreed upon, and then the client starts to inflate the scope in various ways thereafter. It is not an uncommon strategy for an inexperienced client to downplay the expectations of a shoot before the price is set, and then shift gear and start inflating, moving the boundaries gradually thereafter. An inexperienced photographer will often cave in, scared to make the client unhappy.
The inexperienced client can also engage in another negotiating strategy, namely avoiding clarity on deliverables to push the photographer on extra service: “Ah, I thought editing was included in the price”. Again, an inexperienced photographer will allow this to happen, so it is not entirely the clients fault. It just destroys the good relationship you are trying to build with your client.
Sometimes the inexperienced client will openly want to put too much work into the time available from the beginning. They know the price they want to pay, and they know how much they want to shoot, even before talking to the photographer. If the client can get the photographer shoot 30 garments in a day on location in stead of 15, for the same price, the client thinks this is a “win”. The client will even offer production advice and solutions to the photographer, as to how the work load can be met in the very limited time. Perhaps it even sounds doable from a purely theoretical standpoint. The inexperienced photographer will perhaps even get convinced by the client and agree to the terms, or simply cave in in fear of losing the client. In such cases, it is the photographers responsibility to protect the client from him or her self. But it can be very difficult, and take more guts than you have.
The difference between an inexperienced client, and an experienced client, is that the former does not understand the difference between negotiating and buying iPads and a campaign photoshoot. The inexperienced client thinks: “I just negotiated 30 iPads in stead of 15 iPads for the same price”. Believing that a photoshoot is a standardized object, that the product quality will remain static, it’s just a question of getting the price down. Both inexperienced and experienced photographers knows that the quality of the images will be vastly affected by the time and resource restrictions that is being put on a given production. If a client wants to shoot 30 looks on location, in a day, he or she might think that they will get campaign quality images, but the truth is it will be more like a catalogue shoot. In some cases the clients will even fly to a different country with their garments, hire a professional photographer that can give them something amazing, but then sabotage it because they insist on shooting their whole clothing line in a day, for example, or to save a thousand dollars. The production becomes too greedy, and get’s killed.
The fact is that the extra special quality that a professional photographer can deliver, is extremely vulnerable, and the first thing that goes down the toilet when you don’t allow for sufficient time and resources to be put into the production. The inexperienced client is actually better off buying a camera and shooting themselves at home. What is the point?
The experienced client knows this, and will engage in a dialogue with a professional photographer and listen to what is being said, what is needed, and how the client can achieve the kind of images he or she wants, or how the photographer can deliver the type of images the client has seen on the photographers portfolio. The experienced client knows that the photographer is mainly concerned with creating something amazing and beautiful to be proud of. Not screwing the client over by over charging.
If an inexperienced photographer encounters an inexperienced client, that perhaps comes from a haggling culture as well, the stage is truly set for a shitty production that will make both the client and photographer unhappy. The client will not remember how little was paid, only the bad quality of the photos in the end (The iPads does not work!). The photographer get’s underpaid for something not even suitable for Instagram.
It is not fair to criticize clients for being inexperienced. It is not their job to know the difference between buying a iPad and buying a campaign photoshoot. It is difficult to understand everything that goes in to making images that looks like the ones on billboards and magazines. Unfortunately they will always find photographers that will agree to unrealistic terms, because these are not confident enough to educate and override the client, or turn them down. Some photographers will accept anything because they don’t get enough work, and need the business.
In short, an experienced client is able to balance their own financial pressures with their quality needs, and they understand the difference between buying a campaign shoot and a shipment of iPads. Less is more. Handle the photographer with care, or you risk forcing him to lie to you. Or maybe you are just fooling yourself.
An experienced photographer is confident enough to guide and educate an inexperienced client so that he or she may have realistic expectations, and if this is not possible, have the guts to turn them down. Accepting all kinds of work will only take you so far. To go beyond that, you need to be ready to turn down work, even if you could use the money. At least, this is what I think. Have a great day!
So it has been a while since I have had time to update the blog. The reason is simply that I have been very busy, in a good way. I have done a few campaign shoots, and directed and produced a video commercial in Dubai, to be shown in cinemas, TV, and on social media. I flew models and my camera man over to Dubai, where the partnering production house was waiting. I also rented a V8 Camaro (sports-car) for the shoot, and racked up almost 2000 USD in speeding tickets, which my gracious client luckily offered to pay for me. So I made some money as well. I will make a separate post on my Dubai adventure after the video has been launched, and I will post it here. As for this post, last time I said I would write about either A: professional fashion models versus amateurs and wannabes, or B: How a client can sabotage their own shoot. Let me write about fashion models this time.
Before I came in contact with professional fashion models, I actually never understood that it’s a profession to be respected. If you don’t respect the fashion modeling profession, you simply haven’t worked with real models yet.
It is necessary to make a distinction, I feel, because there are a lot of wannabes that make the distinction less than clear. Being a “model” is sort of sign of status and validation. Proof that you “look good” and should be invited to the party. Perhaps this text of mine can make the situation a bit clearer, and even help some people who think they could or should work as models, and perhaps dissuade those who would otherwise waste their time.
First of all, don’t tell people you are a model unless your actually work as one. It just sounds silly. In stead, have a look at this video to have an idea what it is about.
Being able to become a professional fashion model is partly about how you naturally look, and your your ability to pose in front of the camera. There are many ways of posing, big, small, natural, lifestyle acting, et cetera. Your looks will give you a realistic shot at modeling, meaning, you need to have the right proportions and a cut face/physique, and preferably also something unusual about your look, that makes you less “pretty” and more “interesting” looking. If you have these characteristics, then go ahead, start building your portfolio, and practice your posing. If you don’t these necessary characteristics, and you still insist on working within fashion, focus on getting paid doing something else.
The truth is that if you have the natural look for it, and you really want to try to become a fashion model, people are very eager to help and teach you, quite simply because fashion models are in demand all over the world. There are many agencies that does not demand much to try to break in a model, other than having the necessary characteristics I mentioned above. Quite simply, because it costs them very little to do so. What this means for a wannabe model is that it will take months, not years, before you will work commercially at an entry level. I am not talking the new Chanel campaign here, but rather, a client (not photographer) paying you to sell a product (not your skin) with your modeling. The first good sign of you having a chance, is an agency willing to invest time in you, by sending you to a photographer to do “test shots”, that later will be part of your “comp card” (composition card) that shows a selection of your photos, and your measurements.
(Here are a couple of comp cards)
When I am looking for models for a shoot, more often than holding a casting right away, I would send out a message to the bookers I use from different agencies, and ask them to send me comp cards of models who are in town. From these I will do a pre-selection of who I invite to do a casting. It can be one, or twenty models.
Time is money, and models run around on castings all the time, several a day, many times, and most of the time, they don’t get the job. I try to keep my castings very short, no longer than an hour, and since I live downtown Bangkok, I often hold the castings at the rooftop swimming pool of my building. Easy for me, easy for the models. I sit there, in my shorts, taking notes, accepting printed comp cards, and check out their posing ability, personality, and physique. It’s not very glamorous at all.
One by one they step up, and I ask them to do a series of poses. If it is anything less than like hitting a switch, and the model immediately strikes several useable poses effortlessly, it’s a pass. I can’t use him or her on a commercial shoot if the model can’t pose properly. A fashion shoot is not like a private portrait session, where the photographer is trying to “capture the moment”. A fashion shoot is a high pressure situation where money has been invested, and everybody has to be able to do their job. There is no time for a model to miss poses. Rather, it is a question of selecting the model with the image the client wants for their brand, and then everybody working together. I will guide and structure a model during a shoot to get the images we are tying to achieve, but there is zero tolerance for not hitting the poses. A professional fashion model knows this, and they know what they are doing. Thank God for professional models.
(Here I am shooting the models on the previous comp cards. Professionals in action, nothing more, nothing less)
The flip side of this is of course knowing that pulling off a successful commercial shoot is a team effort. You will not get there unless you have a professional model, hair and makeup artist, stylist, et cetera. As a photographer and a creative director on a shoot, a lot of what I do is making sure no one fucks up, including me. That is how it often feels.
In Bangkok, and the region where I mostly work, a lot of models come from Asia, Russia and Brazil. Modeling is seen as a legitimate way of making a decent living, compared to other options available to them. They take their modeling seriously. Most professional fashion models will not make a lot of money by western standards, even if they are quite good at it.
In Norway, where I am from, it is a bit different. Unless you are able to make it to the top within fashion modeling, you will probably make more money, and have more job security, just pursuing a normal career, or having a normal job. Modeling is therefore something often done on the side. Being a professional model means living off modeling. For a person to choose this as a career is vastly affected by other available opportunities, and thus, where you are from. You pay ten times more for a “professional” fashion model in Norway, than what you pay a 19 year old Russian girl who just came to Bangkok to model, from a former life as a farmer in Siberia. She will have gone through extensive training after surviving selection from her local mother agency in Russia, before being sent around in Asia, mostly staying alone in shabby rooms. She will work very hard, in a competitive business, and will not make much money.
This is the life of most fashion models. When she steps up on the roof of my building for a casting, she comes prepared, hoping to get a booking. She is often used to working 12 hours straight. I want to make the selection I need to do as fast as I can, wasting as little time as possible. For the models sake, and for mine.
There are models with a great attitude, and models with a lousy attitude, but most of the time, I am impressed with their work ethic and professionalism. It will likely be something they do for a while, to see the world, or to save up some money if they can. They need to find something else to do eventually, and the longer they wait, the harder the transition is. For the girls, marriage seems like the preferred way out, but I have also talked to a few that quits modeling in their mid twenties to go back to school.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to drop me a line. Also, if you think you have what it takes to be a model, you can also write me a message. I have bookers who would like to get to know you. But probably you won’t make the cut.
Ben Zander is a Bangkok Photographer and the creative director of Rawproductions Co., Ltd. – based in Thailand. He specializes in fashion and commercial photography in general, portraiture, and various “social change” projects. Ben Zander and his team (Raw Productions Co., Ltd.) are able to take on full production responsibility for both local and international clients looking to shoot in some of Thailand’s many beautiful locations. From pre-production to post-production, from airport arrival to departure, they make it happen. Ben Zander is known for his stunning portraiture and charitable projects to help the environment.
Ben Zander also offers photography workshops where aspiring commercial photographers will learn the following:
The essentials: camera & lenses, light physics, single and multiple speed lights & strobes, light modifiers, lighting techniques, investing in the right equipment, setting up a studio.
Getting started: making and marketing a portfolio, rules of the game with clients, models and make up-artists, post-processing using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, workflow from shooting tethered to client proofing.
Real life exercises: mastering basic portraiture to running a set on location, guided photoshoots with models in a studio, on a beach, on a helipad of a skyscraper and other amazing locations.
Ben Zander 