If you’ve been following along, this Anatomy of a Jay Kilgore shoot should leave you up to the models “Highest level of comfort” as I call it. In all my shoots, unless I have a very long working history AND am very comfortable with the client, I don’t jump right into lingerie and up. Why? After 10 years of doing this, I’m still if not more nervous of the shoot than the client. I put a lot of pressure on myself (that and I suffer from test anxiety) and until that first frame is fired, I am super nervous.

When I’m talking to clients-potential clients, one of the things that is always brought up is the fact that either I shoot only “sexy” images or “You only shoot nudes” Long ago, this used to bother me because I don’t shoot only nudes. In fact, the number of topless vs the number of full nude shoots are at a huge contrast. I shoot FAR more topless than full nude! Anyway, one of the things I point out is plain and simple numbers; If I post a photo onFacebook that is fully clothed, I’ll get maybe 3-5 comments.

Majority of my shoots are about two hours (depending on how much talking, three) long. Before every shoot I take a few minutes, about 10, to sit down and get to know the client. Get to know who she is, what goals she has regarding modeling and how I can best help her. This is my time to “study” her, find out what makes her tick, what turns her off, her little facial idiosyncrasies-things that are important for the shoot itself;