I was a busy model this last week! I celebrated my 23rd birthday on Monday, then had back to back doctor’s appointments on Tuesday followed by a four hour shoot with the awesome Imag3nation Studios that evening. Early Wednesday morning I drove to Vallejo to work with Mike Narciso, then headed over to Oakland to pick up Keira Grant and got us both to San Jose to shoot with Noel Marrero. I stayed overnight with my dear model friend Katrina White, and met with the wonderful and inspirational model/entrepreneur Dan Thao for lunch before running back to Sunnyvale to shoot with Keira again. Then, of course, I got to drive three hours home. I’m thrilled to finally have a couple days off for computer work before I head to the Lighthouse Studio in the East Bay on Monday. (We do still have some booking slots available if you haven’t signed up yet!)
As amazing as it was to work and spend time with so many phenomenal artists, there was a definite high point to the week. When I showed up to work with Mike Narciso on Wednesday morning he had a gorgeous print waiting for me. This in itself was a wonderful treat - I cherish prints and dream of the day I can cover a home in them rather than just my bedroom. But the kicker came when he informed me that in July this particular image had been on digital display during a private reception for The Exposure Award’s Body Collection at the Louvre!
You read that right folks - I have been shown in the Louvre! Below you can see a quick shot I took of the print Mike gave me - it’s definitely going up in a place of honor.
About the Author
Eleanor is an accomplished traveling nude model and has been pursuing her art since 2010. Her work has been published in a variety of magazines, books, and galleries, including a special event at the Louvre. Through her business Empowered Muses she also helps freelance nude models who are tired of getting all the wrong gigs gain the confidence they need to attract plenty of great clients, and she is fiercely dedicated to helping her clients and the models who follow her create safe, fun, and profitable modeling careers creating art they love. To see more of Eleanor’s work you can visit her website or follow her on Facebook.
Contact the Author
As a model, my job is to make difficult and uncomfortable poses look easy. Sometimes I’m put in uncomfortable clothing or end up with moss glued to my face - that stuff itches! Other times I work in extreme environments, whether that means baking in Death Valley at noon or having my nude body sandblasted on a cold and windy beach. I regularly get to drape myself across sharp rocks, immerse myself in nearly freezing water, or use props – chairs, ladders, and cubes – in ways they were never intended to be used. Because I’m me, I often end up climbing rocks, trees, sheer cliff sides, and whatever manmade monuments look climbable. But with art nude images it’s not enough to simply scale something and assume that makes a good image – I have to consider my location in my environment and adapt to it, molding my body to its surroundings or contrasting them appropriately. Most people enjoy the play of bark or rock versus soft flesh, and the curves and angles of my body complement the curves and angles of nature in a way that I remain constantly aware of. The way I’ve been able to integrate my passion for climbing into my passion for modeling and the artistic nude genre is my pride and joy.
Recently I’ve started getting images back from photographers that, while stunning, tend to frustrate me. Not because either party involved failed somehow, but because I made my situation look too easy. I have images of myself wedged halfway up a cliff face that I went to great difficulty scaling, and I look so relaxed that the casual observer might think I was laying on the ground with the photographer shooting from above me. In reality, those were some of the most difficult poses I’ve ever attempted. I was at constant risk of falling, I had to rest in between each pose, and in some shots the only thing keeping me attached to the cliff face was a combination of a trepidous foothold and strongly clenched butt cheeks grasping the rock behind me. The day after this shoot I found that I had strained my calf muscle so much that I could barely walk. Was it worth it? Absolutely! Do the images show how difficult it was? Not at all.
Luckily, in my experience, many of my fans have picked up on the effort I expend in such photos and appreciate it. One commenter even went so far as chastising the photographer for ‘forcing me’ into the pose in this photo:
(Disclaimer: Please do not chastise photographers for my choices. I retain and exercise autonomy and don’t undertake poses I consider dangerous beyond reason, and I chose and instigated the pose in question.)
Why does all this matter though? Why do I care that people realize the work I put in when the mark of doing it right is to look effortless? And why am I telling you about it? Here’s the deal: as I mulled over the topic this past week I started to realize that I’m not really upset about making my poses look too easy – that’s my job! But they do happen to be a
huge metaphor for my career in general. As a freelance model I don’t have an agency working behind the scenes on marketing and booking. I run all my own social media, curate my multiple portfolios, and am my own PR, booking agent, manager, and customer support. If my business needs something done I do it; spare time is a limited and precious resource that I have to guard lest it slip away. It’s entirely possible that I could delegate certain tasks – hire someone to run my social media, or perhaps take charge of marketing. But I’ve chosen not to for multiple reasons, and that option just isn’t practical for most of us.
And it is us: every freelance model you know of is running their own small business just like me. This is not a ‘job’ – in the eyes of the IRS we qualify as independent contractors, and we are taxed as such. We have no healthcare coverage, no dental plan, no sick leave, no vacation time. We’ve chosen to abandon societal norms in nearly every way possible and follow our callings as artists, but that doesn’t mean our careers are limited to the creation of art. We face the same struggles and joys as any other entrepreneur,
and the same limits. Our time only stretches so far, and there’s always something more we could be doing.
We have gone out on the limb that is starting our own business, and we’ve clung to it until we’ve learned to make it look easy. Often wind comes along and jostles us a bit, but most of the time we’re able to stick through and make it work. Sometimes we fall, and are left bruised on the ground to climb back up or find another path. Sometimes we decide it’s in our best interests to climb down and move on to a different adventure. Sometimes we move on only to find ourselves back at the foot of that tree (or a different one) sometime
later, wanting to climb again. As for me, I plan to enjoy the heights forever, though I might visit the trees less often as I age.
Just remember that however graceful we look, however appealing our lifestyles might seem, and as much as we genuinely love our vocation, we’re still out on a limb. We’re taking great risks to bring our art to the world and our services to photographers, and we’re often stretched pretty tight. Please keep that in mind, and perhaps make a point of letting your favorite freelance model/s know how much you appreciate everything they do
the next time you visit their page.
About the Author
Eleanor is an accomplished traveling nude model and has been pursuing her art since 2010. Her work has been published in a variety of magazines, books, and galleries, including a special event at the Louvre. Through her business Empowered Muses she also helps freelance nude models who are tired of getting all the wrong gigs gain the confidence they need to attract plenty of great clients, and she is fiercely dedicated to helping her clients and the models who follow her create safe, fun, and profitable modeling careers creating art they love. To see more of Eleanor’s work you can visit her website or follow her on Facebook.
Contact the Author
Writing a first blog post is more than a bit intimidating. Whether you chose to view my portfolio first or to begin with a peek into the workings of my mind, my devout hope is that those of you who visit my little corner of the internet – photographers, fans, and models alike – might leave inspired, and perhaps with a better understanding of how I tick. Topics explored here will range from photoshoot experiences, tips for beginning models, updates on my personal life, and musings on the process and politics of my career.
For those unfamiliar with me, I have been pursuing this career for the better part of five years. While I started out with no intention of ever posing nude, the genre called to me with a fury and has been my pride and passion ever since. Nothing else in my life has offered such an abundance of community, growth, and healing. I am a better person for my art, and I continually use it as a form of expression, a spiritual journey, and a catalyst for growth. For what good is art if it has no effect on the artist? How am I to move you without first being moved myself?
When you immerse yourself in my art, in my photographic and written portfolios both, you begin to know me as intimately as any lover. Look and see how I connect with the camera. Pay attention to the strength of my body. Let yourself connect with my eyes, a connection and expression as genuine digitally as it could ever be in person. Explore the idea that each image is a unique moment in time in which I was fully alive, and let it become an impetus to become fully alive yourself.
I create for myself, yes, and for the collaborators whose visions I embody, but my creations are just as much for you. So please, peruse. Explore my many websites and social media accounts, and partake in all I have to offer. Let me move you as my art as moved me, inspire you as it has inspired me, and heal you as it has healed me.
About the Author
Eleanor is an accomplished traveling nude model and has been pursuing her art since 2010. Her work has been published in a variety of magazines, books, and galleries, including a special event at the Louvre. Through her business Empowered Muses she also helps freelance nude models who are tired of getting all the wrong gigs gain the confidence they need to attract plenty of great clients, and she is fiercely dedicated to helping her clients and the models who follow her create safe, fun, and profitable modeling careers creating art they love. To see more of Eleanor’s work you can visit her website or follow her on Facebook.
Contact the Author
