Donna, working hard in Thailand

This one's a little spicier and...leatherier?

Bangkok shooting weekend madness continues with Donna, the only model I worked with on this trip who isn’t from Thailand. She’s from the Philippines but relocated to Bangkok recently for more modeling opportunities (among other reasons).

I’m doing all of these writeups in very quick succession (because I’m afraid I’ll forget all the details if I wait too long) and finding it difficult to make them all unique and interesting because, well, I shot five models in five days in the same room, so there wasn’t a whole heck of a lot of variety in the experiences. I can tell you the two things that I’ll remember most about Donna, though. Maybe three things, yes – I’ll add in a bonus thing.

First of all, she prioritized the shoot and was hyper-respectful of our time agreement. Just to unpack that a little – I almost always book 2-hour shoots when I work with professional models. Mostly because they’re expensive and I can’t afford more than that, but also because when you work with a professional, you get shit done quick. If I don’t get what I need in two hours, that’s on me.

It’s fascinating, though, to see how each model understands those two hours. Some arrive well ahead of the scheduled start time so that they can be made-up and ready at the contracted start time, while others arrive at the start time and use the first 10-15 minutes to get themselves ready, eating into our shooting time. I don’t currently specify my expectation, so I get a variety of outcomes. Donna arrived at our start time, but she didn’t count any of our initial conversation (including her lingerie show-and-tell, a typical feature of these shoots) or her preparation time. When she came out of the bathroom ready to go, that’s when she started our two hours. I thought that was very conscientious and professional of her. She also wanted no part of signing the model release or collecting her payment at the beginning, even though that’s usually when I sort those things out (even if only because the contract says that’s what I’ll do). She held up her end of the bargain as well as any model could.

Secondly, she focused on her social media needs more than any model I’ve yet worked with during the shoot. I mean this in a good way, because it reminded me that I need to be doing way more on that side of things to grow my audience and show people what I’m doing here. She had a little tripod for her phone, and she filmed several time-lapse videos of our shoot. At the end, she flipped through the images on the LCD of both of my cameras and snapped some quick shots of her favorites with her phone. This is probably the sort of thing I would have rolled my eyes at in another context, but most of the models I work with are active on Instagram, and some have rather large followings. So if you’re used to seeing quick little snaps of the models I’m currently working with on IG, you can probably thank Donna for reminding me not to neglect self-promotion. (If you’re looking for her, sadly she’s taking a bit of a break from social media for the moment, so I can’t link to her IG.)

And the bonus thing – she had the idea of the scarf-toss on the balcony. It seemed a little bit cliché when she pitched it to me, but I was probably just anxious because it’s a different kind of photo that I hadn’t planned for. (A peek into my brain: “Oh no, what shutter speed do I need to freeze the scarf? Should I switch to Sv? Do I need to increase the ISO? Should I use a burst mode? The faster one or the slower one?”) She was right, it looked great, and I’m totally stealing that idea for future shoots.

The shoot was as good as you’d imagine with such a dedicated professional. We grabbed some shots on the bed with her in and out of some green lingerie, by the balcony doors in black, out on the balcony with the sheer red wrap (Donna labeled one of these as the “money shot”), and in the living room under the spotlight. (Her leather-clad poses are looking a little BDSM under that spotlight, aren’t they?) She also insisted that she wear a skimpy crocheted bikini that a friend of hers made, so that she can help to promote her work. Creatives helping other creatives.

So that’s Donna, my not-Thai model of the weekend. More to come from old Siam, so stay subscribed and don’t miss out!