Model for Me

I photograph bodies. Not idealized ones and not corrected ones, but the specific body a person actually lives in, with everything on it that a life leaves behind. The work is nude figure study, shot in black and white in a private studio. Sessions are paid, no experience is needed, and nearly everyone I work with is doing it for the first time.

What to Expect

Sessions run in a private studio on the North Shore, by appointment, booked as a two hour block. Nobody else is there unless you want them there, and you are welcome to bring a spouse, a friend, or an adult child to sit in for the whole thing. If no frames have been taken, you’re paid a $30 minimum ($45 for couples) for your time. If shooting begins, that minimum isn’t an extra payment, it’s the first part of the $125 (couples rate) you’re owed for that hour, so you’ll never be paid less than the minimum for showing up, and never more than the full rate for any hour actually worked.

Current Calls

All sessions are paid at $125 per hour per model ($225 per hour for couples), regardless of series, with a $30 minimum ($45 for couples). Full payment terms below.

Models 80 and older
I am building a series on the aging body. Not aging as loss, but as record. Lines, folds, scars, sun damage, hands that have done fifty years of work. I am photographing a number of people for this, men and women, 80 and over, because the series is about what a long life does to a body in general and no single person can carry that. Poses are seated and reclining, standing is never required, and we break whenever you want to break. No experience needed. $125 per hour, paid the day of the session.

Couples
A series about intimacy and the way two bodies share a space. I am photographing several couples. Partners of any gender pairing, any age over 18, any length of relationship. Body type is open. Tattoos, piercings, unusual hair, and scars are all welcome rather than something to work around.

Women
A figure series, three or four models. All body types and all ages over 18. I am not looking for a particular look, and I am specifically not looking for a fashion or fitness one. What makes an image work is usually the thing a person assumes disqualifies them.

Men
A figure series, three or four models. All body types and all ages over 18. Men are underrepresented in figure work and most have never been asked, so if you have never considered this before, consider it now.

Trans models
A figure series, three or four models, trans and nonbinary. The work here is the same work as the rest of this page. It is not about transition, there is no before-and-after framing, and scars are treated the way every other mark on a body is treated in this series, which is as part of the person rather than the subject. I do not ask about surgical or medical history, on the application or in the studio.

Name
Town is enough
A few sentences. Why this interests you, anything you want me to know. There is no right answer and I am not evaluating your writing. For couples, a line about the two of you.
Have you modeled before?
Either answer is fine.
Optional. Mobility, joints, anything that makes certain positions difficult. This does not disqualify anyone and it helps me plan.
Drag & Drop Files, Choose Files to Upload
Two or three casual full-length snapshots. Phone photos in ordinary clothes are exactly right. Please do not send nudes. I do not need them and I will not keep them.
Rough is fine. Weekday mornings, most weekends, that kind of thing.
(Optional) Most models like being tagged when I post. Add your handle if you would like that, or leave it blank if not.
For my session, I am interested in:
Neither answer affects whether I get in touch, and you can change it at any point up to and including the session itself.
Optional. I answer everything.
What a session is actually like
  1. I send you the model release when we book, so you can read it at home rather than in my studio with the clock running.
  2. The first thing we do is get you into a robe, before conversation or setup, because elastic from waistbands and bras leaves marks that take a while to fade. There is a private place to change.
  3. Then we sit down. You sign the paper copy, I walk you through the studio, and I show you the props I might use. We talk through what you feel able to do and what you would rather avoid. If there is a part of your body you do not want photographed, or a pose your knees will not tolerate, this is when to say so. Nothing gets introduced later that we did not talk about here.
  4. We start with test frames. You take the robe off, I shoot a few setup shots, then I turn the camera around and show you what the light is doing. Most people relax at this point. What they were imagining and what is on the screen are usually not the same thing.
  5. Then you move. I do not arrange people like mannequins. You move at your own pace, I give small direction, occasionally ask you to hold something for a moment, bring in a prop here and there. Long stretches of it are quiet.
  6. At the end you dress, we look at the back of the camera together, and I pay you before you leave.
  7. A week or two later I send you a gallery of selects. You tell me which ones I may use. Nothing goes anywhere until you have said yes.

Do I need experience?
No. Most of the people I photograph have never modeled before. Nothing about this requires you to be flexible, thin, young, or practiced.

Can I bring someone?
Yes. A spouse, a friend, an adult child. They can sit in for the entire session. Nobody else is ever in the room unless you want them there.

Can I stop, or take a break?
Any time, for any reason. The robe is there whenever you want it and you do not have to explain. Payment follows the same rule either way, see What to Expect above.

What is the studio like?
Small, private, kept warm. One light and a lot of shadow. Music is on unless you would rather it were not.

Will my face be in it?
Only if you want it to be. Plenty of the work is anonymous, and you can decide either way after seeing the images rather than before.

Do you retouch?
No. I do not smooth skin or reshape bodies. Wrinkles, scars, stretch marks, cellulite, body hair, and everything else stay where they are. They are the reason I am photographing you.

Does it have to become sexual?
No. It is never planned, never asked for, and never suggested by me. A session that stays entirely within classical figure work is the ordinary case, not a lesser one, and you are paid the same. If you want that settled in advance, say so when you book and it is settled.

What if I change my mind halfway through?
We stop. Payment follows the standard rule above. Nothing I shot gets used either way.

What if I change my mind next year?
Tell me and I stop using the image going forward. What’s already out in the world, a sold print, a printed catalogue, can’t be undone, which is why I’d rather you take your time deciding than be agreeable now.

Is there anything I should do beforehand?
Skip tight waistbands, socks, and a bra for a few hours before you come if you can. Elastic leaves marks that take a while to fade. If you cannot, it does not matter much, since the robe at the start is there for exactly that reason.

What do I get?
Payment following the structure described in What to Expect, paid before you leave. Digital copies of the images you approve, for your own use.

  • The release. I send it when we book so you can read it at home. It is written in plain language, you sign a paper copy on arrival, and you keep one. If anything in it is unclear, ask before you come.
  • Approval. After the session I send you a gallery of selects, usually within two weeks. You tell me which ones I may use. You can veto anything, for any reason, and you do not have to explain why. Nothing is published, printed, submitted, or posted until you have said yes to that specific image.
  • Where images appear. Approved images may be shown in exhibitions, in my portfolio, in submissions to galleries and juried shows, and on this site. Anything beyond that gets a separate conversation.
  • Your name. Your name is not attached to anything unless you ask for it to be. Most models are uncredited. If you would like a credit, say so.
  • Explicit work. If a session includes explicit material, that is covered by a separate agreement with its own usage terms, signed at the time. Those terms are narrower than the above and nothing is used outside them.
  • Files you did not approve. Everything else stays in my archive, unpublished, and is never shared. If you would rather I delete unapproved frames entirely, ask and I will. 
  • Withdrawal. You can withdraw an approved image at any time, years later included. I stop using it: off the site, out of the portfolio, out of anything I print or submit from that point on, and never licensed. What I cannot do is undo what is already out in the world. A print that has sold belongs to whoever bought it, and a printed catalogue exists. That is why the approval step matters, and why I would rather you take your time with it than be agreeable.
  • Tagging on social media. Most of the models I work with like being tagged when I post, and I am happy to. Give me your handle and I will check with you before the first time I use it. If you would rather not be tagged, that is equally fine and nothing else changes. You can ask me to stop at any point, including after a post is up, and I will remove it.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

For nearly twenty years, Jason Stadtlander has explored the human figure as both model and photographer. His work treats sexuality as a formal subject rather than a provocation, holding the body in a register of restraint, light, and deliberate looking.