R Scott Photography's photostream  

Self Portrait




I am offering free model tests to help you start your career as a model.

Whether you are working with a modeling agency or working freelance you will need photos - photos for your composite, portfolio, and web presence. With a modeling agency, they may try to help you find test shoots. Working independently, you will have to track down your own test shoots.

Test shoots or testing has become a generic term for photographic shoots where a model acquires photographs to use for the model's promotional materials.

You have two basic goals when doing test shoots. One is to get good quality photos. The second is to get experience in front of the camera and learn how to find your way around a studio.

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I picked up my first DSLR in October of 2008 and have been busy enjoying photography ever since. Before that I had a point and shoot but I rarely pointed it and shot it even less. I could have nick named it "Dusty".

I bought a Rebel XSi because I had discovered HDR wallpaper and was amazed by it. The guy at the camera store put a Rebel in my hands because it could bracket and the Nikon with the closest price couldn't. So I went Canon for that reason alone. I'm not a Canon snob. I'd like to try Nikon but now that I have more lenses I'm sort of locked into the family.



One good thing about my tabletop work is it really forces you to learn and understand lighting. I don't take set up shots or keep notes because this forces me to rethink each shot instead of memorizing set ups all the time. It is also great for coming up with new ideas and approaches.



On my blog you can purchase my work in larger versions without watermarks:

randiscottphotography.blogspot.com/

Look for the link in the top part of the column on the right.

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I figure it's time I updated my profile so here it is:

This is my life (so far) in a nutshell.

My mother died when I was 10 years old. After that I was more or less on my own and had to raise myself. I finished school early and joined a road band. As an extreme autodidact I taught myself to play drums as I have taught myself all my other life skills. I toured Canada and some of the USA professionally until I turned 24. This is where I learned that less is more (by living out of a suitcase).

I got tired of seeing the same cities over and over so I bought a bike, flysheet and a bedroll. I visited every city in Canada almost over the next 5 years and lots of the USA. I've lived under bridges, in ghost towns, in trees, under trees :-), on beaches and even dug out snowbanks. I always had a YMCA card so I could SSS (Sh*t, shower and shave) in style. I'm a master camper and a retired mountain man – too old for all that now.

I had saved enough to buy a house by my 30th birthday so I did and I moved indoors.

I tried living like everybody else but it Sucks :-) (Sorry everybody else). I still managed to do enough things right that I could retire at age 47. I ain't rich but I is happy :-) That's what counts – right?

What else have I done in my life?

I am or was

a) a Toastmaster
b) a Martial artist
c) a Musician
d) a Registered Nutritional Consultant (RNC)
e) an Iridologist
f) an Herbalist
g) a Public Speaker
h) a Mountain Man
i) a Tour Bus Operator
j) a Business Owner
k) a Landlord
l) a Rosicrucian
m) a Kayak/Canoeist
n) a Motorcyclist
o) a Philanthropist
p) a Taxi Driver
q) and now I'm trying to be a Photographer

I should mention that in spite of my unusual and nomadic past I am quite housebroken.

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Sorry if I don't respond to comments and posts like I used to but here's why…

I used to be a Flickr addict spending way way WAY too much time socially interacting to the point it became a burden rather than a pleasure. Nowadays I post and run rarely looking at the post or comments of my contacts. I enjoy my newly freed up time and don't want to go back to sitting in front of the computer as much. I can do that later when my legs or health goes on me and I can't get out as much. Right now I'm out shooting as it should be.

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My Toys that I play with:

5D Mark II, Canon 17-40L, Canon 24-105L, Canon 70 - 300 lens, Canon 50mm 1.8, Canon Macro 100mm, four Alien Bee 400s, 430EX II, (2) 580EX II, a bunch of Chinese modifiers, Manfrotto tripod.

UPDATE:

I just blew my savings on a 5D Mk II on May 18th, 2010.

OUCH!!!

Large $$$, at least for me.

Being a Canadian we get stung for anything we buy electronic so I bought this beast from B&H in New York. UPS delivered it (EXPEDITED), and it took 9 DAYS. 9 DAYS EXPEDiTED!!! Yeah, that's real expedited. I ended up saving about $460 off the Henry's price.

Now I just have to learn how to use it. It's one heck of a change from my Rebel - that's for sure.

Would I do it again? I think so… even if it means eating KD for a year or two to get some bucks back into the bank account.

Damn photography is expensive!

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A lot of people are curious about my name and the name Brantford Selections.

Brantford Selections appears as a watermark on some of my photos. People would naturally assume it is a photo studio of some sort that maybe featured photos taken in and around the community. Well there are photos like that, but that's not it.

Brantford Selections is a self help financial outreach program that I set up as a business after I retired at age 47. It's pretty hard to make ends meet when you're bumped out of the work force that early. It is a way I developed to help myself that I pass on to others if they truly want to help themselves. It's a coupon book. The Selections part of the name means I select which businesses go in the book. It can be very exclusive. Brantford of course is the name of the city I live in.

Brantford Selections is a real "Grass Roots" concept that really is good for the community. Businesses advertise for free (in exchange of a better coupon), we serve as an excellent fundraising instrument, and we teach under employed people how to set up a business, manage books and money and work for themselves.

Here's the link:

www.brantfordselections.com/Selections/Welcome.html