Cat 014

Each photo shoot with a new model calls for some time investment from both sides, sometimes more investment than the model expects. I need to know if the model wears glasses or contact lenses and if so, it's necessary to know her prescription. Equally essential is knowing the model's PD and this goes for all models, including models who are blessed with 20 / 20 vision. Freelance models give lots of information about their dress size, shoe size, cup size and so on. Glasses are still regarded a taboo by 99% of the photographers working with freelance models. I suppose that this has to do with the still wide spread prejudice that prescription glasses are contrary to the creation of perfection, whatever perfection is. The first order given to a model arriving in prescription glasses is to take her glasses off. Photographers active on Model Mayhem occasionally exchange information about how they deal with glasses. Surprisingly, all these technically often excellent photographers agree that the glare in the lenses is a major problem and that's why they prefer to have the model posing in empty frames.

In my belief, this is a misconception. Even with a simple (free) editing tool like Picasa, it's not really difficult to reduce - or even eliminate - the glare in the lenses. I started editing my photos after doing a photo shoot with star model Sohaila in Dublin to do justice to her highly professional, authoritative style of posing. After three years it's safe to say that I manage to remove most of the glare even when the lenses in the glasses have no anti-reflective coating. The same goes for myodisc glasses with their extreme concavity. Nowadays I make a deliberate choice in the degree of glare removal. After all, my project is not only about frames. The influence of prescription lenses is equally important. Besides, the glare can sometimes even enhance the liveliness of a portrait. A good example will be shown in a series taken during the second half of the photo shoot with Cat.

But let's return to the time investment needed for model and photographer to achieve a good photo shoot in prescription glasses. It is my experience that the more a model is willing to invest some of her precious time to provide the necessary information, the more she is motivated to participate in my unusual project. It is my habit to send several pages with information, instructions, requests and questions to each new model. One of the questions is if the model has any preference regarding frame styles. Cat was quite outspoken in her answer, informing me that she loves cat eye glasses. Nomen est omen.... With this preference and also her mild prescription and PD in mind, it made sense to bring Claudia's Givenchy glasses to Paris. I was not surprised that the Givenchy pair was among the very first glasses picked out of the box by Cat.