Vee Hua 華婷婷With more than 100 people in attendance, the OhioScene Goth Girl Group Shoot was a success. It was held June 11 from 1 to 10 p.m. at the Acme Art Company in Columbus. Models and photographers from around Ohio, especially those in the Columbus area, gathered to take pictures and have pictures taken of them by multiple talents with various backgrounds. Lady Atropos, model, photographer, and event coordinator of OhioScene, was able to tell me a little bit about the event and what it entailed. (By Melissa Melissa Kowalczyk)
Can you describe to me exactly what a group shoot is?
There are many kinds of group shoots of all different sizes, and themes. The one thing shared among all group shoots is this … lots of photos with little travel effort. Typically, at a group shoot, a lot of photographers and models from all over gather in one location and take photos. Photographers and models rotate through different sets and looks through the whole event. The end result for a model is that he or she walks away with photos from several different photographers and with a few different looks. The photographer walks away with several new models added to his or her portfolio. A few photographers and models showed up only to talk to people and hand out business cards, which was just as good!
How many people attended?
We have 80 people signed in, but there were more than 100 in attendance. Many people didn’t sign in or came in couples.
How many were models, photographers, and miscellaneous beings?
That’s kind of in the air. I would say the models made up 60% of the attendees; photographers 35%; and 5% were just other bodies pulling security and stuff.
What was provided to the models, and what did they have to bring with them?
Everyone had to bring their own gear, makeup, etc. The only thing provided were drinks, which were important. That day it was freakishly hot (record-breaking actually), and we had high humidity! People constantly needed drinks to prevent themselves from passing out or getting weak!
What were some highlights and some features of the shoot?
Finally getting to meet with people I’ve seen online and talked to online was great!
Did the shoot lead to other things?
The group shoot did what it was meant to do. Tt got people talking and the gears moving. People finally met, shot, and made plans for more shooting. Ohio has a massive pool of talent, which is largely unexploited. Now, I hear all the time about group shoots and new projects, when before, I could not find any modeling events or activity going on.
I saw something on the website about a gallery with the theme of the shoot. What became of that?
The gallery show was arranged to help give models and photographers additional credit for their portfolios. Many photographers and models had never been in a gallery, so it was a nice way to get them started. The gallery show was at Acme Art Company, the place where the group shoot took place. The show was completely open to any submissions from the group shoot. Participants just had to get the photo framed and to Acme on their own accord, but anyone who was at the group shoot could submit photos as long as the photographs were from the group shoot. The photographs were scanned for quality, and some people were rejected. The show was from July 16 to Aug. 6 and featured about 10 to 15 different models and around 6 photographers, with about 20 photographs in the gallery total.
Are there any plans for another group shoot?
There are many other group shoots being held. I want to host another group shoot next year. I learned a lot from this one, and plan on making the OhioScene Goth Girl Group Shoot part 2 even better. It’s a LOT of hard work, but it really was worth it.
Navi Esparza