The Airbrush problem...

[Kayteuk]

So as most of you on here know, I work as a model to pay for medical school.

I was at a fashion magazine shoot today where there were digital artists (..they were cute!) for re touching, to kinda show us what the finished product will look like, I have never had them on a set before so I was a bit nervous, and I have never seen them working on it at the same shoot with me!
I was shooting with 5 girls all of lower experience to me and I was helping out with poses and stuff, and we were getting along great and they were really impressed at some of the stuff I taught them.

Anyway the shoot went on and on and it got to the airbrushing stage, to show us a sample of what we would look like. And the artists were taking a LOT off some of the girls, touching up skin etc, to be honest they were going pretty drastic with one girl.....

And it came to my shots and all they did was change stuff in the background and two of the girls went off crying because they thought I was a favourite... And I was so hurt and didn't know whether I should just of said "Airbrush something off me" or should I of been proud of what I work really hard to achieve day in day out with exercise and studying skin care regimes!? I just didn't know what to say or do...And I could see why they were upset but I was just frozen.


So I left the shoot and the girls were outside, I never have felt so awful in my entire life! I just walked past because I was nearly in tears also. And as I was getting in my car I heard them call me "The agents favourite". I am just so annoyed.

And then I came home to find my mum watching "Alesha: Look but don't touch" a documentary on airbrushing on the BBC. And it made me feel worse! I cant believe sometimes how synthetic beauty is in some cases, and I realised how bad it was getting.

I really just wish sometimes they didn't airbrush anyone, and just kept people natural. And I realised today its not just for the little girls watching, I know those models I worked with are really upset with seeing how they "Should have to look" after the airbrushing. And I thought they were fine before! And so did a lot of other people. Now they may go trying stupid things in quest of the "Airbrushed" look. When its basically, I think...A game of good chance, the right pose, the right lighting, and you will often not need that much airbrushing.

I just don't know what to do if the situation occurs again? I wrote an email to my agent about the girls apologising if I had in some way offended them... And then my agent said she was not passing it on because she wants to have "A word with all of us..." I just dont get it!

Its just got me thinking....Is airbrushing really worth it for everyone?

When I get the pics back I will show you what I mean....

I hope this was the appropriate forum because for me this is a deep (and scary) thought...

I notice more and more girls on myspace doing it also, and then when you see them in real life they are 2 sizes bigger and I just want to run up and give them a hug and say "BE PROUD of having curves". I would love some bigger curves, but some girls in particular on my space seem to spend all their time airbrushing them out.... Which upsets me

However on the other side...
I know in one case, a friend of mine won a competition to be on the cover of something or other in the UK, and shes pretty and curvy, but her boyfriend had airbrushed her. When she turned up to the shoot she got turfed out because she had lied with the pics she had submitted. And they didn't want to pay for airbrushing...As much as shes my friend it was nice to see they were letting some natural beauty shine through! But also I was a bit mad because shes a pretty girl with a few curves in the best places and she was refused, because shes "To hard to airbrush". I think they must have a lot of girls submitting airbrushed pics to competitions... They seemed to make their guess and turf her out to quick.

To airbrush or not to airbrush? I hope that made some sort of sense to someone out there! As I am in a bit of a ditsy mood after this, so didn't slate me for spelling, grammar, or lunacy...Or ranting! Lol!


Bahh I'm going to go drown in chicken noodle soup........And a KFC....

I will probably add more in later as I think of it...

 

[florabundance]

i think it's really a cruel pyschological way of breeding insecurity, even if that isn't the object of it.
there is no definition of perfect, but someone actively altering your physique is like saying "look what you are...and look what you could be".
i think it's a disgusting thing, truly. and it disappoints me that this is what fashion and modelling is now all about.
fuck the "right" look, imo. just create amazing, well made pieces of clothing and leave perfection up to the conscience of the individual.

 

[Kayteuk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by florabundance "look what you are...and look what you could be".

I think that's exactly what I was trying to say...Your so much better with words than me!

Yeah I am so worried about how those girls are going achieve the looks they "Could" have... Modeling is so stupid sometimes...

 

[florabundance]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kayteuk Modeling is so stupid sometimes...

It is but it shouldn't be. I always think about artists like Vermeer who painted the most beautiful pictures of really quite plain women....i think more designers, fashion photographers should think that way!! It is their job to become vermeer and be able to find the beauty in any girl, right?

I think that's what modelling should be about

kayte i think we have to start a revolution haha

 

[Kayteuk]

Lol! I think the revolution will start with airbrushing soon anyway, its been in the media a lot recently.

 

[chocolategoddes]

I agree with florabundance.
I'm sure when a professional photo retoucher is doing his job, he isn't thinking to himself, "MUAHAHAHA! I get to fuck with women's self-esteem!!!" but that usually is what ends up happening. It's sad but I'm not 100% bothered by it.

I'd rather look at a really beautiful, flawless face than a face with zits, dark undereye circles, and a lazy eye. Sure, seeing the "ugly" face will make me feel better about myself, but it's just human nature to be attracted to pretty things.

Would you rather have a view outside your window of a beautiful lake and a sunset or a dark alley with a dumpster and an old, naked bum taking a shit on a dead cat?

The whole concept is very complex. I really don't know how to feel about this "Airbrush problem"...

 

[kimmy]

kayte, what you just experienced is rampant in the modelling industry. you've got to have pretty thick skin to make it.

i used to do hair and makeup for several photographers and for a while that was the career path i wanted to follow. that was until i started seeing what you've just seen more and more.

it's awful to watch someone's percieved self worth dwindle down to nothing. i honestly could not do it. i watched photographers and digital retouchers destroy women and i just could not be a part of that at all.

i think the best thing you can do is just be there for those girls. try to guide them, and help boost their confidence by letting them see that they are beautiful with or without retouching because real beauty comes from within anyway. you can't airbrush that kind of beauty.

 

[Kayteuk]

I know what you mean Kimmy, after seeing that I almost felt like packing it all in...

In some ways make up and hair do such an amazing job, with airbrushing on top it almost destroys it!

And

chocolategoddes​

yes it does help to Market, but I cant help but wonder, how far to the extreme are we going now?

 

[NutMeg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chocolategoddes I'd rather look at a really beautiful, flawless face than a face with zits, dark undereye circles, and a lazy eye. Sure, seeing the "ugly" face will make me feel better about myself, but it's just human nature to be attracted to pretty things.

But those are two extremes. I find a face with character more beautiful. And often when retouching edits out the "flaws" they edit out the character and unique beauty of that face. I'm not saying that a flawless face isn't beautiful, but I think a certain number of flaws is more beautiful. Perfection just isn't as interesting, and it's completely an unrealistic view of human beauty.

 

[abbyquack]

Interestingly enough, there's this big debacle on Fox News about Newsweek's cover of Sarah Palin, how they didn't retouch her face and it's a really close up shot as well that reveals her imperfections. lol. You can see the video HERE. Anyways, they're objecting because they think she should've been photographed to give the woman some dignity or something. The truth is, people want to look at flawless faces, because looks matter a LOT in this world, otherwise why would women constantly be dieting, getting boob jobs, tanning, etc? Which is why, as you surely know, it's very important for models to have good skin and the like, because why pick a girl that you'll need to photoshop a TON on when you can have the girl who's already got the flawless skin, no photoshopping needed? I have seen one of your vids, and you are a beautiful girl, there's no reason to be sorry for it. Just because you've got nicer skin or whatever, that's nothing you should change! There are some people who don't even need to wash their face, and they would always have flawless skin, then there are "normal" people who realistically have to work at it everyday and even then it's still a big mess. lol. But never apologize for your looks as they were given to you naturally, and if those other girls feel bad, they're gonna have to get over it if they want to be in modeling, because it's not a place for crybabies.

 

[user79]

I think it's weird that they had a retoucher at the shoot? What exactly was the point of that. I think the agency or whoever was in charge of the shoot were being completely insensitive. There is no need for the retoucher to be there for the model to see what he's doing with the pics. ALL pictures in magazines and stuff are retouched. But it's not necessary for the guy to do it in front of her. They could have just done the shoot, sent them to the retoucher at his office, then showed the models their finished pics.

That being said, I think those girls were being completely immature about the situation. They seem really naive, and if that's how they behave, they probably should not be in the modeling industry at all, if they can't handle retouching or criticism.

 

[Zoffe]

I think it's sad how much and often airbrushing is used.
I don't really care if they airbrush skin (you could get nearly perfect skin with makeup anyway - it just depends on the skills of your makeup artist) but it makes me sad when they "delete" the curves on beautiful bodies and make people look unnaturally skinny!
It's sad that people focus so much on weight and I wish society would embrace all body types including skinny AND curvy.

 

[Beauty Mark]

I don't think you should feel bad for looking how you do. It's just how things are.

The problem is with the airbrushing is most people don't want to look at pimples, dark shadows, asymmetry, etc. How many gossip magazines devote themselves to picking apart famous people? It's very sad, but it's unfortunately right now how things work.

What I find particularly weird is when people's skin doesn't even look like skin. I don't know how to put it, but they look really robotic, not like people. To me, that's taking it to a weird extreme.

 

[S.S.BlackOrchid]

They often take it overboard. There's a difference between removing a pimple and taking away all the texture from the skin. I hate it when skin looks cell shaded and waxy in pictures.

 

[lara]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MissChievous I think it's weird that they had a retoucher at the shoot? What exactly was the point of that. I think the agency or whoever was in charge of the shoot were being completely insensitive. There is no need for the retoucher to be there for the model to see what he's doing with the pics. ALL pictures in magazines and stuff are retouched. But it's not necessary for the guy to do it in front of her. They could have just done the shoot, sent them to the retoucher at his office, then showed the models their finished pics.

I've worked on and off as a retoucher for years and I've never heard of having a live retoucher at a shoot. It's not exactly a job built for speed; even a quick hack at a picture doing basic touch-ups (brightening eyes, removing stray hairs, whitening teeth) is around 45 minutes.

I'm not doubting your story, Kayteuk, but it's just a really odd thing to hear about.

New models are prone to cattiness and making calls about playing favourites. it's one of the reasons why I loathe working with new models (in the capacity of a make-up artist) because they're the ones being hypercritical or taking their insecurities out on the creative team and other models.
Models who have broken through the self-esteem barrier and are old hands at modelling are a pleasure, but catty new girls are a complete nightmare. All they can do is be burnt out quickly or take strength and gain some perspective.

 

[Kayteuk]

My agent decided to bring in the people as these were going to be in some of our portfolios, and some girls want certain bits removed etc. From the images that were not going to be in the magazine, we could use in our ports. Its a really pooey UK low class magazine, but money is money and I have flights to pay for.
The guy wasn't that good, I got my images today and the photo quality looks like a 5 year old took it.

I dunno I think this is going to be an age old debate really. I'm happy for mods to close it as most people have answered my questions and expressed my thoughts better than me. And I am currently battling a bit of a low mood at the moment with modeling so I don't really want to see this for a while or be reminded. I think I need to chill with my bf for a bit. Lol...

I left the agency today. I am just a bit dubious about a few of the girls in there right now.

 

[user79]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kayteuk I'm happy for mods to close it as most people have answered my questions and expressed my thoughts better than me. And I am currently battling a bit of a low mood at the moment with modeling so I don't really want to see this for a while or be reminded. I think I need to chill with my bf for a bit. Lol...

We're not just going to close a thread because you don't want to read it anymore. If you need a break, just check out other forums and other threads.

People are still free to contribute their thoughts.

 

[Kayteuk]

Im just constantly in tears this week with modeling...Thanks MissChievous, Ill try to check out other places too.

 

[M.A.C. head.]

I'm sorry, but those other models need to grow the hell up. If they're so concerned that you're getting an upper hand, they should step their game up.

You shouldn't have to feel bad or have them tweak the great work that you [naturally] did just to boost their self-esteem.

As for airbrushing, it's just the way of the world *shrugs*