Modeling in Japan
Konbanwa!
So, back in June I had a photo shoot that was set up by my agency Acqua Models. Profile is super easy to set up. They mail you with potential gigs and then you tell them if you can support with your schedule. Easy as that.
It was a great time and I would love to do some more. All in all it was about 8 hours of work.
Had the full gamut of folks prepping the shoot. Make up guy, two dressers, a guy doing food, and then there was the cadre of 20 plus folks working the set, etc. I just sat around and waited till they were ready for me and then came out for the 30 mins of shooting.
There were 3 sets of photos that they were looking for. One with some goats, yes, goats. They got up on the bench and thought one was going to take a bite out of my arm. Then there was the snow monkey the size of an 8 year old. He was ok as long as he thought I wasn't trying to look at him. At one point he got super pissed and started yelling at me. Then he grabbed the Starbucks sitting next to me and they were able to get the shot. Money. Then the last shot was a night shot.
So the premise of the shoot was for these mints that are popular in Japan called Frisk mints. And this particular flavor is supposed to help you focus "Deep". Nothing is supposed to be able to distract you. Hence me not giving my attention to the animals or the fact that I would have been sitting there all day into the evening able to work on my POS laptop.
So these pictures ended up on almost every main train line in Tokyo, meaning all the trains, in many of the train stations such as Shibuya and Shinjuku, and then also on billboards in the same parts of town. Pretty cool for a part time gig. All in all, the 8 hours of work banked me about $700 bucks. Wont be a millionaire, but its cool to say that I was on a billboard adjacent to the busiest intersection in Tokyo and most likely the world. Shout out to my wife's Dad Toshiro who saw me on the train and yoked three of the posters. Think he was pretty stoked he got to see his son in law on trains running thru the veins of Tokyo. Not sure if this experience falls into the bucket list category but it was an experience I will never forget and look forward to doing another one.
If in Japan for an extended amount of time, highly recommend this part time option. Also did a couple of auditions for parts. One was for a movie that would have started Jared Leto. Got the part, but then the project was put on what seems like indefinite hold. Damn the luck. Next time!
Cheers!