Korea’s Hidden Modeling Subculture, or How to Shoot the Best Models in the World, for Free
THE LAY OF THE LAND
Korea is the best place on earth to find and shoot models without having to pay them any money. However, this does not mean they're actually “free,” as in they do work for no compensation, because as the saying goes, “there's no such thing as a free lunch.”
If you're a photographer in Korea, you're living in the best place on earth to find and shoot models and talent. You're also living in one of the most highly competitive places in the world for a photographer to be. This place also happens to be one of the liveliest and most talented Instagram-based photographic subcultures I've ever seen. I've already written in this space about the “pay models” of Korean Instagram and the incredible talent exchanges that happen there. I won't belabor the points I made there by reviewing them here, but I will simply state that the kind of talent you can find that doesn't require actually paying out money is pretty similar to what you might find in some model agencies filled with completely professional models. What I will do here is go over the ins and outs of shooting with these kinds of semi-professional models that can be easily found on Korean Instagram, which will include some coverage of the cultural, social, and legal points to consider when choosing to go in this direction.
Simply put, if you are a photographer looking to find the perfect model to shoot – and that's the one thing that photographers know, which is that there is no dopamine/other hormone inducing activity than successfully completing pictures with a happy model, who is just as ecstatic as you as a collaborator in creating the ultimate visual, the very reason you got into photography in the first place — there was simply no better place to look then here in South Korea. This is because when you get a fairly motivated pay model in front of the lens, in Korea this generally also includes a pretty talented makeup artist, hairdresser, and stylist, all in one package. And that's before even getting into the shooting, which is often helped greatly by a capable and proactive poser/model, as opposed to someone who needs to be actively directed all the time. Tomorrow's you'll get in this market here in South Korea are far and above the lackluster and lackadaisical models you'll find on Craigslist and Model Mayhem. Many people have had much better luck with the Facebook groups based here in South Korea, which are generally full of eager and attractive foreign models hoping to break into the Korean modeling industry, but the downside with the group is that they are generally run in the gamut from inexperienced to downright clueless. There, you'll sometimes get people who are confident in front of the camera and can help pull you to a higher level of photographic skill, but more often than that, you're often stuck coaxing first-timers into feeling comfortable in front of the camera, micromanaging poses for people who have no idea what to do with their hands or their body, and this doesn't help the inexperienced photographer very much.
And it isn't just the Instagram “pay models” in Korea who are already organized, active, and confident about their photo work — even the most inexperienced Korean amateur model here on Instagram in Seoul is possessed of an amazing amount of fashion/beauty habitus that, as mentioned above, often includes three talented beauty professionals world into one person, but also includes a lifetime of concerted visual attention paid to hundreds of thousands of pictures from fashion and advertising media, as well as a powerful and unshakable model fantasy that is surprisingly ubiquitous. While at the most acute, pathological level that leads to social and personal issues with body image and the like, at more well-managed levels, this is often tapped to create quite motivated and talented amateur models just waiting for the right photographer to contact them and that perfect opportunity to present itself.
MODEL SCOUTING
The thing to remember in trying to contact and book a talented model from Korean Instagram is that you should be clear about what it is you can offer them – and in many cases, it's simply being able to take a competently exposed and clear picture with a professional camera and lens and even strobe set up, and this also includes your ability to give them the image so they can use it for their purposes, which is generally Instagram, but also can be for their formal portfolio (comp) card. So you need to be able and willing to deliver a complete package to them, which often includes the original image and any edits you make that they might like. This may include setting up your Instagram account to include mostly nice and professional-looking images, as opposed to an account that has a mixture of your drunken photos and pictures of your significant human other or pet. And that's the first thing to set up, which is often a separate Instagram account for your photography, which would match up with the separate Instagram accounts that many young Koreans open up for different projects and purposes, modeling being one of the largest.
And that's the biggest tip-off for identifying somebody interested in potentially modeling for you — they have what appears to be a separate account solely for modeling. Now, many amateur models on Korean Instagram will have pictures that are the end result of lots of Korean model notions of work pretty looks like, combined with what many of the Korean photographers think as well. So between these two filters at work here, you're going to get lots of images of female models sitting or standing inside flowers, holding flowers, or even having flowers in their mouths (which is a thing in Korean Instagram — trust me). That may not be your cup of tea, as it isn't mine, but don't take that as necessarily being the end statement of what kind of photographs that model might want to take, just as the many photographs of you with models in the park or sitting in coffee shops may not define all the photographs you would ever like to take as well.
Generally, a huge hint that you have an amateur Instagram model 지망생/jimang-saeng (“aspirant”) is the existence of a separate modeling Instagram in which picture post is a separate shoot obviously taken by someone with a camera not being held by the subject, i.e. someone else. But an entire feed of selfies is also a big hint. But also, like your own separate photographers account, the model aspirant may have an account of just them, with no pictures of friends all lovers, or pets or or anyone else. That's the biggest hint that you’re both on the same page. Another major hint that you're dealing with a model aspirant or even pretty motivated amateur model is a fearful of pictures obviously taken by different photographers, who likely provided the pictures to the model in a similar exchange to the one you hope to enter into, and will be a feed in which your pictures will probably end up being displayed.
Another good tip here is to think about Instagram-related hints as to how far along in the game models tend to be. If you yourself are finding it difficult to pull together enough professional looking images to start filling up an Instagram feed with, then you're probably on the more aspirin or amateur level yourself, and you probably want to try and match up with a model who's either at your level or just one above you. A good rule of thumb here involves being realistic about where you are right now and whose interest you might be able to catch. Generally, I had suggest you don't spend too much energy go in for long shots, which I would define as an obvious model who has more than 10,000 followers, or in other words a “K” behind their follower count. Anyone up in that level is probably going to ignore your query anyway, laugh at your feed, and generally be a waste of your time, even if they do respond. In order for a Korean Instagram model to get to the 10,000+, they've shot with dozens if not hundreds of photographers and know the ins and outs far better than you, which could be a good person to work with as you will learn a lot, but you have to think about what they would get out of the exchange, which is very little, in terms of quality of photographs, new connections or opportunities, or anything like that.
The caveat here would be that many people who have follow counts that high and are clearly working as models would be a “pay model” like the ones mentioned earlier in this article. If you have the means and are so willing, it can often be easier just to book a pay model and go for it in a shoot. Now, there's an upside and a downside to this. I do think that a pay model will be much clearer about leading the shoot, defining the rules, and making sure you stick to what was agreed-upon when you initialize a shoot around whatever concepts. That's all pretty useful and you can learn a lot, but the downside to that is that as the paying client, you tend to be the one who calls all the shots and basically the model will do what she's told and as directed – which may sound like a good thing, but in fact if the model is too malleable like this learned very much from the shoot and the process. The other downside is that paint models charge anywhere from 25–50,000 per hour for normal looks, in the neighborhood of 70-100,000 per hour for more risque fare, and more for anything more…adventurous (and generally lurid). Personally speaking, I don't shoot with pay models for pay, but shoot with pay models for pictures, because the downside for pay models here is that they get lots of pictures, but they tend to be more in the direction of what middle-aged Korean men tend to like tell me which is not a Sailor Moon pictures, adult style, Japanese cosplay outfits, or just straight up Japanese micro-bikinis. So, even pay models need pictures that keeps them looking model-esque and legitimate. This is the zone you can be in if your portfolio is more skill-heavy and varied, meeting you have the look of a professional photographer. But the downside for a photographer using pay models is that you get exactly what you paid for, and generally what you want, which can be a curse because this means you don't have to negotiate as much with the model or creatively collaborate as to the direction of the shoot, which means you learn less.
When dealing with an amateur model or amount of aspirant, you have to negotiate much more about the concept, location, and even the details and poses while the shoot is happening, because both people's interests here are in getting to a mutually beneficial outcome, not providing a product that really is mostly in the interest of what the photographer wants. I'd strongly suggest to any photographer who wants to up their game and learn a lot to try and work with model aspirince I was supposed to pay models coming out the gate, before even thinking about the fact that it's gonna be a lot lighter on your wallet too. In a way, if you jump right to the shortcut and use your wallet to get models who are easier to shoot and direct like Barbie dolls, you end up spending more money and earning learning a lot, lot less when you could put the same amount of time and effort into doing a photo shoot with a less glitzy model but you learn infinitely more, which I think is the point here.
RECRUITING LOGISTICS
Since I could write several columns on the subject, I'm going to just move to bullet point, list-icle style to cover more ground.
- The language barrier will be an issue when dealing with many domestic-based, Korean model aspirants often don't have any non-Korean or non-Korean speaker in their lives, and often may take an English DM as a stressful event. As we all know, speak in English randomly to a Korean person can create the TOEIC/TOEFL panic response that makes people worry more about grammar, vocabulary, and syntax and actually communicating. In my case, I often send an initial English message to grab attention first and then follow up with a Korean message explaining things a bit. Remember, Papago is your friend.
- The first thing to do in an initial contact is to establish that your interest is photographic and not personal, or even worse, sexual. That's the number one red flag that any model aspirant or pro model is going to be sensitive to. Show your pictures, show your skills, and show your intent to just take pictures to show off those skills. Treat us like a job interview or other professional interaction and – there's no reason to get into personal questions or banter here, and generally, just ask questions relevant to the shoot. This first step isn't actually that hard if you're sincere and all about the pictures.
- Once you get past the first stage, the next step in the logistics is deciding concept/location. Shooting in a rental studio is super easy, but it also requires someone paying for the space and time. Generally, this isn’t split two ways. The photographer pays. Period. It may not be fair, it may not be equal, but generally the photographer/model team up falls across similar parallels in terms of male/female, older/younger, further along in a career/just starting out, and that generally means making more money/making less money. You can debate it all you want, argue that in theory this isn't the way it should be, or whatever else you want to do, but if you were a photographer with the skills and portfolio to pull better models, then you would. But you can't. And there are more photographers available who are readily pay for the space than there are of you. And they're better, more experienced shooters than you are, anyway. And the model knows this. If and when you get to the point where are you yourself have several thousand followers and model shoot for days and days, then from your perspective, models are a dime a dozen. But right now, amateur photographers like you are a dime a dozen to models such as the ones you're talking to. Awesome, and this is much easier and more common than renting a studio, you meet up with the model in a public place such as a coffee shop, which you will likely use as your home base, and shoot at an outdoor venue that's equally public, which automatically increases the safety profile of the endeavor for the model, especially since this usually includes a male photographer/female model dynamic. And another quick thing to note here is the fact that even a professional photo studio is technically a private, indoor space where other people are probably not going to be around – so think about that carefully when proposing a first shoot. This may be something to think about more as a second or subsequent shoot once you've established a good rapport with that model.
- If they want to bring a friend a while, a “manager”, or even their mom, the answer is always “YES.” If you think about it, there really isn't any reason for you not to want someone else present on the shoot, assuming your intentions are purely photographic. And if you don't feel comfortable with someone “interfering with your creative process” I'd seriously suggest you look deep and ask why. Actually pretty rare for the chaperoned to actually interfere with the shoot, and I have generally found them to be nothing but helpful. Only on literally one or two occasions has the person along for the ride ever gotten in the way. And I'm serious when I say that I've had several moms, dads, and even so-called "managers" that were actually and obviously boyfriends, but more often than not, we're simply talking about the model bring it along a female friend, who is actually usually quite useful and making the model feel not only more comfortable but who actually acts as an eager and helpful assistant on the shoot most of the time. Generally, I've found that most people who bring along and assist have already worked out their role in this year and have already told that person to sit back, shut their mouths, and just be ready to watch/carry/hold stuff. You don't need to worry about them.
- In terms of photographic rights and other annoying things like model releases, I don't bother with that annoying crap.. This is Korea where sociologists have infamously talked about the “flexible sociality”, we're on the one hand you can be ready to shop at the present prices of a fancy department store, but then go outside the door and haggle with people in the traditional market. Do you have to be flexible and ready for different kinds of social relations with people. And given the status of Korean law in relation to 초상권/chosang-kweon/“right to control one’s facial image”, whatever papers you sign don't mean much, and it's just going to create apprehension and nervousness in the mix. The point here is that no matter what is signed away in terms of releases, if the model feels her pictures are being used strangely or against her will, she can sue you for civil damages no matter what, and since 2013, she can also bring you up on criminal charges.
Which almost never happens, but I mention so as to remind you that you should work on keeping good relations with your models, and complying with their wishes in terms of taking down or not using whatever pictures you have made together, because in the end you absolutely need to be in sync with your model's wishes, and you choose not to do so at your own peril. And indeed, Korean copyright law works the same as it does in most countries, which means that whoever pushes the shutter button owns the image at the moment of its creation, and it's protected as a creative work. Often there's confusion about what copyright means in Korean society in general, and this is reflected among many of the amateur models who jump into this game without much forethought. Copyright is different from chosang-kweon, and this all can change up when talking about commercial versus personal use. If you are the photographer pushing the button and making images, then you own the image. Period. But in Korea, this almost never separates a person's face from the legal control of the owner of that face. So no matter what was said, what was signed, if the model doesn't like the picture and she doesn't want it up, then you better take it down. And there have been cases in which models have signed away rights and received money for that agreement, which in the west means they don't have any say over the use of a picture anymore, but if that picture violates their chosang-kweon, then that person has a right to sue you for not only civil but possibly criminal damages. That's why there's no Korean paparazzi. They simply have no tenable way to exist within the confines of Korean law. This isn't something to really worry about too much, but simply a point to respect. You need to be in sync and in tune with your models and respect their wishes. PERIOD. - Now, this should go without saying, but then again, things that should go without saying often need to be said. You should know that when the #MeToo movement swept through Korea, it did take a slightly different cultural vector and character than it did in the West. This should be obvious, but you should also know about the specifics of the Yang Hye-won case, in which one of the pay models (actually a studio/chulsa model) alleged a group assault against her photographers in a large photo shoot. Long story short, the photographers allege that they were told something different about the concept than the shoot organizer/studio owner, who himself alleges that he told the photographers everything, which is different from what the model alleged, which is that no matter what anybody said about any final, sexy concept, she was restrained against her well and sexually assaulted through direct physical contact and that any "misunderstandings" about the sexiness of the sheep or what have you is quite beyond the point. Regardless of what happened, it's clear that some bad things went down in that case, and the fact that this is one of the big me two cases in Korea is also simply a fact, and this case should be telling to anyone who wants to enter the Korean photographic fray. The first interesting point about the case is that it didn't really kill or put a chill on the amateur pay modeling community, so avid and active as it is, but really caused photographers to rethink their practices and also it caused a lot of the pay models to outline clear policies to be followed during shoots. The gist of it is that you don't touch models for any reason, not to adjust their hair, not to move the dress over a little bit, not to pat on the shoulder and say “great job.” Which brings us back to the point of having another person in the room or an assistant of the same apparent gender who can do things like fixing hair, adjusting a collar, and whatnot. Also, you do the concept along the lines of the agreed-upon parameters that you discussed before. This means that you don't agree to do a wedding dress shoot and then suggest a bikini right in the middle. This is a huge no-no and violating stuff like this will get you talked about and blackballed, and you won't be shooting anyone on Korean Instagram ever. Like at all.
- Language barrier, part two. While Papago is your friend, there can be a perception that the language barrier could be burdensome while shooting, since Papago on the fly is kind of not realistic. But actually, besides chitchat and other stuff that can be actually helpful in building up a better rapport before the shoot, in general, I found it language barrier doesn't really prevent a shoot from moving forward, especially since most high school/college educated Koreans passively understand enough basic English to communicate during a shoot. Wow no, they can't sit and talk about their feelings both before and after a shoot and the aesthetic symbolism of whatever color they were wearing or pose they were doing, but they are able to understand things like “turn left” or “just a bit more…” and that kind of language should fall well within the realm of most foreigners with a basic command of Korean.
But all these things aside, I would say that finding and shooting more professional Korean models is actually not that hard if you're actually in Korea and understand how Instagram works. Generally speaking, if you can establish that you're a serious photographer, aren't a sexual predator, and can carry out and deliver decent photographs, it's actually not hard to get past the few roadblocks there can be to carrying out decent shoots and building a solid reputation and portfolio online as a photographer. The quality of talent and work you can access here is one of the best-kept secrets about this market here in Korea, and you can learn quite a bit from becoming active within it as a serious photographer. You can also expand your connections and learn a lot more Korean in the process, so it's a win-win proposition.
