Standard of location shoots

Mercia Storm said

Paranoid Android Photography said

Mercia Storm said

FiL said

Never, ever move a model's settee, especially if she has kids. You have been warned!

Seconded! I don't even dare to think what's under mine. I think at the least enough bouncy balls to keep Smyths Toys in business for the next thirteen years. I don't know where those feckers come from either!

Ha! I have a 6yr old - and a cat - so I know this feeling! I hardly ever shoot at my place these days but when I do half the time is largely me apologising for the mess. 

I have a 7yo, a 3yo, a cat and a dog! And a 10yo at weekends and school holidays! My house is a mad house! I empathise completely! It's a shame because my living room would be lovely for some home shoots!

Sounds like you have your hands full, so I definitely wouldn't expect a spotless house! If it was spotless, it would be unnatural and I'd suspect you of keeping your kids in the basement.  

I've done a few shoots at models homes- I've never been to one where I've feared for my health, but they've had varying levels of "lived in". Having said that, I'm generally happy to adapt to what's in front of me, I can usually find a few spaces that work, and even the dullest bit of light from a window works (I don't mind letting the ISO ramp up and just embrace the grain). I guess that's because I like to include the home as part of the scene, rather than using it as a space I can just turn into a studio.

I do tend to ask for a few phone snaps if there aren't any on the profile already, just so I have at least a vague idea of what I'm walking into though! 

Paranoid Android Photography said

Mercia Storm said

Paranoid Android Photography said

Mercia Storm said

FiL said

Never, ever move a model's settee, especially if she has kids. You have been warned!

Seconded! I don't even dare to think what's under mine. I think at the least enough bouncy balls to keep Smyths Toys in business for the next thirteen years. I don't know where those feckers come from either!

Ha! I have a 6yr old - and a cat - so I know this feeling! I hardly ever shoot at my place these days but when I do half the time is largely me apologising for the mess. 

I have a 7yo, a 3yo, a cat and a dog! And a 10yo at weekends and school holidays! My house is a mad house! I empathise completely! It's a shame because my living room would be lovely for some home shoots!

Sounds like you have your hands full, so I definitely wouldn't expect a spotless house! If it was spotless, it would be unnatural and I'd suspect you of keeping your kids in the basement.  

Oh no, our basement got filled in many years ago! We keep the kids in the attic!

So, just to be clear before I comment, the point of this thread is that when other people allow you to shoot in their home, some aren’t as clean as you feel yours is?

Orson Carter saidWhen I used to do a lot of shoots in models' homes, I had a couple of rude awakenings. So, from then on, I routinely asked for a few reference pics of the parts of the house that would be available for use.

Not tidiness/cleanliness, but that's a good approach.

I once shot a model who said she had access to a studio, and we would be shooting there. What she meant was a studio apartment (maybe the same as a UK studio flat?), a one-room apartment, with no bedroom, just a combined living/kitchen/bedroom plus a very small bathroom. Total area around 12x14 feet (3.5x4.5 meters), which included the bed and dresser. A bit smaller than I expected. :) 

The title confused me at first as I hadn't considered model's homes as "locations"!

Guess I've been lucky, I've done a lot of shoots in models homes and they've all been great. In fact I did one yesterday and the space was fab. The subject of having to keep the place clean and tidy was brought up by the model but as she said she didn't mind because doing home shoots meant she was regularly keeping the place clean.

If a model has somewhere to shoot from that's a real plus for me.

As an aside I'll bet models could tell some great stories about shooting at photographers homes! One model told me she turned up and was told they would be shooting in the shed! (Which she subsequently got locked in....)

Ah, you mean the standard of the locations, not the shoots...  Well sure, I've worked in some grotty looking spots. Until recently I had one regular gig in a shed at the bottom of a garden. A recent one was in a cattle shed (I was going to say converted cattle shed, but it wasn't) on a farm. I've crunched & squelched barefoot through owl droppings in abandoned houses. The work which came out of those shoots was superb though! While I concede I'd rather not catch the plague if possible, if someone having a spare room of any kind enables a shoot to happen, then bring it on. Availability of locations to shoot in is a huge barrier for many people.

When I shoot from home I make sure everything is clean and tidy.

Having a model shooting there forces me to do the housework!!

I would feel ashamed if she saw an untidy, dirty house

Terry Onslow Photography Same. It's the only way I get anything done! 😂

Every way I've tried to phrase this sounds meaner or nastier than I mean, but... if the how tidy the home of the person your shooting is bothers you, then maybe working with them somewhere else would be wiser ? 

My experience isn't vast - the number of homes I've worked in is in low double figures - but homes have ranged from "show home" almost to "pig sty". The untidy ones have had interesting places to work in and I've never been greatly bothered.  

If I'm worried about the cleanliness of a model's home, I send in these guys:

I had one shoot in a model's house which was not only untidy and dirty and overlaid with dog hairs but in a partially decorated state that wasn't photogenic.

The model was polite but largely impassive and very hard work to talk to.

But I got five or six really stisfyiing images which is all I ever hope to get.

As I left, the model suddenly turned into a ray osunshine and said how much she had enjoyed the shoot and could we shoot again.

I do tend to make the best of what I'm offered.

Orson Carter that's a clean tidy one....it'll be fine.

It’s actually not just homes that are untidy and cluttered etc. I have seen too many studios with dirty backgrounds, hairs on the floors and grubby dressing rooms.