One Turn Two Many

Going to John Robert Powers with Arron twice this week felt like a milestone equal in significance to shooting my first model last May.

After reading up on modeling, going to a live audition and going in with Arron to talk to the school owner, Karen, added reality to what had been till then an abstract topic.

Arron was invited to an audition by Karen, the school owner. He asked me to go with him. Some 80 people were gathered in the room that I later found out was one of the classrooms where aspiring models and/or actors met for classes. The afternoon started out with a high-energy introduction by Amy who introduced Karen as "the" national talent scout for JRP. Karen gave an even more high-energy presentation, cramming her statements with information that frankly was impressive. I went in with Arron for his first interview with her. He was dejected when we left because he didn't have the $1950 needed to pay for a ten-week course of classes. When he learned the following day that the school selected him, "one of the 3%" of some 300 people that Karen interviewed for the current class term, he became more determined to find the money. While attending classes (which turned out to be for acting in commercials, something Arron was not so keen about), students are eligible to attend the auditions held "one to three times a month" with casting directors, talent agents and/or talent managers that the national office has screened to audition JRP students. It sounded like a good deal.

Arron again invited me to go with him on Wednesday when he met with Karen to discuss the program details. By this time he had taken out an additional sum from his car loan and planned to use part of his student loan to pay for the classes. His mind was made up.

The two encounters with the modeling school (because that's what JRP basically is) left me with largely positive energy. Now, days later, I look back on the whole shindig and see it with more objectivity. I still think it is basically a good deal for one who has the determination, personality and looks to be a model or commercial actor. I also see how well-designed the presentation was which was I think largely a sales pitch to sign up students. Just like with most other, maybe all other businesses, financial success is at the heart of the presentation and I think the presentation was highly effective. But I also see the showmanship involved and how there is not much sincerity involved. One could scarcely expect sincerity with strangers. Sincerity and genuineness could evolve when people got to know each other. This is probably par for businesses. We act and speak in such a way as to obtain our business objectives.

Seeing the show deflated my enthusiasm for model work. Talking to Tony this morning I rehashed my perception of the meetings when he surprised me by asking. At this point in life, I can recognize showmanship and the trappings that people utilize to incite desire or intimidation. I was taken in completely initially but the more time passes I see the mundane structure on which business magic is performed.

Photography as a business is magic performed on mundane structures. The magic, no matter that it is glitter and superficial panache, is still magic. There is religious magic that most people hold is such awe they can't even consider looking it in the eye. Patriotism is another category of magic as children and the sanctity of human life. Magic plays on our most powerful emotions and as humans we share similar emotions across cultural boundaries.

My attitude changed after lunch today and read Lesko's book on fashion and advertising photography. If there is little sincerity in the magic we have to generate to be successful in business, it is the same magic that transforms people's lives in what we call art or culture. Art is about creating magic. I can admire it even in its business form. Artists might scoff at commerce and money but earning money and becoming a successful business are in themselves vehicles to feel that same magic. 

Magic is simply an interpretation of events that gives it special meaning, meaning that accesses feelings too complex to analyze. When we analyze magic we see how common it is but letting ourselves go we can enjoy it. I doubt human beings can rid themselves of our habitual need for meaning and seeking it in pedestrian events. If we must have meaning in our lives, why not meaning that helps us accomplish acts we would ordinarily not even attempt to accomplish?