Stockholm to Turku to Helsinki (Patreon)

I've been bad about updating my journal here - which is terrible considering I'm traveling in some interesting places.

I arrived in Stockhom on the 24th, last week. Completely jetlagged, of course, and coming off a red eye flight. I was so proud of myself for managing to fit a full size pillow into my backpack though - I only travel with a backpack sized for European carry-on and a shoulder bag, so fitting a pillow into my backpack was not the easiest thing. But I did it, and it turns out to be an amazing thing on long flights. I actually slept until a toddler a few rows back started shrieking around 3am. What a lovely child...

I arrived in Stockholm, made my way to the center city and met up with my host there, and then we made our way out to Rosten, where I was staying for the few days I was in Stockholm. I did six shoots in the area - one with a friend, Rachel Tine, from the US. 

It was a bit funny though, when I was talking with my host, I was again reminded of certain things photographers can say to me that immediately irritate the hell out of me. My host is a photographer in the Stockholm area, and I was accepting a short tf shoot with him in exchange for hosting and food for my time in the area. But, in my brief stay there, I was instantly reminded - despite his being nice in a certain way - why I generally prefer to stay on my own now when I travel. Things like "I do not pay models because I do this for fun" is one of the number one things a photographer can say to me that instantly irritates me. When I go out to do my hobbies - shooting instax, painting, traveling, etc - I do not say to people, "I am sorry, but I cannot pay for this because I do it for fun." That isn't how it works...and as a model, I feel instantly devalued in a way when a photographer says this to me. I love my job, I really love to be able to create beautiful images, but it is my job at the end of the day. Or saying things like "I would never pay that to shoot with you," after I say what my rates are, is completely insulting. 

I often wonder what the photographers who say these things to me are hoping to accomplish in their work with me? Because they are really unlikely, after saying things like that, to get what I would think are great images. When someone says these things to me, I am completely closed off to them in a way. I can appreciate them, at that point, as much as they appreciate me - which is apparently not much. Then, during our shoot, I am relatively certain he was drunk as the air completely reeked of alcohol when he would speak to me. And then he tried to get a pose that I was not willing to do - as I said "No, because my vagina will show, and so I am not going to do that." At which point he began the typical "Oh but I will take it from an angle where you cannot see!" monologue. No.

But! Then I left the next morning and had a lovely couple of shoots on my last day before heading to the ferry to leave for Turku, Finland. The ferry was amazing, except I was so exhausted I fell asleep right upon getting to my cabin. And then when I woke up around 12am, there was no food to be found - unless I wanted to drink alcohol for dinner. As someone who barely ever drinks, that's not really an option for me. There was a Coke machine, but as someone who doesn't really drink soft drinks, that is also not an option. Good thing I had a granola bar hiding in the bottom of my purse. This was a failure on my part - bad planning. 

But! Now I am on the train to Helsinki where I'll be meeting Kelsey Dylan, who I'm so excited to meet up with! We're going to shoot a bit - I'll be posting those images soon as well, though I'll have to wait till I'm back in the States to scan the instant film. Tomorrow I have a full day shoot with a wonderful photographer, and I'm really looking forward to that as well. Then on to Amsterdam! I have a full schedule there...as long as I don't have any cancelations, I'll have done 15 shoots while in Europe this time around. I'm really happy with the work I've been doing the past few days, so I'm very excited to shoot with some really amazing people over the next week :)

Photo is around dusk last night from my little cabin heading out from Stockholm on the ferry.