Aileen Maria Blog

I just got my photos from my shoot at Last Looks Makeup Academy. I am putting some up here and the rest in my gallery soon. It is always fun getting my makeup done and I was really excited to work with Andrea Thompson. I love her work! 

 

 

 

 

I agree with Uma on this one:

"I love what I do. For my well-being, I need to be reminded that I have other purposes. In the old days, people pined for their husbands. In modern life, your work is like your man, your love.

"I feel like we can spend a lot of time bashing our beautiful country, but we don’t give it enough credit."

"[The media] might be a little slow and it might not be on par to how we, as American civilians, would like it to be, but it is still an amazing country. So, when I look at magazines like Vanity Fair and Vogue, I know that it's just a matter of time, the same way Obama took his time and he got to office and became President… it's just a matter of time until magazines, the media, our art, our culture, our colloquial lifestyle, tags along to our today reality."

"I was taught by my mother, who was an immigrant, to be very grateful to this country. It is no different than when you have a dysfunctional family – it can be very dysfunctional –but it is still your family… and America is still ours. I think we can waste a lot time throwing it down the drain and not knowing the amazing things about this country."

Here are a few photos from my photo shoot with Lois Lane Vintage. I had a great time doing this shoot and I got some great pictures. It was nice because it felt like I was doing a girl's night instead of working. I will be posting all of them on my site soon.

This one kind of reminds me of the ipod images:

And this is a hipster version of me:

 

 

She has some really great stuff on her site. I recommend cheking it out. It's: Loislanevintage.com .

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Group photo of the fashion show I did at Lucky Cheng's:    

 

 

My friends and I had been wanting to go to Lucky Cheng's for a while so I was really excited to get to do a fashion show there. It was so much fun and we got treated like princesses. There was all this great food, drinks and we even got goodie bags! I definitely recommend that everyone check this spot out!

I was doing a music video last week and the other actresses and me got on the subject of postings that are obviously scams. Interestingly enough we all had the same idea.

Clear sign that it is a scam:

The entire posting is in caps

It is a one line ad such as : Hot latina models needed now. $$$$$

It has a ridiculous amount of money being offered ($1500 a day). If it's too good to be true it probably is. If they could afford to pay that much they wouldn't be posting independently and might just go through an agency.

Oh and my favorite: Seeking Open Minded/Flexible models/actresses. I love how open minded and flexible has now became interchangable for "willing to get naked for a shoot". 

It is also best to respond to people that have a legitimate email address and a link to their work in their posting, which is unfortunately 1% of people who post online but just use your best judgement and do your research.

 

 

This should be equally informative for artists as well as others. Judging from the headlines a lot of people are currently in between jobs and I’m sure would benefit from some extra work.

Background Work:

One interesting and fun gig is actually working as background aka extras for movies and TV. Any time your favorite characters are in a restaurant, bar, concert, on the street the people around them are extras. Often they will need people of all ages and all ethnicities for this type of work because different sets demand different things. You don’t have to be a great actor to do this because it involves doing everyday things, so don’t be intimidated. Usually background work DOES require you to be on a set for long hours so you can bring a book along or your laptop and get some work done. It’s great because you are getting paid to study and catch up on work. You should not commit to doing this on a day that you have anything else planned. The amount of time they will need you for is completely unpredictable so make sure you do background work on a day that you are completely free.

A few agencies that cast background in are:

Central Casting- http://www.centralcasting.org/

Sylvia Fay- http://www.sylviafaycasting.com/

Grant Wilfey -http://www.gwcnyc.com/

Promotions - Another fun job is doing promotions. These jobs are often listed in the events section of craigslist and may include passing out samples of a product as a brand ambassador, working a tradeshow, street team work and hosting events. A few companies that hire for promotions are:

http://www.redlightmarketinggroup.com/

http://www.integer.com/

http://interferenceinc.com/

A few other ideas for flexible work while you are job hunting that you can look into are: catering, tutoring, substitute teaching, translating, and getting work through a temp agency. The information above varies depending on where you live but you can find work locally by looking up companies that provide staff for that work in your area.

 

 

There are some materials you will need to get yourself out there. As an actor you need headshots and as a model you need comp cards as well as a portfolio. All this can be costly if you don’t have the connections and patience. However, there are ways to get it for free! While shooting your picture can be free, the massive printing that you will need to distribute copies of your cards is not.

As an actor or a model you can find photographers who will have you work for them in exchange for your time. It’s often abbreviated to TFP-TFCD (trade for print, trade for CD) in castings. The photographer is often building or updating his/her own portfolio and will have you serve as their muse. In exchange for your time you receive pictures to use for your own self promotion purposes. Make sure you keep their contact information. It has been known to happen that you work with a photographer and you never hear from them again but don’t worry there’s a circle in hell for them.

In the past I have mentioned two easy sites to find photographers needing to update their book:

www.craigslist.org

www.modelmayhem.com

You can also check at local photography or art schools. They will put you in their database so that their students build their portfolios with you.

Before agreeing to shoot with the photographer, you may want to ask to see a link to their portfolio or samples of their work. Your time is valuable and you don’t want to waste it if you are not into what they typically shoot.

As always use your judgment when responding to people who post on these sites. If the photographer has you meet them in an area you’re not familiar with at an unreasonable time then don’t go or take an intimidating friend with you.  Or just a regular friend gifted with common sense will do.

Seriously, be aggressive about these things. Schedule the shoot in a place that you are comfortable with such as a public park or a studio. Even if you feel safe always try to drag someone along. As we say in my native tongue, "Caras vemos, corazones no sabemos."