email: mail@gbenjaminensor.com
website: gbenjaminensor.com
patreon: patreon.com/gbenjaminensor
Thank you for your interest in VIRAGO! I’ve had a lot of people reach out to be a part of the shoot and/or to learn more about it. The official description is as follows:
VIRAGO
In current usage, a “virago” is an opinionated, aggressive, loud-voiced, ill-tempered, shrewish woman. The original meaning of the word, though, was a woman of strength or spirit, a powerful woman, a warrior woman.
VIRAGO is a collection of strong women, powerful women… warriors wearing their armor.
The minimum age for involvement is 18.
The intention of this new collection is to produce a collected, limited edition art album and accompanying gallery collection, the proceeds of which will go to benefit LGBTQIA youth in the Louisville, Kentucky area.
If you’re interested in being a model, here’s where to start:
- What makes you strong? Think about your power; think about the events that made you the strong person you are today (even if you don’t feel particularly “strong” in a traditional/pop culture sense); think about the steel at the core of you. What does it feel like? How do you express it (in both the loud and the quiet ways)?
- What is your armor? It doesn’t have to be just clothing; it could be a look, the way you stand, a piece of jewelry, how you apply your make-up (or choose not to wear any). What does the armor of a warrior woman mean to you, and how does it apply to your life?
- How would you like to be portrayed? (If you don’t know how you want to be portrayed, don’t worry! We’ll come up with something together.)
- Are you comfortable posing nude? I’ve said before there is no expectation for this, and there will be no pressure at any point to do so. If you’re not comfortable posing nude, please be sure you’re comfortable being part of a collection and accompanying book that will have nudity in it.
There will be at least two shoots per model (at least for models near the Louisville area), the first being a simple portrait shoot so we can meet and work together with as little pressure as possible. You’ll get a sense of how I work and from there we can plot our VIRAGO shoot. Hair and makeup for the portrait shoot will be up to you, and we will discuss the plan for hair, makeup, and clothing/costumery for VIRAGO.
If this still sounds like something you want to be a part of, email me at mail@gbenjaminensor.com with your thoughts on those above questions, your name on Instagram (if that’s where you found me), and/or a photo of yourself (if you didn’t find me on Instagram), and we will work together on coming up with a shoot.
Thank you for being interested in this project.
— Benjamin