TWELV DIARY #17: Laura Kampman

NAME: LAURA KAMPMAN

OCCUPATION: MODEL & PHOTOGRAPHER

AGENCY: NEW YORK MODEL MANAGEMENT

 
For years I have been walking around the city with my big black book under my arms. From brooklyn to uptown Manhattan. I've been going everywhere carrying that thing around. Meeting people, seeing people, walk for people, smiling for people. Sometimes I had to wait in a room for two, or even five hours. Castings, oh castings. A big part of the modeling career.

Today I didn't have to walk or wait. Today I was sitting on the other side. I am the casting director and models came over to me to show me their big black book. 

I will tell you how this all started. Two weeks ago I met Hissa, I was doing a casting (as a model) for Twelvmag. I told him that I like to take pictures, it's something I have been doing since I was very young. I gave Hissa my card and the same day he messaged me that he wanted me to be a photographer for twelvmag. The week after we went for a coffee and made up some ideas for projects. Before I knew it, he had arranged a casting for me to meet new models for the upcoming shoot he wanted me to do. It felt like I was about to step onto one big exciting roller-coaster. 

The casting was at the Twelvmag office. I walked out of the elevator saw girls already waiting in the hallway. It was the weirdest thing I've ever seen. Out of habit I wanted to go sit down and wait with them…  But wait, this is my casting. So I walked inside the office and saw the girls looking weird at me, they probably thought I was trying to sneak in first. 

For the next 3,5 hours I was talking to girls, looking in to their books, taking polaroids of them. Every time a girl walked into the room they wanted to pass me and go to the other people in the office. They didn't expect a model to do the casting. It was funny to see the surprised expression in their face when I told them I'm doing the casting. They felt as surprised as I did.

I met some really amazing girls, even some girls I already knew. They were more surprised than ever. It felt really weird looking in the portfolios of some close friends of mine. I tried to concentrate but we couldn't stop giggling. It was the most surreal thing. Normally I walk with them to castings and now I am doing their casting. 

I was exhausted after 3,5 hours. It was a great experience. I saw how it makes a big difference when you walk into a room as a model with a certain energy. How you can actually make an impression on a casting director by showing yourself and dressing like yourself. In stead of just wearing a black tank top and being quiet. For me, being a good model is having a personality and daring to show it. These are the girls I like the most.

Nowadays I go to castings with a whole other feeling, because I know both sides. Three years ago when I just started, and was running around the city doing 10 castings a day, I never expected I would actually end up sitting on the other side. And models would run around the city to see me. But it happened, And I loved it. The roller coaster is rolling.

WRITTEN BY: LAURA KAMPMAN 

WEBSITE: www.laurakampman.com

INSTAGRAM: @laurakampman

FACE BOOK: laurakampmanphotography