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Nancy Brown: The Beauty Part

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Nancy Brown is a Nikon Legend Behind The Lens

Nancy Brown started out in front of the camera. As a model, she enjoyed a 20-year career before deciding to switch sides. "I'd been taking photographs for fun," Nancy says. "You know, the usual stuff—family, kids, vacations and informal pictures of other models. It was a hobby for me." After a while, though, she got more serious about it and, while still modeling, began to build a portfolio of professional-quality work.

commercial photography

When she decided to try her hand as a full-time professional photographer, she found that making the transition wasn't difficult. "Once you were in the business as a model, you could make the calls and people would see you. They knew my name, and when I called up and said I'd like to show my portfolio, well, once they got over the surprise of a person they knew as a model wanting to be a photographer, they said sure, let me see the work."

After courses at the School of Visual Arts and the New School, both in New York City, to learn about the business—specifically shooting for magazines—and some ads in The Black Book, a photographers' directory, a second career was born.

Nancy's style of commercial photography, with an emphasis on beauty, lifestyle and fitness, is marked by her natural ease with the people she's photographing. While it's true that professional models show up ready to be photographed, that's no guarantee that you're going to get great photographs.

What Nancy looks for is personality, intelligence and a willingness to work.

"Good models are intelligent," Nancy has said. "They have common sense, and often they have a sixth sense. When I put them on the set, I don't have to tell them everything that they should do. Because they are bright, they understand the mood of the photo, and they get into—and contribute to—what's going on."

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