This is my first time in Germany, and I have to say on the whole I am extremely impressed with Hamburg. I landed around 4.30 local time, giving myself around 10 minutes before the sun went down. By the time I was off the train and into the heart of the city, it was five o'clock and Hamburg was on its way in to night-time. My hotel is very close to the main station, Hauptbahnhof, in the St Georg region. Im sure the majority of the world has a warped perception of the life of a model. Of course the boys and girls at the very top of the industry get extremely well looked after. Rightly so, if a client is spending maybe tens of thousands on a shoot then the model should be treated accordingly. Im not in that top bracket and as such have to take care of myself. That means all the money I earn, goes straight back into the progression of my career. Not wanting to shell out fortunes, I went for a pretty basic option.
Hotel BeeFang - Private room
That's my room, in its entirety! The bathroom is on the floor below. Please don't take this for criticism by the way. Ive actually had a very comfortable stay here; I really am a man of simple pleasures.
I ventured out on on that first night just hoping to get a feel for the city. Hamburg is extremely spacious. The roads are wide, the pedestrian streets are wide. The majority of the city appears to be no higher than six, maybe seven floors. With the river running through it and various little parks scattered around, Im often being reminded of English towns when walking around.
A small canal in Nikolaifleet, a particularly tranquil spot
On my first night I went and found an Irish Pub, first point of call for any travelling Brit, in the hope of watching my footy team, Manchester United, on TV. I ended up at the Shamrock and quickly made friends with the owner, a lovely guy called Richie from England, and the barmaid Carolina, from Chile. I have to say, within 5 minutes I felt at home here, I really don't think I could have chosen a better first outing! Watched the footy and then slowly made my way back to the hotel and eagerly to sleep, in anticipation of the next days plans.
As I stated previously, I had two meetings on the first day. Numero uno - Modelwerk. This did not go exactly to plan. If you read my post about rejection the other day then you may see a similar pattern emerging here. I know my height is a hindrance, but I thought that the agencies I was seeing would be aware of my height and still wanted to see me. That was not the case, instead I had flown 500miles to be told that, despite my great look, I was simply 2cm too short. The meeting was over within minutes, and Im not embarrassed to say I had a real struggle to maintain my emotions once I was outside. 2cm! If i was turned away for my look, if I wasn't suitable to their market then I could deal with it; but to be shunted because of 2cm, having flown all this way and spend money that I really don't have to waste, well that was hard. And of course the worst part was that I had another meeting which I simply knew was going to go the same way as this. I started to sense that this trip was not going to go the way I wanted it too. However, I headed over to SPIN with as positive an attitude as I could muster (still pretty darn positive!) This one was a little better, by which I mean I was in there for more than 3minutes, and they even took some polaroids, but still the general consensus was that I am to short for the German market. I was not a happy weasel. I came here with real aspirations and excitement, and within an hour on my first day I felt ready to cut my losses and leave. I exchanged a few messages with my agent, and thankfully had my family and one friend in particular who cheered me up. I decided that i would enjoy the rest of my day in Hamburg and wake up the next day with a fresh mind and a list of other agencies in the city to go and visit. I was determined that if this was to be a wasted trip, I would have at least given it my all. So, I took a walk, I grabbed some food, and I headed back to Shamrock t watch Arsenal beat Borussia Dortmund. (By the way, if you ever wanted to know how to silence a German pub, just watch an English team beat a German team, you'll soon be the only one talking!)
Ok, so day number two. I fired my images around to five or six agencies on the previous day, in an attempt to arrange meetings. Three came back with an apologetic no, but thanks to my effort and that of my agent, I found myself with three agencies to see: Kult, Louisa Models and MGM. The first two ran along the same lines as the day before, but MGM felt slightly different. That isn't to say I was greeted with open arms and signed on the spot, far from that, but I did get to sit down with three agents and given the opportunity to sell myself, something I feel I've grown quite competent at doing. They didn't even mention my height until the very end of the meeting (that had to be better right?!?). I had some polaroids taken and then sent on my merry way.
Hamburger Rathaus (Town Hall), seen on the left of the picture
Its been a tough few days here, but informative nonetheless. As the saying goes, "hindsight is a wonderful thing", and at the end of the day, as my father pointed out to me, if I hadn't come here to try, then I probably would have just been sat at home wondering. I might be sitting here now, feeling pretty down and literally cutting my losses (screw the ten days in Hamburg, Im going back to Barcelona tomorrow) but if I hadn't have tried then I wouldn't know what I know now. I imagine some people are reading this thinking, "when will he get the message that he is to short for this industry". Well what I have learnt is that whist I know I can work in the modelling world, I think my portfolio of jobs says as much, I have to look at where that work is going to come from and exactly what type of jobs they will be. In the last two days, since these agencies started going down the pot, I have spent serious hours researching acting opportunities in the UK. I have two weeks in Barcelona, before hitting London on the 21st November. Yes, I will be looking at modelling still, I haven't lost all my paths in that regard just yet, but I do aim on auditioning for anything and everything I can find, be it big or small, in an effort to get the ball rolling in that field too. The true tests in life are those that come out of adversity. I have had a lot of good fortune this year, and now I am being challenged.
Just wait and see how I come out the other end.
Weasel out x
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