My son is a male model

Korean catalog companies LOVE to use American kids for their print ads. Its rare to see Korean children modeling clothes on billboards or magazines, its usually blond-haired, blue-eyed little ones.

Model Agents scout the on-Post shopping areas looking for fair-skinned children for their clients. An agent stopped Jason and Emma one day, and handed out her business card for us to call her. She came to our apartment and snapped some pictures of both Emma and Jackson, and said she would call us if a client wanted to use either of them.

Today was Jackson's lucky day!

Sue (our agent....teeheehee!), called me on Friday and asked if Jackson could "work" on Monday, and I said YES!!!! That boy needs to earn his keep! Gah! Just kidding.

I asked one of my friends to watch Emma for the day, and Jackson and I were picked up at 8am this morning (ouch! That's early for us!) by Sue. We then picked up two other child models (and their mothers) and headed to The Shoot.

In the basement of a row house in the middle of Seoul was a spacious room with backdrops, lighting equipment and various beach themed props. We were ushered into a smaller room off of the main room where we could drop our belongings and hang out and eat (free!) doughnuts until our child was needed. A wardrobe girl set out a couple dozen little outfits, each with matching shoes and hats, and a makeup artist organized a table of hair and face supplies.

The other children, both 2 year olds, were old pros at the Korean modeling biz. They had several outfit changes throughout the morning. The shoot was for the Korean division of a worldwide clothing company called Ett*i. They were preparing for their summer catalog and the children were photographed in extremely cute sundresses, golf shirts, shorts and skirts.

Being that this was Jackson's first photo shoot and that he is only 11 months old, he only sported one outfit for the photoshoot and his actual "shoot" lasted all of about 10 minutes.

(Although they didnt get around to shooting Jackson until 11:30am, so I had a LONG morning of entertaining an active baby in a very different environment!)

Jackson was dressed in a pale blue onsie with a bow tie, white sandals and little blue cotton cap. For this shoot, he was placed in a sitting position next to a 2 year old little boy.

(pictures courtesy of another mom who was allowed to take non-flash pictures with her camera. The 1st pic is taken of the computer screen that shows the photographer's shots, and the 2nd pictures is take directly of the kids)

ADORABLE!

A team of 6 Korean women (and myself) were responsible for getting the kids to smile and look at the camera. They had toys, bubbles, candy (for the older child), and balloons. After several minutes, Jax got a little overwhelmed and decided he just wanted his mama, and no amount of balloon animals or silly noises could change his mind. Thankfully, they had already gotten a "winning" shot of the two little boys, so Jackson and I could retire to the waiting room and nurse and snuggle for a bit.

Around 12pm, the staff broke for lunch and ordered in Domino's Pizza for everyone (no- it does not taste the same here, similar, but not the same). About 12:30, they decided that Jackson didnt need to stay for the rest of the Shoot, and they called a cab for us and sent us home (providing cab fare and Korean directions to the driver! Thank goodness!)

For his modeling expertise, Jackson was awarded $150,000 Korean Won, which is roughly the current equivalent of $120 US dollars. Not bad!

My friend Kristen's son has been modeling for this agency for awhile, so I know the company is reputable and understands that children can not be made to do anything, and that the whole environment needs to be lighthearted and fun.

Jackson may or may not get called again. He may get called often, he may get called occasionally. They may call Emma, they may not. Who knows. I am beyond thrilled to have shared this Korean modeling experience with Jackson no matter what the future holds.
Jackson *should* be in their summer catalog, and on their website later this year. When that happens, I'll be sure to share the pictures and/or links with you all!