Model Behavior

As some of you may know, Chris has done a bit of modeling. He's been in some magazines and on tv and even shot a Stussy clothing ad a few years back. I think the clothing ad was his favorite because they refered to him as "the talent" and he got to pose with a very pretty young Brazilian model. From the moment he laid eyes on her he was obsessed. He flirted shamelessly with her (I'm talking restraining order level), which fortunately fit right in with how they needed him to pose. Although the model did not speak English he somehow managed to communicate with her and to get her to say "hello" back to him. I guess the language of love is universal!

Chris modeling with a very lovely model for a Stussy clothing ad

Chris got his start modeling for a charity photo spread for Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine that appeared in Town & Country Magazine.   His co-model was David Neeleman the founder and (then) CEO of Jet Blue.  Chris was only 15 months old, but he behaved beautifully and professionally, and appeared to enjoy it, so I decided to see if I could get him an occasional job.   I have no idea where he learned to model because I've had him since he was two months old and, until the T&C shoot, I had only taken personal photos of him.  I guess he just liked the attention so much he figured out how to behave to get even more attention.  Now when we get in a taxi he gets really excited because he knows something fun is about to happen.  When he is on set his demeanor changes and he amazes me by becoming much more mature: he strikes poses and I've even seen him follow instructions from directors and photographers. He once shot a segment for an on line reality show and the director asked me if Chris could twirl around and the next thing I saw was Chris twirling around! He did it perfectly three times.  He has fun at the shoots, too.  When he did a "Holiday Gifts for Pets" segment for NY1 he brought a toy from home and, after his segment was finished, he played catch with three people, giving them turns in order.  (We play catch at home and he's really good.)  I guess he was just born to be a birdstar! This has also been a very interesting experience for me. I can honestly say that I never expected to be sitting in a "green room" waiting for my parrot to finish up a job.