Student athlete and aspiring model Sean Avery (pictured above) has a natural appreciation for art and will travel to Europe this summer to pursue his modeling career. Avery is conducting a directed study dedicated to strengthening his modeling portfolio in hopes of getting signed to an agency (Annie Renaud/Staff Photographer).
Communication major senior Sean Avery can be found shooting hoops on the basketball court or modeling throughout the streets of New York City. As a member of the men’s basketball team for the past four years, Avery reflects on the influence basketball has had on his experience at Geneseo.
“Believe it or not, I like to think my grades are better because of [my] being a student-athlete, although we spend a lot of time during the season playing basketball. You would think it would affect my school work negatively, but it allows me to have better time-management and scheduling,” Avery said. “I think it’s made the biggest impact on my time here because a lot of my friends were made from basketball, whether it is here at Geneseo or even back at home, from all three of the high schools I went to.”
Beyond athletics, Avery spends his time at college exploring and developing his artistic passions. As an aspiring model and new member of the CHROMATIC club, he hopes to develop his photography skills through his involvement.
“I also would like to dabble a little bit more with photography as well, just because I’ve always loved people who have a vision and I love working for people who have a vision, so I want to get that artistic capability myself,” Avery said.
Avery came across his dream career by accident the summer before his junior year working for a solar panel company while on lunch break with a coworker.
“I just so happened to go to the diner with this one kid who owns a very small clothing company,” Avery said. “We were just conversing, and he ended up saying he had a photoshoot coming up this upcoming weekend and that one of his male models bailed on him so he needed another male model. He asked me if I could do it and I said sure.”
The professional shoot for the clothing company took place in Brooklyn and was a defining moment in Avery’s career path.
“I remember it being so fun. I was super nervous of course, but they played good music and I met four to five new people that were all so dope and cool,” Avery said. “I remember thinking ‘you know what, I’m going to just try it. I’m going to just keep trying this because I truly enjoy it.’”
Among the people he met at the shoot was a photographer who he continues to work with today.
“One of my other friends who I met at that first photoshoot was a photographer who was trying to do the same, basically get better and hone and craft his skill,” Avery said. “We just set out on a mission to just keep creating more content together, and that’s how it kind of sparked.”
In addition, Avery currently conducts a directed study under assistant professor of communication Lee Pierce titled “Social Media Promotion.” Essentially, Avery devotes four to six hours a week strengthening his modeling page. He has many goals for his study, which include finding a new beauty regimen, creating consistent content and hopefully getting signed by a modeling agency following graduation.
Through modeling, Avery has become more confident and discovered a truer version of himself.
“I’m definitely a lot more confident. Not that I was shy, but I wasn’t confident in myself. I didn’t have the strength to stand up for myself and say the things that I wanted to say,” Avery said. “Finding the confidence behind the camera has allowed me to find the confidence in the rest of my life.”
Avery will travel to the Netherlands and Paris this summer to work with photographers there and continue building his modeling portfolio. He is excited to continue pursuing his dream overseas and looks forward to what is to come.
“I’ve been turning over a new leaf of trying to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and putting myself in situations I’ve never been in before and growing from them,” Avery said.