1. The Basics of Modeling…
Q: What photos do you really NEED?
A: It depends on whom you need them for.
If you want photos to show around to MODELING AGENTS, you need something
you might describe as extensive passport photos: NO make up, NO jewelry, hair pulled
back, ears showing. Head shots, upper body, full body; front-back-sides-3/4 turns. Pay
attention to your posture and do most of your smiling with your eyes. These are best shot
in a swimsuit because the purpose is to show what you have to work with physically. If
not a swimsuit, wear something very clingy like a tube top and leggings or snug fitting
short-shorts. Remember that the photos are about YOU physically, not about what you
can wear. These are decidedly NOT glamorous and therefore not very exciting or fun for
the model (or the photographer - I call them "standing autopsy photos"). But agents want
to know exactly what they would have to work with BEFORE they apply make up, fancy
clothes, hair styling, etc. You want your skin to look good (smooth, tight pores, not over-
tanned, unmarked by tattoos or piercing other than a single - double at most - ear lobe
piercing).
Spend very little money on these! If you do a trade-for-prints with a photographer on
work he/she can use, you can most likely get him/her to shoot these other shots for you at
no cost. You scratch their backs, they scratch yours. But don't walk in asking to get your
back scratched first or for your back to be the only one getting scratched.
The worst place to get these shot is the glamour studio at the shopping mall. Their
job is to make you look like anyone OTHER THAN you, and they apply make up with a
putty knife. And they will charge you serious money for photos that make you feel fussy
and pampered, but no one else can use. The second worst photo is your graduation photo
from high school. You also can't use photos of you sitting with family on the living room
couch or together with your best friends at a party. [But if these are the only photos you
have, you can use them to find a photographer interested in taking some new ones.]
Those photos will work with agents and very little else does. Once you have an
agent, you will spend some important money on getting some valuable photos. These too
can come through trade-for-prints with a photographer as long as you are shooting
something useful and interesting to him/her. But don't be afraid to spend $200 to $500 on
quality photos from someone who really knows what he is doing. A name brand fashion
photographer in New York would cost you several thousand dollars, but you couldn't get
in to see them for 18 months anyway. Find your photographer by reputation, listen to
your agent's advice and ask to see his other work.

2. ON THE OTHER HAND, while those photos will help you get an agent, they won't
help you very much in getting new work today with or without an agent's help. You also
need photos of you doing the sort of work for which you want to be hired. If you have no
tear sheets yet of you doing print work, make your own. Get photographed wearing
fashion that looks best on you. Runway photos often don't show the audience or even the
other models. So get photographed in a suitable location doing your best runway walk
toward the camera, NOT looking at the camera. Take a catalog (big brands, not the
Target ads; young women can look at dELia*s catalog for posing ideas) into the studio
with your favorite shots circled, and copy the poses exactly. Read through Cosmo,
Glamour, and Seventeen; circle the best poses and practice them in front of a mirror. You
also need VERY CLEAR headshots in several outfits (formal, casual, and swimsuit to
turtle necks). Overall, these are photos that show what you look like when worked with
[the agent photos are stripped down; these photos are dressed up.] Whatever work you
want to do, have photos of you doing that: formal, casual, sportswear, swimsuit, lingerie,
figure, etc. It is too hard to get "apple" work if you only have "orange" photos.
Q: How do you get a photographer to take those photos?
A: You have several options.
1. If you are paying, you call the shots. Don't be afraid to spend a couple hundred
($200 to $400) with a photographer whose work you like. Know exactly what you are
getting. How many frames is he going to shoot? How many prints do you get? Are you
going to get contact sheets (I personally can't see the details well enough) or full prints (I
use 4x6 prints)? How many 8x10's do you get for your book/portfolio? How long will it
take him to deliver after you have shot everything? When do you pay? (We all do it
differently, but on paid assignments I charge a 50% deposit payable before we start
shooting, and the balance when you place your order for the shots you want.) Question
you should ask: If you are paying, who owns the negatives?
Actors: You need head shots showing you convincingly in character as well as the
flatteringly real you.
2. Trade time-for-prints. This is very common, often called "test shoots." You will
rarely get it from your neighborhood portrait photographer at the corner mall by the hair
salon. They sell their work/service directly to the consumer and your photos will not
create additional sales for them. Studio lobby displays are of work they are already being
paid to do. But many other photographers (commercial types who shoot ads, etc) may
very well take the shots you want in exchange for modeling for what they want. The
trade-for-prints deal is that you shoot some photos that are useful to the photographer and
he shoots some that are useful to you; or the same photos are useful to both of you. But if
he does not deliver the photos to you afterward, then you are entitled to payment for your
time.

3. "Test Shoots" are exactly what they sound like; we are testing each other to see if we
work together well. Or the photographer is testing new equipment, new lighting, new
technique, etc. Or perhaps the photographer is taking your photos to show them (test
them out on) a client to see if the client will select you for an assignment. Frankly, I
personally do test shoots with a new model to see if she shows up, shows up on time,
works well with me and to have her photos that I took in my portfolio. When I submit
proposal photos to a client, I almost always include just photos that I took myself because
it gives uniformity to the presentation and proves I have worked with that model before.
If these test photos become saleable later on, my release form clearly states that if I make
money with them, the model and I share that money.
In all those cases, the test shoot is free to the model. However, if the shots are
primarily for the model rather than for me or for us together, there is a charge. Everything
is spelled out in advance and you have to know exactly what you are getting into.
NOTE FOR MODELS OVER 18: After shooting a series of blue-haired matrons,
many photographers like to air out the place by photographing very cute girls. Sometimes
these are swimsuit, lingerie, and tasteful topless or full figure. You do not have to do
anything you don't want to do, and if he ever makes you feel creepy - leave the studio and
tell your friends. Before you start, you will want to know what he will use them for; It's
okay for him to make some money to compensate for the time/skill/film/processing he is
donating to you. But if you don't sign a release form, they are completely useless and
cannot be distributed anywhere. They will be for display purposes only! But ask yourself:
If he is going to make any money with them, do YOU share in any of that money? If so,
how much?
NOTE FOR MODELS UNDER 18: All the same things apply to you except that
there cannot be any sort of nudity involved. If you are a kid, you have to be photographed
as a kid. Never EVER get in front of a professional's camera without a parent/responsible
adult present. And as a minor, you may not sign a release form. If a photographer ever
makes you feel creepy, tell your parent and leave the studio.
NOTE FOR ALL MODELS: Anyone who uses the phrase "You will never work
in this town again" has absolutely no power.
3. Trade work-for-prints. Work-for-prints is a little different than trade-for-prints.
Occasionally, I will have a paid assignment coming in, but it is a barely paying
assignment. There is little enough money to cover material costs, something to cover our
marketing expense to obtain the job, something to pay me for shooting it, and nothing left
over to pay the model although one is needed. Why would you take that job?
The reason I take that job is that it fills a blank time slot on my schedule better than
having nothing to shoot. Or, it is a new client who I need to WOW with what I can do

4. before I can get an inside track on the real work that pays us all. Or, it is in a new area
where I don't know if I want to go and this is a paid way to find out.
The reason you take that job is that you are open/available that Wednesday morning
and modeling is better than not modeling. Every model needs experience working in a
wide variety of settings and with a wide variety of photographers.
So the trade-work-for-prints means that you get photos of you actually modeling on
something that will be published - which will give you an actual tear sheet for your
portfolio.