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Model AdviceI am not going to claim great expertise when it comes to the field of modelling, because I am not a model myself! However, I have met a lot of models and I am usually lucky enough to talk a little "shop" with them, so I have picked up on a few things. I would hope that this section contains advice, hints and pointers that models (particularly new models) may find genuinely helpful. Why have I bothered to gather this information? First, as a pool of knowledge I can draw on myself. Secondly, to offer what assistance I can to new models. Finally to establish a bit of credibility with more established models by demonstrating I have invested some time in research and therefore have some understanding of their chosen profession. Brand New ModelsEveryone has to start somewhere somewhere. For fundamental background information I would recommend the following web-sites as offering a reasonable place to start.
Even with these well written advice pages, you will notice there are some differences of opinion. My personal view, have a go but consider it "a hobby" until you have built up some experience and decided whether or not you find it enjoyable. Being a model is one of the most common ambitions of young women and there is no shortage of volunteers, but only a tiny percentage will be able to turn it into a career. Having the right look is critically important, but looks alone will not help unless you have common sense, professionalism and the ability to market one-self well. Your first photographsThis may seem like a tricky chicken-and-egg problem, without a portfolio of work, how do you persuade a photographer to take photos of you? Find a friend to take pictures of you. Ask around, chances are that someone in your own social circle has a camera and knows how to use it. Its also a good acid test of whether modeling is for you - if you are not comfortable posing in front of someone you know, chances are you will never make it a model. Assuming your friend can get hold a point-and-shoot digital camera, the most common kind of camera, use these guidelines to get the most flattering pictures of you
If you don't have a friend, find your local camera club, go along and try and meet a few photographers in person. They wont need to see pictures of you if you meet them in person. Ask to see their work and if they take a lot of good photos of people, see if they would be interested in working with you in return for giving you pictures. Failing that, another route is to pay to have a professional photographer produce images of you. Its not a cheap route, several hundred pounds is a likely cost, and it won't gain you much experience (a couple of hours of camera time) but it is an option for kick-starting a modeling career and the results will probably be of a more consistent quality than working with an amateur photographer. One thing to be careful of here is price, shop around and get several quotes, if you are being asked for more that a couple of hundred pounds you are probably being charged too much. Also bear in mind a lot of professional photographers mostly do weddings - try and find one who can demonstrate experience shooting model portfolios. Promoting yourselfMost of my model recruitment is done through the internet. This is also true of most of the photographers I know. On the internet, models can promote themselves in several ways:
I will cover each in turn. In case you are curious, the websites where I get most of my models are onemodelplace, purestorm, photo-models.co.uk and bebo. Model DirectoriesThe advent of internet has created new opportunities for models to promote themselves, without an agency serving as middle-man. There exist a number of modelling directories, where models can publish a small portfolio, details about themselves and initial contact information (usually e-mail). Notice that I said "a number," there is no one directory that completely dominates the market. Below, I have created a table that lists directories that are relevant to the UK and compares some of their features. All of these model directories are relevant to the UK and allow models to submit images, professional information and contact information (usually e-mail) for the purpose of getting modelling jobs. However, some of these sites require payment, some have much better features than others and some advertise and cater to modelling assignments which may not interest. To register with a modelling directory you need, at minimum:
If you have all the information assembled you can register with a directory in less than 15 minutes. I would suggest that new models start with a few of the better free sites like purestorm or net-model. More established models should probably use every opportunity for self-promotion they feel comfortable with. Before joining any site is suggested you review the site carefully, including terms under which you would join, and not pass on any more personal details that you have to. Advertising with any site may help find work but it is also likely to increase the amount of spam mail, time-wasters and cranks. Models I have worked with report some sites are worse than others for generating fruitless job opportunities.
* In this context "Glamour" refers to jobs where the model-limit is topless or higher and models must be aged over eighteen. ** Page rank is a measure of how important Google considers a site to be. Page Rank is a score from 0-10, with 10 being most important. Data based on a survey performed in August 2006. *** Traffic rank is a measure of how important Alexa considers a site to be. Lower numbers mean a more popular site. Data based on a survey performed in August 2006. Social Networking SitesThis is a relative newcomer in the area of recruiting models, but it is my experience that it is playing a greater and greater role. An example, last year I attended an event where I was given a list of models professional names. I searched a variety of sites to try and get a contact e-mail for each one. Despite the existence of so many model directories, the website that actually enabled me to contact the most models was actually myspace. The thing that makes social networking sites so powerful is the friend-of-a-friend type contacts one can make. It has always been the case that word of mouth will refer a good model to other photographers, now this process can be done, to a certain extent, electronically. If promoting oneself with social networking sites be aware of the following:
In my opinion, the most valuable social networking sites today are myspace, bebo, facebook and youtube. Youtube, because of its video hosting functionality, is a good place to host a showreel of yourself Personal WebsitesAnother means of self-promotion is to set up ones own web-site. Although this provides complete creative freedom to whomever is doing it, there is a lot additional work involved in building the web-site and then promoting it. I mention this last because I think it is the least important of the methods of marketing yourself as a model. I review a lot of model's own websites and almost always, a model's own website gives me no information that I couldn't get from elsewhere. All of what a photographer would need to know to work with a model can be put onto a model directory, in my opinion. I would only suggest this route only for more established models - who have well-known stages names, can afford/obtain technical assistance and have plenty of contacts (photographers, studios) who will link to their site. Basic advice: Register your stage name as a domain even if you dont intend to launch a website immediately. Use a service that allows you to do so anonymously (e.g. moniker). A personal website can be based on a pre-existing template, and relatively cheap to do, or it can be custom built, which is both time consuming and expensive If getting someone else to build you a website have answers to the following questions:
If doing the web-design work yourself, there are plenty of sites connected with web-site construction and good site design. Some of my favourites are: http://www.webstyleguide.com http://www.webpagesthatsuck.comPromoting ones website is a trickier art but there is some good advice at:- http://www.searchenginewatch.com http://search-engine-secrets.net/index.htmPlease note - It is highly unlikely I would trade modelling time for building a website. Away from the Internet - Traditional Model AgenciesOn this topic, I can offer less advice. I don't book models through agencies. Other professional photographers, with whom I have compared notes, don't book models through agencies either. Whilst the internet has allowed more models to freelance, the agency route is still a valid means of finding work, but it is not without its own risks. Models with whom I have talked have told me horror stories about so-called agencies whose main business is actually taking money from models and would-be models, rather than from model-hiring clients. Warning signs for these kinds of agencies include:
Employment Law in the UK, and in some other countries, forbids the charging of fees to jobseekers. This law applies directly to model agencies, so a scam agency will usually obey the letter of the law by not charging a joining fee, but charging for other services such as portfolios, training sessions and placement on websites Alba Models Information is a clearing house of information on good/bad model agencies based in the UK:This situation is different in other parts of the world - I have spoken with european photographers who find it difficult to get certain kinds of models without going to an agency. FeesThe fees I pay are competitive, but I don't publicize what I pay models and I don't tell them what to charge. If a model contacts me privately I can give her an opinion on whether I think her fees are reasonable. It is a tricky area because in modeling, market forces determine how much a model can charge. In the realm of the supermodel, her fame determines her worth. Outside that pinnacle, the main variables are the experience of the model and the nature of the assignment. Live promotion work generally doesn't pay as well as photographic work and topless and nude photographic work tends to command a higher premium simply because fewer models are willing to do it. I also meet a number of models who raise and lower their fees to suit their own circumstances. If they are going through a quiet patch, they might lower their rates, if they are busy, they might raise them. Some standard conventions exist. First is an hourly fee, which will tends to vary with the nature of the assignment. It is also a standard convention that the photographer will be expected to pick up the travel expenses of the model. More contentious is whether a model charges an additional fee for signing a model release. I usually ask that the model provides me with an overall cost encompassing everything and choose to proceed or not on that basis. |
