Promoting your portfolio
In the last part I gave tips on assembling a high quality portfolio.
The next step is to get yourself known and get some experience. There are quite a number of online sites for models and photographers. They are mostly free to join and give you a place to showcase your portfolio, add specific information about genres of shoot you are interested in, your location, whether you are willing to travel to shoots etc
Pick yourself a modelling name and keep to the name across any of the sites you join.
My personal favourite sites are Model Mayhem, Net Model and Purestorm. Generally your portfolio will be assessed and will need to be approved before it goes live. Take care selecting the correct genres when joining – one model I sent to the sites was amazed at how much response she got as soon as her profile went live “and every photographer wanted to do nude shoots” she had accidentally selected ‘art nude’!
Initially you will want to gain experience and confidence, so browse photographers in your area; if you find a style you like, check out the feedback on their portfolio and if all looks promising, drop the photographer a message asking if they would be interested in a shoot.
Don’t expect to be paid for the first few shoots as you are seeking experience and more images to diversify your portfolio. Such shoots are often called TF or Tfcd or TFP. This means “Time For (CD/prints)”. It means you provide your time for free, and the photographer “pays” by way of an agreed number of images, either as prints, on CD or web files.
Checklist before booking a Photoshoot
Does the photographer have a studio or is it in his house?
Can you bring along a chaperone? (may be a sensible precaution if the studio is in a house)
Is there somewhere private you can change?
How many pictures you will get, and will they be retouched?
What will be timescale between shoot and getting the pictures?
What will you be allowed to do with the pictures?
Will there be hair and makeup artist?
Getting your images widely seen is relatively easy these days. A good way is to create a modelling page on Facebook, but make sure you add that link to your profile on all the modelling sites too for maximum exposure.
Spelling, punctuation and grammar may not be your strong points – if this sounds like you then please get friends to carefully read what you are putting on your various profiles…it is a small point but it could make the difference between someone taking the time to browse your images, or just moving on to the next model.
Model Mayhem allows you to add comments (tags) to other model and photographer profiles, and also to comment on individual pictures. Find pictures or profiles you admire and add some positive feedback – most will reciprocate. The bonus is that anyone coming across your comment can click through to your profile, and the more comments there are on your images the more widely they are being viewed. You can even solicit for comments on the front page of the site (there are always plenty of people wanting to swap comments with you there)
A word about copyright, tear sheets and credits…
The copyright or “ownership” of any image automatically is the property of the photographer. Even if you pay for a shoot and pay for retouches, unless you have specifically arranged in advance that you will be paying for the copyright to be assigned to you ( and expect to pay considerably more for acquiring that asset), the copyright and therefore control of how the image may be used/published remains with the photographer. This means you do not have the right to use images for everything and anything. So if you are arranging to shoot with a photographer and want to offer the images to a magazine, for example, make sure you discuss this in advance! Photographers are generally very happy to work with you, provided their work is not being edited without permission and they and their studio are given full credit.
Photographers are frequently in a better position to secure publication of images from a shoot. You will therefore usually be asked to sign a Model Release form – this is a standard document that shows the magazine that you have consented to your image being published. It is hugely beneficial to being able to put on your profile that you are a published model. Try to get hold of a copy of the publication, so you can add the “tear sheet” to your profile.
As your experience grows, and you have a few tear sheets to show, you will attract higher profile photographers and will get to the point where you will be able to start charging for your time! however it is a good idea to have a flexible approach. If you have the opportunity to work with a very experienced photographer, more experienced than you are in modelling, you may be better to work for free…or even pay towards the overheads of the shoot. You stand to gain far more from the shoot than he does, in terms of experience, exposure and status. On the other hand, if a novice photographer, with an unproven track record, wants to work with you, it is fair to expect him to pay you, as he will gain more – you may not end up with images you would wish to have on your portfolio!