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Portfolio Photos

Some people will tell you that a set of portfolio photos is essential, other people will tell you that only a snapshot is needed - so which is right?

Well, if you are accepted by one of the leading agencies you won't need a portfolio because they will send you to be photographed by a range of different leading fashion photographers, each of whom will see you in a different way and you will end up with a portfolio (also known as a 'Book') of top quality, creative photography. Some of them won't charge you a penny for this, others will expect you to pay something towards it, but they will take the cost out of your earnings over a period time, they won't ask you to pay up front.

But it can be extremely difficult to get accepted by one of these top agencies, and most people join smaller agencies, which can't afford to send them on test shoots to top photographers. These agencies do need a good set of photos, either on disk or as prints, so that they can send them to their clients.

So you will need a photographer before you can get started, but how do you choose one?
Well, for a start there are a lot of perfectly honest photographers who think that they know how to produce a model portfolio but they really don't have a clue.

For your photos to get you into a decent agency, and to then get you work from their clients, they need to look as if they've come out of a fashion magazine. And only a specialist photographer, who shoots fashion regularly, can do that!

Try to find a fashion photographer in your area, or ring a reputable agency (preferably one that has turned you down, so you know that they're not one of the scam merchants) and ask them if they can recommend anyone. Bear in mind that good fashion photographers can be difficult to find (because most of them don't need to advertise) and that the photographers who do advertise may be good at wedding or portrait photography but may not be very good at fashion photography.

What should you get when you have your portfolio done?
Well, the ideal is a proper portfolio (or 'book') but a 'proper' portfolio is photos or press cuttings from your previous jobs.

The pictures will show you in a variety of clothing, with various products, taken by a number of different photographers in different locations - it will show your range, your versatility and the different looks that you can achieve.

This is the ideal, and once you have completed a few modelling assignments the pictures from your photoshoots will replace most or all of the portfolio photos that you already have.

An experienced fashion photographer will take some photos in the street or the local park, you'll then go back to the studio where you'll be photographed in a wide range of different clothes against a wide range of different backgrounds (and none of them are standard 'studio' backgrounds) using different lighting techniques.
Then you'll be back over the park, wearing different clothes and, with any luck, the lighting conditions may be different too.
Then it's back in the studio for some more shots, perhaps with your hair arranged differently and with different/more/no makeup, then after about 3-4 hours of photography (during which you'll learn the basics of posing) you'll be able to look at all your pictures on the computer.
The photographer will see all the different 'looks' that you can produce and this will help model agencies and clients to choose you for a wide variety of different jobs. It still won't be a 'real' portfolio but it will be the best that you can get when you're starting out on your modelling career.

By contrast, there are many 'Portfolio Specialists' who make a very good living by producing 'sausage factory' portfolios that are totally useless. They'll take a few shots of you in standard (and downright ridiculous) poses against a standard studio background and you will be in and out of there in no time flat. You'll end up with 12 or 18 prints (nowhere enough to send to a number of agencies) and it will cost you about the same as the good professionals charge.

These portfolios are totally useless!