Modeling & Acting 101 - A Model/Actor's Diary

Category: Photographers & Modeling Photos For: Male & Female Models When receiving final images from a shoot, give credit where credit is due! Plan on using your modeling images online? List the photographer's name, company name, website--whatever information there is that lets people know who took the picture. That includes tagging on Facebook, writing this info in the photo description box, etc. It's not that hard and doesn't take away from the picture at all. Does the photographer have a logo they've included on some of the images? Then those are probably the versions you should upload to the Internet. Having the logo on the picture serves as credit by itself and means you don't have to take the extra step of providing credit in another form. I always let any photographer I work with know that I provide proper credit on any and all of the images I use for online purposes. You'd be surprised how elated they get when they hear this. But their...

(This post will be mainly beneficial to freelance models searching for photographers to either create or update their modeling portfolios.) No model wants to shoot with a photographer for crappy images or pictures they can't (or don't want) to use in their portfolios. I've heard many unpleasant stories--and have a few of my own--as far as being super disappointed when working with a photographer and the end results that were generated. However, such a process is one easily learned, since photoshoots are a huge part of a model's career and a task that is done over and over. What that means is while not all of your shoots are going to be amazing, the bad experiences are ones you must learn from. I don't know of any model that hasn't had at least one bad shoot. So don't get discouraged or allow one unpleasant experience to cause you to give up on modeling or feel that every photographer is a jerk, creeper, unprofessional, etc. Hopefully the informatio...

I'm so glad to have come across this link that was posted by a local photographer on one of the Facebook modeling groups I'm a member of. It's an exclusive look at photos of Doutzen Kroes's shoot for Victoria's Secret. We've all see this supermodel grace the pages of the VS catalog for quite some time now but I guarantee that you haven't seen her like this: unretouched . VS apparently accidentally released the unretouched pictures and while they did damage control, once it was on the Internet, there was no way to completely remove them afterwards. She still looks amazing--don't expect for her to look unbelievably unattractive or anything but when you see the side-by-side comparison of the original photos--known in the industry as the "RAW" image--next to the professionally retouched, end result, you'll easily see how even the smallest of photo manipulation makes a big difference. I doubt this will change many aspiring models' be...

(Sometimes it gets tiresome to type out "makeup artist" a lot so I'll shorthand it to MUA interchangeably throughout this post, which is the industry's way of abbreviating this title.) Needless to say, I've worked with a ton of makeup artists over the course of my career. I enjoy talking shop with them, finding out what got them into the makeup industry, etc. One of my favorite subjects to talk about are their pet peeves, aka things models do that they can't stand. My favorite saying is that my job as a model is to "make the client's job easier." That includes others in the crew, such as makeup artists. Anytime I ask a makeup artist about what their pet peeves are or negative experiences they've had with models, it's for the main purpose of making sure I'm not guilty of any of those things--and if I am, learning what I need to change. Trust me, the last thing you want is to make your MUA unhappy...they're responsible for mak...

I enjoy posting behind the scenes photos from my shoots...this one is from earlier today. It was a bridal themed shoot (in case you couldn't tell, lol). The images will be used by the photographer, Marilee Caruso, on her business cards, fliers, website, etc. in order to promote her wedding photography services. The dress I'm wearing actually belongs to the makeup artist, Randee Ratchet . Thankfully it fit me pretty well!

Category: Posing For: Male & Female Models Your eyes don't always have to be looking directly at the camera during shoots. However, when attempting to do this, prevent "demon eyes" where only the whites are showing by making sure your eyes/focal point is in line with your nose--not looking way off to the side. This will guarantee that enough of your irises appear in the photos and not just the whites of the eyes with only a little bit of the irises being visible.

(This post is mainly beneficial for freelance models.) It's no secret that social media has its advantages, especially when it comes to business and networking opportunities. Facebook has become one of the latest resources that models can tap into in order to find work and other professionals to connect with. Although it's not set up to find castings like Model Mayhem and One Model Place, there are ways for models to stay on top of things in this category. Do a Search for Industry Professionals The great thing about social media is that everybody knows the importance of having profiles on sites like Facebook. From designers and photographers, to makeup artists, wardrobe stylists, modeling agencies and fashion publications, it isn't hard to find out who has a Facebook account and who doesn't. Is there a local company/brand/designer you want to try and work with? See if you can do a FB search by typing their name into the search bar and seeing what results pop u...

I had the great fortune to shoot with San Francisco photographer, Gerry Gatchalian of G2 proImages. We networked on Facebook and--like Ming in the blog post I did before this one--I messaged him after seeing his casting call posted on one of the FB modeling groups I'm a member of. Gerry was excited to work with me and we began planning our shoot together a few weeks ago. I'd never worked with Gerry before but know a male model colleague of mine who shoots with him a lot. He vouched for Gerry so I felt good about the upcoming shoot. We both knew we wanted to shoot evening gowns...something elegant, feminine and sexy but classy. The location for the shoot was going to take place in the evening (8pm to be exact) on San Francisco's Embarcadero Street. The only concern was that I didn't own any gowns that really fit the look we were going for, which was bright colors that would pop in contrast with the nighttime setting. Thankfully, I utilized my resources and decide...

Remember how I raved about working with student photographers? That opinion hasn't changed. Via Facebook I networked with a young lady named Ming, who had posted on one of the FB modeling groups I belong to about needing models to shoot a concept with. I checked out her profile, liked what I saw and shot her a message with my interest after sending a friend request. Prior to shooting, we messaged each other religiously about the look we were going for, what I needed to bring, what she was bringing, location, date, time, etc. Even in her writing I could tell she was professional and was very excited about working with her. It was a TFP shoot so in exchange I would get copies of the best images for my portfolio, which was fine with me. The only time I do free shoots these days if is I really like a photographers work and/or they want to shoot a concept/look I need in my portfolio. Both of which applied to Ming. We met up in San Francisco at the de Young Museum. I brought a garm...

New and aspiring models have quite a learning curve to tackle when getting into the modeling industry. While there are plenty of resources and information available, it's normal to still have a fear of the unknown, especially since you don't know what to expect until you're actually doing it. When it comes to what models do, how they interact with agencies and clients it can be a bit confusing for those that are new to the whole thing. While not every model leads the same exact career, there are some processes that are commonplace. So if you're wondering how things work, who deals with who and what's next, allow me to break it down...at least in the most basic aspects (there are more details that can be included but for now let's keep it simple): The Model Gets Signed to An Agency You can't be an agency represented model without an agent! Once the contract is signed, the agency's next step is to guide the model through setting up their first te...