Tips for Working with Student Photographers

Think you're ready to try shooting with a student photographer? That's great! But you're probably wondering where you can find them. The most obvious answer: photography and art schools!

There are colleges dedicated solely to photography but you'll have better results by expanding your search to include local art schools, which almost always have a photography department.

The cool thing about seeking student photographers to work with is that the schools are much easier to locate. While modeling agencies tend to be abundant in the bigger cities/markets, photography and art schools are virtually everywhere--from the largest cities to the smallest towns. Even if there isn't such a school right in your city, chances are there's one or more to be found just a short drive away.

I would suggest doing an online search for photography and art schools in your area (they probably wouldn't take too kindly to models randomly wandering around campus trying to interest photographers to work with them, haha). Once you get your results, visit the school's official website and try to locate the number for the photography department. If there is just a general phone number for that department, call it.

If you have several phone numbers to choose from, including direct lines to certain people, search for the person who is in charge of the department (i.e. anyone with a title like "Director," "Supervisor, " etc. would be a likely choice). Or if there are direct numbers to the professors/instructors, pick whichever one you want to contact.

Give them a ring--faster than sending email if you're looking to start shooting sooner than later--and ask if there are any photography classes in need of models. Chances are they'll be more than happy to provide you with that info and you can take things from there.

While looking for local photographers on Model Mayhem, I've come across student photographers that have profiles on MM. So that is another way to locate these types of photographers. However, I wouldn't recommend that as a first choice because there isn't currently a filter that separates the "professionals" from the "students." And usually the only way you know the MM member is a student is if he/she says so on his/her profile.

If you happen to come across a student photographer on MM or any other similar website, shoot a message over, introducing yourself and stating that you're available for any shoots they need models for.