Busy Models

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Codie Young for Moschino Cheap and Chic Spring 13 London

Model Tips - Research

It's true, I'm a research nut, when I first started as a mother agent I had never really worked in an agency, I had a limited perspective from being a model but boy did I research. I didn't just type mother agency into google and browse around for an hour, I spent months compiling spreadsheets of agencies, looked at model trends, who was working, why some agencies appeared to be doing well and why some others in Russia seemed to border on people trafficking.....that's another story.

Lydia for Cleo Magazine

I pumped my model friends for information, had they worked in Taiwan? What was it like? What agencies were good? What type of work was there? Even now I don't pretend to know everything, I am constantly pestering my models for information, they get used to it pretty quick;)

So as a model, it's your job to do your research. If you book a job, get your butt on the internet and find out everything you can about the photographer you will be working with, and then repeat for the stylist and makeup artist. Do they usually shoot in a studio or on location? What feel do their images evoke? What style of poses do the seem to favour?

Let me tell you, if you turn up on set and a photographer loves to shoot strong images and you give him whimsical (unless he asks for whimsical) you're going to look like a fool.

What campaigns has this photographer shot? What past work can you comment on to show you know your stuff? This isn't about sucking up, it's about respect. Ok we know you're pretty but there's tonnes of pretty girls out there. This shows that you care enough about this project to have done 5 minutes of research on who exactly you are working with and what they have done.

So on your next shoot take your beige coloured underwear and clean hair and face but take something in that brain of yours you can use, you never know it could lead to another job and after all, that's what it's all about.