I’ve recently decided to expand my skill set and learn more about creative portrait photography or fashion photography. Initially I plan on just doing some shoots to try out some techniques and see how things go. In the future, this might be another source of revenue. Anyway, for these practice shoots, I need someone to photograph, which has led me to the question: Where to find models?
Where to Find Models?
This is a new situation for me. I don’t normally work with models. My clients are my models and they come to me. My clients are beautiful, but I most of them aren’t professional models. They don’t go out on a day to day basis and have people take their photos. It is going to be weird actively looking for someone just so I can take their photo.
My first idea on this pursuit of models is to use the website Model Mayhem. It’s an extremely large site for models, photographers, editors, hair and makeup, and anyone else involved in the business. You can do a search and find models that are local to you and you can view their portfolio. I’ve looked on here a few times, and I’ve never been extremely impressed. There are several girls that I think would work well, but overall, there’s just not a ton of them. I’d really prefer to have several people to work with instead of just a few.
My second idea is to go through social media. I have Facebook and Instagram, and I’m connected to a decent amount of people. I would think that I could ask around and find either someone I know that would model or they would know someone else. I live in a college town and shoot weddings for people around that age, so I really think that might be the best way to go.
Besides finding enough people, there’s also another limiting factor. For most of these shoots, I’m going to have no budget. This means I won’t have money to pay a model or pay for hair or makeup. Most established models won’t do both of those for free. My hope is to have such cool ideas for photos that the models and possibly hair/makeup could be a trade for the photos.
Well, right now I’m gathering the gear I need for these shoots and looking for ideas. When summer rolls around here in around 9 weeks, I’ll really have to step up and answer the question: where to find models?
