Today there are a lot of openings in the glamour world of Still / TV / Advertisements / the Ramp / TV Serials for all age groups. The all exclusive club of finely chiseled, sweet looking faces is passé, where the criteria was very strict. Standards of beauty vary from place to place and keep on changing from time to time. Today the in-thing is the neighborly look emphasis being more on individual characteristics, poise, conviction of carrying oneself with a good pair of communicating eyes. Look at any of the advertisements or the main characters in TV serials or movies............. you would know what I mean here. Do they not ignite in you with a feeling that you could have equally fitted the bill?

It is in the rare of the rare cases where the model is hired purely for their own looks and their own image of themselves, and that only happens with well known, well established models or icons of society. The times for being discovered by some photographer / art director / producer / director are no more there, for everybody is so very busy with their schedules, there is hardly any time with anyone for such things.

A model is chosen, usually, for the right general kind of looks, and some thing of a canvas on which the art director and the photographer can paint the image that they want for their client's ad. You have to present yourself as a mass of potential, but with enough character and ability to act the role which is constructed for you.

Remember:

You got to make the first move.

Your composite can make or break that promise of potential versatility - get it right.

The portfolio / composite / comp-card is one of the basic tools of the model's trade, as is with anybody who is connected with the creative professional career.

What is a composite card? It is usually a card of size of 5x7" - a size that fits easily in the filing system of photographers / agencies / companies. It has two to three images besides model's name & Y.O.B., contains all measurements (figure, dress size and including some of the less likely ones such as wrist, calf, thighs and hat size), and note of any specialties such as swimming, horse riding or body parts in unlimited designs.

to view a comp-card

Keeping a composite up to date is very important for models.

Extended scope of modeling: Body Parts - Modeling is not all faces or figure.... if you have a fine pair of hands and fingers / a beautiful pair of legs and feet & toes / healthy teeth or hair / a great neckline / good busts, waist or hips in the ideal proportions / a pair of beautiful eyes / nose and ears as these can be individually exploited to your benefit as a model. You may not feel yourself to have the greatest looks, oops... even folks known for their greatest looks have their imperfections... so seriously think of adding images or mentioning about these small individual parts of your body as assets in your composite for they could launch you in an exclusive class of its own.

What you do with your composite card?

You meet photographers, advertising agencies, companies (there a number of companies who do not go to ad agencies) who usually come out with lots of advertisements / print material for hand outs / documentation of designs (garment manufacturers / exporters) and leave your composite card with the right person. Make a habit of calling up regularly, but not on an irritating frequency, and reminding them of your existence. Add images and tear sheets of the commissioned work you do to your portfolio. Each and every work shows your experience and improves your salability. Presentation is important, mount your work on cards or laminate.

If you decide to attach yourself to a model agency in your city, it should be on "an any time walk out with no hard feelings" sort of understanding. But then patronize one honestly so that they take more interest in your promotion, it is pure business, no one is doing any charity to each other. They pick up all the administrative work like getting assignments, bargaining for the best price, looking at the model release format before you sign and collecting payments for you under their company's name and finally making the payment to you. It is fair enough to take a good percentage as commission from your receipts.

There are quite a few notorious agencies who play around circulating the money for their benefits, by delaying payments to the models for some good months after collecting from the clients. Check out and avoid such agencies.

Remember do not sign an exclusive contract with photographers / agencies / companies, or one which binds you to them for any set of time. If ever such an opportunity presents, go deep into the background of the party so that in the long run you do not suffer.

Model contract/release? A legal requirement signed, between two or more parties involved in the picture making and publishing the same where the consent has been given against receipt of monetary / print / any other mutual considerations, either before or immediately after the shoot.

A typical commissioned work Model Release

A typical Model Release for Professional Portfolio Development

A typical Time for Compact Disk (T.F.Cd) Model Release

What responsibilities do you have as a model?

• Your hallmark should be reliability with responsibility, punctuality and a professional attitude to the work. The ad world is very small .... the word spreads very fast.

1. You must look your best - that is what you are being paid for.

• Never turn up looking like death after an all-night party - Avoid all such activities if you have a shoot the next day.

1. You must be reasonably well equipped with basic make-up, good hair, etc. .. its an asset.

• You must do whatever the photographer tells you to do (within reason!)

1. You must not complain that such-and-such would be 'bad for your image' or 'show you in bad light', because you are not being paid to be yourselves; you are being paid to be models, and that is what all modeling is about.

• Turning up with drastic changes in your appearance like funny haircuts or color dye, multiple holes in your ears, nose and lips or tattoos something different from the composite presented for selection. Your first and final step to ending your career. Better complete your assignments in hand or wait for maturity of any valid proposals.

1. With permanent tattoos or holes on any part of your body .... at the end of the day you loose on good jobs.

• Fancy coloring of hair and haircuts........ limits your versatility to fit in characters.

1. Certain "year of the look" and so on, these much advertised hyped looks are misleading and have a very short life. Try to be a star and not a shooting star.

• Study your market before switching from your recognized style to a new one... refresh and re- circulate your portfolio with new images.

1. Work to maintain a good healthy skin and a fit body, be regular with your pedicure and manicure, no sun burns....... assignments come in at a very short notice.

• If you get a chance to model for some competitor of a company you already modeled for in the recent past.... do take them in confidence. Stick to ethics.

1. Learn to pose and emote, grasp important features of the brief and make-up & styling:

• Study and practice facial expressions, make-up, hair styling, posing, walking for graceful movement in front of a mirror - fashion magazines and TV fashion programs are a great help. Such a practice will make you feel relaxed and comfortable in front of a camera.

1. Ballet or Rhythm dancing and gymnastics can help a lot in your posing besides giving your body that extra tautness, and this tautness giving those beautiful lines in the images. Any or all of these will help you know your body and its limits, the lines it forms when in different positions, and you will feel confident doing the posing and emotions before a camera on a photographer's cue.

• As a model you are chosen for a purpose to be part of the team. The aim of the team is to sell something and you as a model is the most visible part of the image. Learn to grasp and understand the qualities / important features of the product or the services being sold through the image. It makes life easier for everybody involved in the image making process. This gets you more work and money.

1. There are a lot of small budget shoots happening all the time with no money for make-up, styling or ward robe. Often a model is asked to bring certain items of clothing, foot wear, head gears, or jewellery (artificial) to the shoot. Try develop with time a ward robe that could include T-shirts, blouses, long and short skirts, tight pants (plain black / white / blues / reds / greens are the safest) , ear rings, and so on... Do not wear them out. Spend some time to learn the techniques of make-up and hair styling. Try to extract in a friendly way some tips from the professional make-up artist when ever doing a job on you. They mostly have a flair for chatting and make use of it. Each artist has his / her own individual style so catch on. You can not, of course, beat a professional with this knowledge, but at least you know and are confident that you will look good in images doing your own than going without one before a camera and lights. The clients may feel satisfied as the final images may have been taken for their internal company / cataloging use, but you have no images for portfolio to show you have worked commercially.

I have been in photography for well over two and half decades, and a right person to shoot your model portfolio. Like any other photographer or agency, I can not assure or guarantee any confirmed assignments.

To be honest, a portfolio is a necessity as a first step to a modeling / acting career and, even during a flourishing modeling / acting career you have to expand your portfolio with new images.

I will be there to morally help you and guide you as when you require. I will display a few of your images shot by me with your specifications on this site free of cost. This could also work as another platform in getting you global assignments directly from people requiring models for their publicity needs. I will also be trying to post images at different international or national forums or platforms where it is free to do so or guide you to paid sites where you can post directly as per your budget.

to see what I have to offer