How to Work With Professional Models and Modeling Agencies

I want to talk about how as a photographer you can work with modeling agencies how you get to a point where modeling agencies will send you models for test shoots [Music] a lot of people have asked me this question in the past but also I have a number of friends who I think need and are at the point where they need to start working with agency models if their work is going to get any better your work can be held back by inexperienced models and people who like want to be models but don't really have the skill set to actually be professional models people who don't have that skill set are not going to be able to like elevate your work as a photographer you might have the skill set to get out of that model what you need to create the shoot and that's skills that you learn over time but you can also be a brilliant photographer and have a model who just like doesn't know how to pose doesn't know how to move doesn't know how to look at the camera how to not look at the camera doesn't know how clothes fall on their body doesn't know how it doesn't understand the shape of their body doesn't understand their angles and how their angles work so many factors going to to being a good model and you want models who are at a level where you as a photographer don't need to work on training that model during your test shoot hopefully they have the experience that that can help you elevate your work although I have worked with a number of models who are inexperienced and don't have that and they do need some coaching and that's that's part of the process of being a photographer or if you're working with agencies and working with new faces that you are going to have to help develop their talent in some regard so I want to get into the ways that you can start working with a modeling agency to send you new models and what that process might look like the first thing you're going to need is you're going to need a strong portfolio if you don't have a strong portfolio you are going to need to build a strong portfolio that's the first thing your portfolio is your calling card as a photographer it's the first thing model agencies are going to look at and the they will decide based on that whether or not to consider you as a photographer that they want to work with as a photographer that they feel it is worth their model's time and it is worth the Reps time communicating with you to work with them so you want to make sure your portfolio showcases your best work and it includes a variety of images that showcase your style the agencies when they're looking at your work they are thinking one is this a photographer who is worth working with and two are the images that this photographer is going to be producing with our model good enough that they're going to end up in the models portfolio the agencies want their models to like work and develop and get more experience in photo shoots but they also want them to get images out of the shoe it when you're done with the shoot you're going to send the gallery to the agency not the model you're going to send the gallery to the agency and the agency is going to select maybe a couple images out of a thousand they might not select any they I have had agencies uh respond to me and say I can't use any of this uh and that was a good lesson learned so I had to make sure that when I'm working with agency models that I'm getting what the agency needs then I'm getting what I need getting what the agency needs is pretty easy you can do that like in 10 15 minutes off the top of your test shoot and then spend the rest of your time testing getting the kind of images that you want you might need to relight and restyle but that's fine you want to make sure that the agency is getting value out of your working relationship out of your collaboration that the model is getting value out of it right and then you can start to get value out of that relationship as well otherwise they're not going to keep working with you if you're just starting out you can work with amateur models you can maybe find models on Model Mayhem there might be a local model photographer casting call group in your area one thing that I highly highly highly recommend I cannot recommend it enough is to never ever book a shoot with just one model right models will for various legitimate reasons cancel on you if you have to rent a studio to do a shoot and you only have one model booked and that model gets sick or they have a relative diet or they just get a creepy vibe from you which is totally legit and they don't want to work with you that's fine that is their prerogative hopefully you've booked other models the other thing is if the models know that there are going to be three four five models on set with them they feel a lot safer right you want to create a safe environment for the models to come and work with you so step one build a strong portfolio use amateur models to get to that point where you can start approaching agencies to use professional models after that what you want to do is you want to start researching and approaching modeling agencies start using Google look for Google modeling agencies City modeling agency Hamilton modeling agency Toronto Modeling Agency New York modeling agency wherever you are Google modeling agencies in your area see who they are create a database in airtable so that you have the name of the agency the URL the contact the contacts email address the contacts phone number you can learn who the different reps are at agencies like Elite uh or next or ciati are there might be multiple reps who are repping those models you want to make sure that you are building a relationship with all of those people check LinkedIn to find out who the people are who work there and what their positions are build your database and then you're going to approach the modeling agencies in approaching the modeling agencies you're going to send them a very brief email that will say hi Danielle for example as a rep hi Danielle my name is Kim Patrick Robbins I am a photographer I'm looking to work with you and your Agency on test shoots I'd be interested in looking at your talent and your new faces here's a link to my portfolio would love to hear from you in the future thanks kpr that's it that's all you need just nice short simple keep it sweet send them the link to your portfolio to your website if you're sending them a link to your Instagram and not a website they're probably not going to take you seriously they might still want to work with you if your work is phenomenal but you need a portfolio and Instagram is not your portfolio Okay so send them a link to your website if you don't have a website step one get a get a website right build that strong portfolio so once you've identified the agencies that you want to work with send them an email you can even say hey I'd love to set up a meeting and show you my book if especially if you have a printed book I have a printed portfolio that I take to agencies and I show them my printed work so research identify the agencies you want to work with take a look at their head sheets on their website and then reach out and contact the agencies that you want to start building a relationship with now when you start building that communication with an agency and they've agreed to work with you if they haven't agreed to work with you then that means you have to go back to step one and work on building a stronger portfolio if they have agreed to work with you great you can move on and then what you need to do is request a package or they will send you a package of their new faces and say hey here you know they will probably ask for a mood board of a shoot that you want to do send them a collection of your images and other images you know stylistically here's the kind of shoot that I'm planning on doing if you're working with makeup artists let them know that you are and who those makeup artists are if you're working with stylists let them know that and who the stylists are that those things are definitely pluses and bonuses that will help build your credibility agencies want to know that they're sending models to a safe space and the more people that are on set the safer the spaces typically be professional and reliable that is part three so build that professional relationship but then also because modeling agencies rely on high quality photographers to help build their models portfolios through test shoots you want to build a relationship but you want to be professional and reliable in building that relationship with the agency you want to communicate professionally but you also want to deliver right you need to deliver results to them deliver images to them that they can use that the models can use that the agency can use then shoot images that you can use right like plan your shootout so that you are doing what the agency needs what your portfolio needs and then your personal work right Build It Up structure it that way be professional on your shoots don't be an don't be a creep don't be a dick don't be someone who that people don't want to work with right be someone that people want to work with be on time come prepared be early have a plan for the shoot schedule it out I like to have a breakdown especially if it's like shots and I like I need this look this look this look this look this look have a schedule figure it out if you have three hours to shoot what is each 15-minute segment look like it was each 10 minute segment look like have a plan execute that plan know what looks and the lighting setups you want to do ahead of time plan out your shoot visualize your whole shoot before your shoot even starts so that when you get in there you are prepared and lastly you need to continue collaborating with the models and the agency staff continue your collaboration after the shoot you want to deliver over your gallery to the agency so that the agency has images that they can look at and select talk to them get on the phone and say hey what is useful to you about the shoot what's not useful to you about the shoot what can we do more of in the future and how can we work on getting more models so be open to collaboration and feedback from the agency and from the models models may want to work with you as well without having to go through the agency and that's also fine you're still going to want to send those images to the model and to the agency so that the agency might want to work with them so as you work with models and models want to work with you they will trust you and and like your work and maybe get to the point where they fly you down to Costa Rica to photograph their wedding which is happening to me in July with my friend Maggie I started working with Maggie while she was an amateur model and and I helped build her portfolio and she helped build my portfolio and then she got signed to Elite in Toronto and then Urban and Milan and and um we've been friends for like eight or nine years we've become really good friends because she feels safe with me and because I produce good consistent high quality work that is usable for her portfolio when you share your work on Instagram make sure to tag the agency as well as the model tag The Stylist tag the makeup artist type the model credit everybody you cannot produce image without the model you did not get that model without the help of the agency credit everybody involved in the shoot show that you're a good collaborator and partner and people will continue to want to work with you so that's it that's uh sort of the blueprint on how to get to work with agency rep models and and working with the agencies so that they will continue to send you models if you found this video helpful Please Subscribe and and stick around hit the like button share it with some other photographers that you know share it in a group that really helps me uh a lot let me know in the comments below uh what your experience has been working with agency models I read every comment uh I try to reply to a lot of the comments I can't get to everything because I am busy working photographer so that's it thanks so much uh check out the next video that YouTube is showing you right now uh stick around take care