Commercial Pictures (Models.Com Modeling Only 11/30/00)
This is Robin. Robin is 5'10", 34A-25-35 and gorgeous. She's a commercial model. She is 23, but plays a 30-yr-old housewife in an upcoming K-Mart TV commercial.
This picture is probably not suitable for a commercial Zed card.
Last night I met a lovely young woman who suggested she wanted to be a commercial model. We talked a little, and I realized I don't know much about photography for commercial modeling, and I really don't know much about commercial agencies. I told this model I'd do some snooping about agencies in Los Angeles for her.
Then it came to me that I actually do know quite a bit about commercial modeling Zed card requirements, as I'd just spent a week with the owner of an established commercial modeling agency in NYC, and had listened to him explain exactly what pictures are necessary for the card, while going through the portfolio of one of the most photographed models on the World Wide Web.
First a contrasting situation: a 5'10" teenager with unique beauty goes into an editorial/runway fashion agency in NYC with two polaroids and a smile. The bookers know their clients, are smitten, sign her, and send her out to test with just the right shooters, making some connections, some pictures, and with tears along the way, put together her book.
For commercial it's different. Someone who could be the waitress at the coffee shop, your little brother's fourth grade teacher or the guy that drives the bus, goes to a commercial agency carrying a bunch of pictures that show the various roles (s)he can play. The waitress has pictures of her tossing a beachball, wearing a nurse's uniform, interacting a little with a not-too-pretty male model and looking like the teller in the only bank in town that still uses human tellers. Or the bus driver is also a high school basketball coach, a priest and interacts nicely with Madge at the donut shop.
The booker has seen a requirement for the particular type, say Hispanic 30-40 year old females between 5'0" and 5'4" with a dance background or bald couch potato white guys with beer bellies, come along and has seen a shortage of the type listed with his agency, so he signs the model. He will use suitable existing photographs for the Zed, provided they are convincing, or will suggest where the model might go to get better. But in order to get signed, there have to be some convincing pictures existant.
Where do you get commercial pictures? Not from me. I'm not sure I know anyone that shoots commercial modeling pictures. It's a special kind of work - like shooting pizzas or industrial tools. Sometimes one of my photographs shows up on a Zed, but it's usually a default rather than being the best available (or the booker is trying to cover as wide a market as possible with one Zed because the model is in the most fiercely competitive category there is - beautiful girl under 5'8").
This really is a case where you should have a whole bunch of good pictures before the agency visit.
So where do you get pix for a commercial book before hitting an agency? Some suggestions:
Look in the Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami Beach or Dallas Yellow Pages under "photographers, model" or "photographers, commercial." Look at their work carefully. If it looks like something you'd really see in Redbook, Good Housekeeping, Parade, Cosmo or Trailer Life - pay him for pictures. Whatever he wants. (Same advise for finding photographers in acting or modeling and acting trade publications.) It's very unlikely that the guy shooting weddings or high school pictures is also the best for commercial modeling pictures. And it's also unlikely a very good commercial model photographer will trade for your time, unless he's shooting stock and really thinks he can sell the stuff because of you.
Secondly test. If you shoot with enough photographers you'll eventually have good commercial pictures. And if enough monkeys are given typewriters and enough time, they will produce the collected works of Wm. Shakespeare. Stick to shooters that aren't pushing any limits as far as edginess goes. The pictures should be clean, clear and direct, with clothing appropriate for the specific roles you think you can show on the Zed. If you test with me, the only adequate commercial pictures you might get are if I screw up seriously. Always sign the model release, as that might make the shoot of value to the shooter.
Third is while working. If you get commercial modeling or acting jobs, either in a local market or national, get tears, outtakes, on-set snapshots, or have a friend shoot you during a smoke break. Don't risk the job, but the pictures are worth having, so be sneaky, or bat your eyes at the guy shooting stills, or at his assistant. Batting eyes probably won't work for the bus driver. A fifth of Jim Beam to the right person might.
And train your eye to see good commercial photography. Look at the ads in the non-fashion magazines. These are where you want to be, so look - let me restate that - LOOK at the pictures. Study what makes up an effective commercial picture. The model is almost always friendly. The lighting is almost always unobtrusive. The hair is perfect, the costuming correct, any background is convincing. This is what you want to show in your book. Commercial modeling is not a place for individualism.
-Don
