Testing with Modeling Agencies: Communication is Key.
So many articles have been written about testing with agency models that, well… all I can say is, IT’S WONDERFUL! Especially if you are just venturing into the field of fashion photography and shooting with professional models, working with modeling agencies will push you further into creating your own photographic style and sculpting those portfolio images for eventual commercial work.
Because photography is always in flux, this is by no means the reaching of some ultimate destination. In fact, it is just the beginning of one’s professional photography journey. Testing with agency models doesn’t stop with the model: it also means testing your team, working with new collaborators, and exploring new creative boundaries. This last part is, in fact, the most important—and the most difficult. It is easy to write an email to an agency (or even to pick up the phone and call them, for that matter), but that’s only where the journey begins.
If you’ve done your homework, you will of course already have a team, mood board, and location in place before contacting the agency. But even so, know that your makeup artist may get sick, your stylist may have a last-minute paying gig, or your model might arrive unannounced on the wrong day—or may not show up on the day they’re supposed to (all of this happened to me during the crazy Mercury retrograde that was September 2022). This means: finding backups, asking for references from your current collaborators, and making sure you’ ve got some wardrobe to work with and concepts to work out in case things shift and Plan B becomes Plan C etc.
Getting 4-8 people in the same place on the same day, at the same time, requires A LOT of communication—and this is where the real benefit of the agency comes in. A big part of their job is to communicate between models, clients, photographers, you name it, so they will be fast, responsive, and get the job done—at least when it comes to securing one or several models on the same day. Because the agencies are so good at communication, you need to be as well, so be prepared to answer promptly, send call sheets, ask for sizing charts, reschedule option 2 if your first choice isn’t available, offer alternative dates and studio times… you get the idea. (I very quickly felt like I was becoming a part of the “family” by virtue of the constant messaging back and forth, which made me really appreciate how much information processing is part of their work.) So while it seems like there is more admin involved when you are working with a professional agency, you also feel like they are there for you, support you, and there are no questions left hanging or emails that go unanswered because it’s their job to communicate with you. And this, truly, is a wonderful feeling as precious as gold!
Then, of course, there is communicating with your team. The golden rule, I’ve learned, is to never assume. Always be explicit, share your vision, ask for feedback, and stipulate the plan. This sounds easy in theory, but in practice, misunderstandings happen (one of our models read everything on the call sheet, including what to bring, except for the date!—it all worked out okay though), or your visions may be at odds, and then you have to decide how to proceed and get results that everyone is happy with. The same goes for compensation. While TFP work is standard for test shoots, make sure that everyone is okay with this (I say this because, while I’m usually very meticulous about these things, after 100 messages and an email thread that was taken up from 3 months earlier, I forgot to mention TFP one time and might have given one collaborator the wrong idea!—also, everything turned out okay… notice the common theme of things turning out okay even if they don’t go according to plan, so let this be a consolation).
Before starting to work with teams, I read Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People—which I highly recommend. You may think of yourself as the paragon of tact and diplomacy, but I can assure you that working with 5-6 different people while trying to stick to a schedule and a vision will try even the most patient of souls, so having the ability to really put yourself in someone else’s shoes, understand that everyone wants to be appreciated, and realizing that you’re not the only one who wants to succeed in this endeavor makes it much easier to, again… communicate.
Ultimately, once you are all together in the studio, your lights and backdrops are set up, the music is playing, the clothes are steamed and the model is happily sitting in the makeup chair munching on that last chocolate before the lips are painted… just let the chemistry take over! Trust the creative process, let everyone work their magic, and be open to explore in different directions. The beauty of working with others: it’s not all on your shoulders. Did I experience a twinge of panic when the makeup artist decided to change the model’s hair style? Yes. Did I love the results? Totally! Did the model make up for the extra time by being unbelievably proficient at posing? Yes, she killed it! Did I expect the stylist to dress one of the male models in a girl’s uniform? Not exactly. Do I feel this image contributes to my portfolio? Absolutely!
So, the takeaway: communication is key, but if things don’t go according to plan everything will work out anyway.
