Now that the holidays are behind us and the east coast weather is beginning to settle down, we have completed one and a half more days of shooting to fill in a few blanks and Megan is officially on her way to beginning her modeling career.

I am proud to say that Megan mailed her comp cards to the Philadelphia based agencies just last Thursday. While she is planning to make her follow-up phone calls this Thursday, she has already received callbacks and appointments from two of the top agencies in town and hooray – she has been signed by both. She has her first go-see scheduled for next week so wish her luck!

I have posted the finished modeling portfolio for your review. This is the actual selection of photos in the actual order that they appear in her portfolio. I have also posted her comp card so that you can see what she mailed to the agencies to make her introduction.

Click the image to view Megan’s Modeling Portfolio

Megan’s Comp Card:

Be sure to check back over the next two weeks. I am going to be posting a complete set of ALL of the images that I shot with Megan along with an explanation of which images were selected for her book and why.

I will also be posting a video blog interview about what makes a good modeling portfolio. You won’t want to miss it.

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Beginners will assume that it is a good idea to wash their hair right before their big photo shoot.

Truth is that clean hair requires more product to hold a style and will frizz more easily as you make changes to the hair.

Remember that you only need the hairstyles to last for 15 to 30 minutes at a time during a shoot.

If you are working with a makeup/hair artist who also works in a salon; remember this: Salon stylists have a tendency to feel the need to make the entire head of hair look pretty (that is what their salon clients expect). Your photographs are two dimensional and only capable of showing the hair from one direction. Communicate with your stylist in advance of the shot and you can save lots of work and most importantly time by only styling hair that will be seen in the final image.

Last but not least… if you are working on a portfolio for a model, be sure to shoot LOTS of different hairstyles. The perception is that the makeup is what makes a girl look different from photo to photo. Certainly, a lot can be done with makeup but it is the hair that will dramatically alter the appearance of your model.

Here are a few examples… all of the same model.

«« Click images to enlarge »»

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Megan is a 5’5′ adorable 20 year old brunette from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who works as a hair stylist.

Megan is just beginning her modeling career and came to me to get her started.

What you are seeing here is the result of about three weeks worth of planning. Several face-to-face meetings, two – two hour practice sessions, and three full days (8 hours each) of shooting in early December.

Her goal: To get signed by as many agencies as possible in the Philadelphia market and work part-time as a model.

In addition to being beautiful and in great shape, Megan’s greatest strength as a potential model is her range. She can easily look 15 or 25 or anywhere in between. She also has a tremendous amount of personality and is very comfortable in front of the camera.

The game plan: I knew from the time that I first met Megan that I would want to shoot some creative beauty shots with her. I also knew that I would want to work with my favorite creative artist from NYC – Natalia Egorova.

Given that Megan is a hair stylist, she is also very good at doing her own makeup for simple commercial looks (something EVERY model should be able to do and do well). This gave me a little extra flexibility by allowing me to skip some of the pre-requisite shots for the commercial presentation (College Co-Ed, Athletics, Business, Medical, etc) and focus on the more creative looks while I had Natalia available to me. I will bring Megan back into the studio after the holidays to shoot the commercial basics and a few real clean headshots.

Execution: Planning, planning and more planning! My shoots are very aggressive. My philosophy is that if I have a pretty girl and a talented makeup artist – I want to shoot. I don’t want to stand around and look at a bunch of outfits and hope that something inspires a great idea and worse yet I don’t want to take chances that the model will not bring the appropriate outfits. Megan made three trips to my studio before we shot with Natalia. We discussed her goals as a new model. We created a marketing plan, reviewed outfits and did two 2 hour long practice sessions so that Megan would be comfortable and know exactly what I expected from her during the shoots.

When the shoot days arrived, we began at 9:30a.m. (There is a reason you don’t see sunrise photos in my portfolio) and worked until about 4:40p.m each day. We were able to shoot an average of 12 completely different shots each day, changing the hair, makeup and sets for each one.

4,000 plus frames later, here are some of the results.

«« Click images to enlarge »»

Check back in a few days and I will post some behind the scenes lighting diagrams and check back over the next few months – I will share the rest of Megan’s portfolio and keep you updated on her progress.

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The models name:  Tracey Dunn

Tracey is a 5′2″ red headed ball of fire from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  She also is living proof that short girls can and do model if they do business the right way.  Tracey is signed with agencies in Philadelphia, and New Jersey and routinely auditions for Broadway and commercial projects in New York.

Tracey is a trained dancer as you will see in her images and has performance and theatre training and experience in her resume as well.

Her resume includes Print, Television and Film credits from local and regional projects to national advertising campaigns for companies such as Vera Bradley.  Tracey appeared a s a featured extra in the Bollywood production titled New York and appears regularly on QVC the television shopping network as a hair, makeup and clothing model.  (Yes – it says clothing model)  Tracey is also a rookie member of the 2009-2010 Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleading Squad and traveled to Aruba in May of 2009 to shoot the teams annual calendar.

You can view her actual portfolio at:  http://www.joeedelman.com/faq/portfolios.shtml

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The models name:  Jen Hobbs

Jen is a 5’2″ dynamo from Secaucus, New Jersey.  She is living proof that short girls can and do model if they do business the right way.  Jen is signed with agencies in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia.

Jen understands that given her size, she is not going to be walking the runways of New York.  She has taken classes and developed her skills as an actress as well.  You will see as you view her portfolio that we put her acting skills to good use to create a presentation that shows off her range and ability to act.

Her resume includes Print, Television and Film credits from local and regional projects to national advertising campaigns and a credited role in the upcoming M. Night Shyamalan film:  The Last Airbender; scheduled for release in July 2010.  Jen has appeared in print ads for Toys R’Us, DoubleTree Hotel, Borgata Casino’s mur.mur Nightclub, Harriet Carter Gifts Magazine.

You can view her actual portfolio at:  http://www.joeedelman.com/faq/portfolios.shtml

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