ture methods, and new styles. Your repertoire of techniques must always be
changing and suited to the current tastes of the market.
What to Emphasize.An additional challenge in working in fashion is that
youneed to be versedin allaspects of hair, makeup, andphotostyling. Build-
ing a team of specialists is critical to attaining professional status as a shooter.
This involves carefully evaluating the purpose of each session. Before I do a
fashion shoot, I ask myself some questions: What are we trying to show? Is it
a particular item of clothing? Something special about the clothing (e.g.,a
zipper, material, or a design)? What is it that will prompt the viewer of the
photos to want to purchase this product?
When you are shooting images for a model’s portfolio, you should ask
yourself the same questions. What are we trying to show? What will inspire
the client to hire this model? Remember, the purpose of creating the model’s
portfolio is to show a wide range of looks and to feature her best attributes.
The ultimate goal is for the potential employer to see something in her book
that he can relate to and, based on that, to want to hire her.
Teamwork counts. After you decide what you need to emphasize in the
photograph, your team (makeup artist, hairdresser, and photo stylist) will all
need to work together to create the optimal image. Having specialists assist
INTRODUCTION 15I-5.Getting to work with models and
help them advance their careers is one
of the most rewarding aspects of the
job.