Girls, I don't know if any of you have read about this, but there was a case in the States recently where a famous fashion designer, Anand Jon, got convicted of multiple rapes after trawling the internet to find vulnerable victims. Here's a link to one of the articles:
After reading it, I thought his name rang a bell and I couldn't think why. Then I realised that he had contacted me through Onemodelplace when I very first started modeling.
At the time I was thrilled to be contacted by a fashion designer and it all sounded very glamourous, but even though I was quite naive at the time, I wasn't stupid and soon realised it was all a bit good to be true. First up, I'm 5'5" at a push! There's no way I could shoot high fashion, and there was something weird about the correspondence (such as asking for my relationship status in a casting email - seriously, nobody should ever ask that!!) that I couldn't put my finger on so I decided not to pursue it. Thank god I didn't! It really scares me to think what could have happened.
If you are looking to get into modeling, please remember that it can be quite a dangerous industry - there are a lot of unscrupulous people out there ready to exploit your dreams. Just looking through some of the messages I got on that website when I first started out made me realise how predatory a lot of amateur/aspiring photographers can be towards new girls. Some of them actually scared me!
I can't emphasise enough how important it is to be safe. The best thing you can ever do if you are serious about modeling is to join a reputable agent, like Girl or IMM for glamour/commercial or Storm/Select/Models 1 for fashion. Go for someone that you have heard of as local agencies usually aren't very good and will just send you on crap promo jobs.
Use your head. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Check photographers out before you work with them, and if you have any doubt bring an adult or a friend. If said photographer/agent has a problem with you bringing a chaperone then they are not a good photographer or agent.
Some photographers I can recommend as totally safe (and nice too) are Tom Barnes, Zoe McConnell, Craig Burton, and John Wright. Also there are a lot of female photographers on here who are great to test with like Julia Underwood, Miss AM, and Ursula Roxy Aitchison who are all really good and most of all SAFE!
Most agents will take you on a few snapshots anyway if they think you've got potential, and will book you in to see their own trusted portfolio photographers - so you don't have to turn up at an agency with a massive portfolio or anything.
I was lucky in that the first modeling job I got was for FHM, which was all very above board and professional, after that I joined a few model casting sites, which looking back - I wouldn't recommend. Obviously you might get a few cool jobs from it, but most of it will be spam, time wasters, and perverts.
So yeah, my main advice is get with a good agent. They will do their best to protect you and I wouldn't want any of you getting into any kind of trouble.
Remember, if you're in any doubt about anything you can always contact me. I've been around a while and can usually tell you what's what.
Stay safe!
Sim xxxx