11.22
I recently joined ModelMayhem, the world’s largest social networking site for models, photographers, stylists and make-up artists.
“Joining the Mayhem” is something you really need to be do if you’re starting out in fashion photography as I am. You get to work with professionals of varying levels of experience who are striving to hit the big time, and therefore often offer their services for free in return for hi-res photos to add to their portfolios.
The name ModelMayhem itself is definitely appropriate for the site! The guidelines say that a new member’s profile can take up to two days to approve. So after nearly a week of constantly checking my inbox for confirmation, all I could do was assume that the moderators were spending a lot of time scrutinising the four initial photos I had to supply with my profile. Or were all lording it up at a fashion show somewhere, which I thought was more likely. But I can’t lie: I was nervous. I really want to break into fashion and this seemed to be the main conduit into it. If I didn’t get approved, what was I going to do? Sure I had met a dozen models at a recent model search and become facebook friends with most of them but those things only happen a few times a year. Plus a few of the models and stylists from the event had recommended that I join ModelMayhem so I was really keen to get on board and get shooting.