We're delighted to introduce the David Lester Photography Portfolio Builder, an innovative new programme designed to help aspiring models looking for a fast, affordable route into the competitive world of professional modelling.
Every year, scores of young people across Northern Ireland decide to start out in modelling. Not all of them will succeed. In fact, most will fail. Not because of their looks, figure or personality. Most wannabe models are let down by the same two things: a poor portfolio and lack of advice on how to approach agencies.
Your image portfolio is your shop window. Anyone looking for a model for their next assignment will sit down with a collection of portfolios. These are busy people with tight budgets and tighter deadlines. They don't have time to ponder each portfolio in detail, so they'll dismiss most models without a second thought. It's just like when you're out shopping for clothes, you know instinctively which tops don't suit you - it's easy to narrow down your choices. So to make sure you're not thrown straight onto the reject pile, your portfolio needs to stand out from the crowd.
But here's the thing - it's not as simple as having a collection of photos that show off your looks and your figure. Your portfolio needs to do more than that, much more. And that's where the David Lester Photography Portfolio Builder programme comes in. Designed specifically to meet the needs of new models, we've created a tailored 3-part programme that will help you build a collection of images to support your entry into this exciting and potentially rewarding business. But unlike most studios, we're not just giving you photographs. Drawing on our extensive knowledge in this field, we've prepared a detailed body of advice to give you all the information you need to approach model agencies and get noticed.
Here's how it works:
Step 1 - Register
To get started, just provide your name, contact details and vital statistics along with a brief note of your modelling ambitions. In return, we'll email you our Step 1 Advice Paper - Starting Out In Modelling absolutely free of charge and a detailed note of what to expect from Steps 2 and 3.
Step 2 - Model Consultation, Portfolio Starter & Further Guidance
We will take the photographs you need to put a basic portfolio together, the sort of images that every aspiring model needs in her book. These will include a beauty headshot, a profile headshot and a full-length shot, together with a selection of additional supporting images. You will receive EIGHT fully re-touched images in print AND on disc. Your consultation will include a measurement (to confirm your vital statistics - so do be honest when providing these at Step 1) and an honest assessment of the modelling options available to you based on your physique. The guidance notes will give you a mass of information on how best to prepare for a career in modelling.
Step 3 - Advanced Portfolio and Agency Approach Plan
To complete the programme, you will have a tailored portfolio shoot (drawing on the outcome of your Step 2 Model Consultation). The images from this shoot will be carefully crafted to provide you with the best possible chances of success in pursuing the modelling assignments you are best suited to obtain. For example, if we've agreed that you could become a fitness model, this is when we'll be shooting you in gym gear and swimwear. These are the photos that will catch the eye of casting directors - the people who will be hiring you! You will receive TWELVE fully re-touched images in print AND on disc. You will also receive our strategic plan for that all-important approach you need to make to model agencies. To complete the programme, we will make up an electronic comp card which you can use to email to agencies - this will really help you stand out from the crowd.
You'll find our information packed with detailed guidance, helpful hints and useful tips. Your Agency Approach Plan will serve as an invaluable blueprint for getting your foot in the door, making the right impression and setting out on the path to earning money in front of the camera. We're very confident the David Lester Photography Portfolio Builder programme will give you a great start to your modelling career.
You'd be forgiven for thinking all this effort could only be available at a huge cost. You'd certainly be right to attach a high value to it. But we don't just want the programme to be highly effective, we want it to be really affordable too. And here's why. During 2011, one of our clients came in to the studio with a story we found truly shocking. She had just returned from a fashion shoot in London - sounds glamorous, but it was quite the opposite! She'd been approached in Belfast and seduced into signing up for a portfolio shoot in London, and persuaded that paid modelling work would follow very soon. Paying for her own flights and accommodation, she had a brief shoot in one of the capital's back streets and was then asked to pay the best part of a thousand pounds for a disc of six images that she didn't even like. You'll be glad to know she walked out and didn't pay up - even so, the hotel bill and air fare had put a sizeable dent in her bank account. No sign of any advice on how to make it as a model, no consultation to explore what kind of modelling would best suit her, and a set of images that would be instantly rejected by any reputable casting director. While there, our client witnessed a mother forking out £1500 for a disc of images for her young daughter. It's clear to us that the studio our client visited was serving no one's interest but their own. Of course, we need to look out for ourselves in business, everyone knows that. But the David Lester Photography Portfolio Builder is designed to meet your interests just as much as it meets ours.
We've packed this programme full of value and could easily justify a four-figure sum, but our aim is to help as many aspiring models as we can. So we're going to do better than that, a lot better. Step 1 is FREE. Steps 2 and 3 are available at a special introductory rate. For a limited period only, Step 2 is available only £187 (a saving of £38 off our planned price) and Step 3 is just £197 (that's £78 off the normal price). And that's not all - if you opt in now for the whole programme (consultation, advice, two photo-shoots, personalised e-comp card and personalised portfolio of twenty fully re-touched images) you'll pay just £375 - that's a total saving of £125.
Better still, you can spread your payments to make the experience even more affordable. You pay just £50 when you book your Step 2 or Step 3 appointment, then pay the balance when you come into the studio.
Remember, Step 1 is a simple registration of interest. You do not enter into any commitment at this stage and you'll receive our Starting Out In Modelling guidance notes completely FREE. So you've nothing whatsoever to lose by embarking on Step 1. And by registering, you'll get fuller details of what's involved in Steps 2 and 3, where the real value kicks in. Take Step 1 right now: email info@davidlesterphotography.co.uk with Portfolio Builder in the subject line, and make sure you provide your name and contact number.
Our 3-Step programme will give you a fantastic boost at the very outset of your modelling career: an individually-tailored portfolio and the right advice to begin earning money as a model, whether full-time or as extra income on top of your existing career. Don't forget, model agencies and casting directors have a huge choice. Make it hard for them to turn you down by joining the David Lester Photography Portfolio Builder programme. Who knows, it might take you all the way to the catwalks of London, Paris and Milan!