» Sandra’s naked
Sandra Omo can wake up without her make-up and still pose for some pictures
I wish I had set out some time for a ‘question and answers’ session during the short meeting I had with the models who attended the casting at which I happened to be one of the judges last week.
This is because half an hour after the meeting, some waited outside with questions for me. The first thing I wondered was how many others had questions to ask but had gone home because they could not wait. To be frank, as they began to ask their questions, I thought it was actually a good thing I didn’t have a Q and A, as the majority of questions did not really need answers but a laugh.
“It is the photo I am most proud of, and I am quick to point out that it is me with no make-up”
However, there were some that I was not prepared for, and I was stunned when one girl asked if having a natural picture in one’s portfolio isn’t a big contrast to other photos in the book, and a contradiction to one’s career, because the natural photo shows that you are not what the other photos portray you as. I was stunned because the second she asked the question, it dawned on me that there must be so many models thinking the same and the thing is that I had never thought about it. In fact, it never occurred to me.
Here I am, ready to show my book with my natural photo on the first page to whoever is willing to see, and I have never considered this; why? Because this is what modelling is all about – what you can be like, can do, can portray, etc. And this is exactly what portfolios are for – to show what you are and what can be done with you – thanks to make-up and technology.
If you are beginning to think that you are only what your carefully made-up, retouched and glam photos show you to be, then you are getting the whole point of modelling wrong. It is just like acting – no actor is the character he/she plays in a movie, and no model wakes up in the morning looking the way he/she looks in a magazine. This is where the talent is, to be able to appear as what you are not, and ‘pull it off’ well.
Now I see why many models, especially those not signed to an agency yet, dread this photo. Am I saying that every experienced model (even supermodels and those signed to an agency) has a ‘no make-up’ photo in their book? Yes! Agencies may not put these pictures on their website, but they are definitely in the models’ books, whether the model wants it or not, and it is usually the first thing clients want to see.
And as for the model, you have no cause worrying that your natural photo might be a hindrance to your book or your career because you are a model as a result of your natural looks, not your photos. Your natural photo may not be your favourite in the beginning; it was not for me. Nevertheless, it has become the photo that I am most proud of, and I am quick to point out in auditions that it is me with no make-up.
As for the other photos, their purpose is to show your versatility and ability to portray anything. Therefore, it is not you, but what can be done with you; that is what modelling is all about. You are not exactly what your modelling picture shows you to be. If you are, then the whole purpose is defeated because there has been nothing created out of your look. It means that the photographer, designer, make-up artist, and every other person (including you) who worked to make the picture, has done a bad job. So why give them credit?
