Male Models

There was a time when male mod­els pre­dom­i­nantly appeared on bill­boards, prac­ti­cally naked, mod­el­ing Calvin Klein under­wear and had a scarce pres­ence else­where.  The Calvin Klein bill­boards still appear, but today, male mod­els are fea­tured in every­thing from Oak­leys to Tar­get, Rocca Wear, and more.  The oppor­tu­ni­ties are end­less.  You can­not drive around Los Ange­les or walk around Times Square with­out notic­ing the male mod­els, men ath­letes and male celebri­ties sport­ing var­i­ous design­ers for men’s cloth­ing, cologne and fit­ness apparel.  They are in beauty, style and enter­tain­ment ads, whereas in the past, it would have been solely women.

Take a look at Tyson Beck­ford.  He is the quin­tes­sen­tial male model.  He has swag­ger, style, good looks, great per­son­al­ity and a pow­er­ful image around his name.  He has made him­self into a brand.  He is rec­og­nized world­wide.  Tyson has fame, money, suc­cess, and mon­ey­mak­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties that will last his entire life­time.  Emu­lat­ing Tyson’s career path is a way to live an amaz­ing life, but not many males know the first thing about becom­ing a male model.  It is not as easy as one ini­tially believes, but with the right direc­tion, the pos­si­bil­i­ties are endless.

Male Mod­els Start at a Later Age than Females

In gen­eral, male mod­els start much later than their female coun­ter­parts.  Most females start mod­el­ing in their early teens, while males are able to model from the ages of 18 years old until their 40s.  This is a huge ben­e­fit for you, for it means your career lasts and you are able to earn money well into your 40s.  Within your age group, look at cur­rent male mod­el­ing pic­tures of those in the same age range.  Is there some­thing dis­tinct about the pic­tures?  What are the sim­i­lar­i­ties in them?  By closely look­ing at the wide array of com­pe­ti­tion, you will be able to mar­ket your­self in a man­ner the male mod­el­ing indus­try craves.

Exam­ine Your Best Features

Once you have com­pleted this task, think about what you bring to the table.  What is your best fea­ture?  What are the best angles and poses high­light­ing your body?  Try smil­ing and not smil­ing for prac­tice.  Decide which works bet­ter with your facial fea­tures.  Do you carry your­self well imi­tat­ing a runner’s move­ments?  Rehearse var­i­ous poses, expres­sions and action scenes until you have a bet­ter pres­ence than the com­pe­ti­tion.  Once you are able to han­dle dif­fer­ent poses, start exam­in­ing your body and appearance.

Eval­u­ate your body shape, looks, and skin in com­par­i­son to other work­ing male mod­els.  Your body needs to be toned and in-shape.  You need to be able to show off your abs if requested.  Be in peak con­di­tion, able to go on a mod­el­ing cast­ing call at any moment.

Decide What Type of Male Mod­el­ing Suits You Best

Fur­ther­more, eval­u­ate what type of physique cat­e­gory you fall into, mean­ing ask your­self if you have an ath­letic, body builder or swim­mer body.  This will help nar­row down the type of male mod­el­ing best for which you are best suited for.  This will also help your male model pho­tog­ra­pher decide what direc­tion to take your pho­tographs in your pho­tog­ra­phy shoot.

Think About Skincare

Next, check your skin.  You need to take good care of your skin.  It needs to be smooth.  The indus­try stan­dard is no hair vis­i­ble on your body.  It is a lot of main­te­nance, but if you want to widen your chances of mod­el­ing gigs, then it is necessary.

Don’t For­get to Keep Track of Measurements

Sub­se­quently, check height require­ments.  The aver­age height of a male model is 6’1 to 6’3.  If you are not over 5’10 then run­way mod­el­ing may not be suit­able for you.  How­ever, there are print mod­els, petite, teen, and adult mod­el­ing jobs for which you could fit the bill.  Just do some research to find out which group you fall into.

After ver­i­fy­ing your height, take chest, waist, and pant length mea­sure­ments.  Ask a male mod­el­ing agent or pho­tog­ra­pher the aver­age waist mea­sure­ments nec­es­sary to suc­ceed in this busi­ness.  If you’re not ready to hire an agent, an expe­ri­enced, cred­i­ble and fully rec­om­mended male model pho­tog­ra­pher will be able to sup­ply this infor­ma­tion.  Use your cho­sen pho­tog­ra­pher as an infor­ma­tional source regard­ing the indus­try.  He/she will be able to guide you in the right direc­tion and ele­vate your pres­ence in the profession.

How to Choose an Effec­tive Male Model Photographer

When search­ing for the cor­rect male model pho­tog­ra­pher, shop around.  Prices are not what deter­mines the best can­di­date.  Ask for ref­er­ences.  Find local male mod­els and see who works with them.  In addi­tion, check out their work.   Do they han­dle fit­ness, mod­el­ing, and body build­ing shots?  What is included in the price?  Do you receive the neg­a­tives and/or any print­outs?  Review the photographer’s port­fo­lio.  After the ini­tial meet­ing, if you decide this is the cor­rect pho­tog­ra­pher, talk about the direc­tion of your photo shoot.

Explain if you are look­ing to do fit­ness, ath­letic, or a body build­ing port­fo­lio shots.  Talk about the dif­fer­ent aspects involved.  What would you like to high­light in each pho­to­graph?  What are your best attrib­utes and how is the pho­tog­ra­pher going to cap­ture them on film?  An expe­ri­enced pho­tog­ra­pher will deliver and exceed your expec­ta­tions.  Allow an expe­ri­enced male model pho­tog­ra­pher to guide you today.