As in any artistic industry, success in modeling is often fostered by luck. I started modeling only over a year ago upon my mother’s suggestion, and said “Hey, why not?” The truth is, my passion has been in film making my whole life, and it may sound counterintuitive, but I thought any bit of modeling could make me a better film maker in the end. So on that fateful day over a year ago when William Yeo asked me over OMP if I’d like to work with him, after looking at and loving his portfolio, I jumped at the opportunity.
Since that first shoot with William, I’ve done the most modeling a college student can do. Ultimately, school does come first for me (especially considering how much a college education costs these days), but I seized opportunities that I liked and slowly built my portfolio and learned bit by bit what it takes to model. The truth is, modeling challenges me. Instead of having a 30-second commercial to sell a product, you have one frame to make an impression. Most people laugh when I say it, but modeling well is not easy. So, as with any challenge, I grew a desire to master it.
This past fall I worked with William again on what was probably my favorite shoot with the best results so far in my short career. I strongly feel a connection with the photographer is essential to a model’s good work (this I can attest to from experience). I can also say that since our first shoot I felt William really understands his work, his passions, and his models. He just gets it. I’ve in fact kept a great dialogue year long with William and have found him to be just a wonderful person with great talent in making beautiful images. He knows how to use natural light better than anyone I’ve seen, he knows how to make people look good, and he has taste. As a result, our collaborations have produced wonderful images– because of a very strong mutual understanding of our common interest.
It also just so happens that my cousin, Daniel Mena, is a very well established young contemporary painter in Chile (where half of my family is from and where I vacation every year for the holidays). So here is where luck comes in– Daniel’s classmate is a male model for Elite Chile, and without me even knowing, Daniel gave him some pictures from my portfolio that he stole from my website. From there, the classmate took the pictures to one of the bookers at Elite who then asked me to come in and meet him with my book.
Daniel and I then went through all of my photos to put together a newer, fresher book that we thought would suit the Chilean market– and that’s where William’s photography comes in! Among others, my portfolio includes five images by William– a few beach location shots, a casual shot, and a lingerie shot. Those shots proved to have the greatest range out of any group in the portfolio and the greatest aesthetic. William really knows how to capture a great smile or great sensuality or great sincerity.
So with this collection of images, I met the booker for Elite and then and there he signed me as one of their international models. Even though I won’t be in Chile too often, it’s nice to have representation that is so respected and worth having! And with this new partnership I hope to move in an even greater direction with modeling; thanks, in large part, to William.
