You may think it's easy to model, I know I did until I had my first studio shoot. Before the shoot I really believed modelling was about standing there and looking pretty, maybe giving a few poses, what could be so difficult about that?

It's not easy!! These models must go to bed early before a shoot, wake up early, and start to prepare their skin, hair, face etc for the upcoming shoot. Once they arrive, straight into hair and make-up, where they might have to sit for over an hour getting their make-up done, and they may have to wait another hour or so for the curlers or hairstyling to set also.

Finally they make it into the studio, and in front of the lens, they need to PERFORM! Firstly they need to be bright eyes and bushy tailed, then they need to give something to the camera.. this is something I believe is the x-factor. Some people just give SOMETHING, that you cannot put words on, to the camera, and it's all about the eyes, but also about the body language and attitude, whether sad, happy, exuberant, across a whole range of emotions.. and it's about making the emotion look genuine, even if it isn't!

Lastly, and this is also to do with the x-factor, some models skin reflects light beautifully, again, I can't explain this, it seems to be some kind of photogenic gene they posses without even knowing it, but you will know as a photographer, the minute you start to shoot this person, when the light bounces off their face and creates some kind of magic in the camera.

These are the rare breed of model that were born to do it, and you should tell them so, because you know by giving them confidence, you are sending them onto another photographer, who will get a lovely surprise when they see the images from their shoot, and when you photograph a model with this quality, believe me you will not be able to stop raving about them!

So, just remember, modelling isn't easy, and when you get a good model, treat him/her nice, and tell them how great they are because they deserve it!!