Starting Out: Building Your First Portfolio in New York

If you've just signed, or an agency has told you to come back with more pictures, this page is for you. Agencies expect you to arrive with a book but don't always explain how to build one. Here's what I've learned from photographing newly signed models, and a short list of photographers worth knowing.

Start with what your agency needs. Before anything creative, your agency wants digitals. These are simple, current photos: minimal makeup, fitted plain clothing, a plain background, and good light. The standard set is front, profile, waist-up, and full-length. Ask your booker for their exact specs. Many agencies have a list, and some have photographers they prefer you work with.

Tests, TFP, and paid shoots. A test is a shoot made to build portfolios rather than for a client. TFP ("time for prints") means no money changes hands. The photographer, model, and often a makeup artist or stylist each contribute their time, and everyone gets images. Paid portfolio sessions are also common and perfectly legitimate, as long as you know in advance what you're getting. Neither is better. What matters is whether the pictures move your career.

Aim for fewer, stronger images. Six to ten great images will do more for you than forty average ones. A good starting book usually has a clean beauty close-up, a full-length image that shows your proportions, something with movement, and one image with a stronger editorial mood. Let your booker help you edit. They know what clients respond to.

Choosing a photographer. Look at who they've shot recently. Are the models tagged with agencies? Is the work consistent across the grid, not just in a few standout posts? Check with your agent before you book. When you reach out, keep it short: your name, agency, a link to your digitals, and your availability.

Before the shoot, agree on the details in writing. That means the concept, wardrobe, your comfort level, who else will be there, the location, how many edited images you'll receive and when, and how the images will be credited. Bringing a friend is normal. If you're under 18, a parent or guardian should come, and your agency will want to know about the shoot. For how I handle this on my own sets, see my [pre-shoot FAQ].

Know what's normal. Good photographers work from a studio or an agreed location, welcome a friend or chaperone, and never push you past the comfort level you agreed on. If any of that feels off, you can leave, and you should tell your agency. No legitimate agency asks you to pay a photographer as a condition of signing.

After the shoot. Send your booker the final images, credit the full team when you post, and keep your digitals current. Update them any time your hair or look changes.

Photographers to Know

These are photographers I've followed on Instagram for more than three years. They shoot regularly with signed models, and their work is consistently strong. I don't know them personally and can't vouch for how they run a set. Do your own research and check with your agency before booking. Some shoot TFP and some offer paid sessions, so ask each one directly. Listed alphabetically.

Alex Ancheta — @aanchetany
Alex shoots fashion on the street: Manhattan sidewalks, crosswalks, and doorways, in both color and black and white. His editorials have been published, including in QP Magazine, and he has worked with models from Crawford and Genetics. His feed mixes in his hospitality work, so scroll past the first rows to see the editorials.

Rubén Caballero — @caballeropictures
Rubén's work is warm, sunlit, and sensual, shot on location by windows, in interiors, and on city streets. Swim and lingerie sit alongside tailoring and streetwear. He shoots medium format on a Fujifilm GFX, credits models from Wilhelmina, IMG, and Muse, and periodically books sessions in Texas.

JP — @it_me___jp
JP's work is body-forward. Much of the grid is swim, lingerie, and implied work, alongside cleaner studio portraits. The light ranges from hard desert sun to soft window light, in both warm color and high-contrast black and white. If that isn't a direction you want, say so when you reach out.

Stefan Klapko / KanopyNYC — @kanopy.nyc
Stefan is the in-house photographer at Kanopy, a studio in Long Island City. He has more than ten years of professional work for clients including Nike, Footlocker, Spotify, and Uber, and he specializes in portraiture, fashion, and lifestyle. Sessions are booked and quoted through the studio.

Oliver Miguel — @olivermiguelphoto
Oliver does polished studio beauty: sculpted light, luminous skin, and crisp color and black and white that read commercial and agency-ready. Model portfolio development is a core focus, alongside headshots, and he works from a studio in Manhattan.

Cristian Paez — @paez.photo
Cristian's work is clean and direct: men and women on seamless backgrounds, in simple wardrobe, lit plainly in color and black and white. Much of it reads as an elevated set of digitals, which is exactly what a new book needs. He also covers runway and branding work, and runs a separate account for headshots.

Alejandro Poveda — @ale_poveda
Argentine-born and NYC-based, Alejandro is one of the more established names on this list. His strength is beauty: close, skin-true portraits in color and black and white. His grid also includes Vogue-credited editorials, beauty-brand campaign work, and more conceptual fashion pieces.

Abby Rowe — @ab.rowe_
Abby works in warm natural light, moving between color and black and white. Her settings are often lived-in interiors or outdoors, by water or in open fields. The mood is relaxed and intimate rather than posed. She photographs both women and men, and some of her work is swim and lingerie.

Nathan Wahl — @nathanowahl
Nathan's work is warm, casual, and a little '70s in feel: grain, instant film, poolside and at-home settings, denim and swimwear. His models often style their own looks, which makes his grid a useful reference for what a strong test can look like without a full team.

Adam Whittaker — @adamwhittaker.nyc
A Pratt-trained photographer who works exclusively in black and white: street landscapes, the human form, and still life. He shoots from a studio in DUMBO. His work leans fine-art and includes figure studies.

Photographers: if you're listed here and would like your entry changed, a different image featured, or to be removed, message me at @portraitart.nyc and I'll update it right away.