Model test shoots in NYC

I collaborate with models on portfolio and editorial tests from a SoHo studio, equipped for both color and black-and-white portrait and fashion work.

Each session is shaped around what you need — fresh digitals, a stronger book, or a specific editorial concept. Expect a focused shoot, direction if you want it, and a curated set of edited images licensed for your portfolio and social use.

First test shoots are welcome, as are more experienced models refining a look. Tell me where you're at and what you're going for, and we'll build the session around it.

What a test shoot actually is

A test shoot is a session built to make pictures, not to sell a product. The tradition goes back decades — photographers and models working together to try things, build a book, and see what the camera does with a new face. The word "test" is literal: it started as a way to test film, lighting, and talent before a paid job, and the habit stuck. Today a test is where a model's portfolio comes from, where a photographer refines a look, and where both people find out how they work together. Nothing about it needs to be precious. The best ones feel like a good afternoon in the studio that happens to produce images you'll use for a year.

Who a test shoot is for

If you're just starting, a test is how you build a book from nothing — clean digitals, a few strong beauty frames, and something with a bit of edge to show range. Newer faces are genuinely welcome here; helping build a first book is part of the work I enjoy most. If you're already signed and shooting, a test is how you refresh what's getting tired, add a look your book is missing, or try a direction your agency's been asking for. Either way, the session is shaped around where you are and what you're going for — tell me that, and we build from it.

How to prepare

Come with a rough idea and a light bag. A few looks you actually want in your book beats a suitcase you never open — clean fitted pieces in solid colors photograph best, and simple beauty shots are worth their weight. Bring the wardrobe you own and love; we can always pull it back to basics. Skin, hair, and nails looking like their natural best matters more than heavy makeup. Eat something, sleep if you can, and don't over-plan. The pictures that last aren't the most polished ones — they're the ones that catch something real — so the goal is to arrive relaxed enough to forget the camera is there.

How the session works

We shoot from a fully-equipped SoHo studio, set up for both color and black-and-white, beauty through editorial fashion. A session is planned around the looks you're building, with as much or as little direction as you want. We choose the selects together, so what leaves the studio is genuinely yours to use. Expect a focused shoot rather than a long one — moving through changes in light and setup, keeping the energy up, and stopping when we've got what we came for.

How to use the content

You leave with fully retouched, high-resolution selects and web-sized files formatted to agency specs, with full usage for your portfolio, comp card, and promotion. Digitals go to your agency; the stronger editorial frames carry your book and your social. Use them where they'll be seen — a clean set on your portfolio site, the best two or three leading your Instagram, the digitals on file wherever your agency needs them. The point of a test isn't the shoot day; it's the twelve months of work the images help you get.

A last word

Photography is personal. Everyone carries a sense of how they see themselves, and my job is to recognize that and bring it forward — an image that looks like you and means something to whoever's looking. That's what a test is for. If that's what you're after, get in touch and tell me where you're at.