Chichi was referred to me by the creative director of a leading advertising agency based in Lagos,Nigeria to shoot her first portfolio, I was flattered. She was told to see me to create something different and we went about trying to do just that.
Here are a few pictures from her portfolio shoot, we shot about 900 images over the space of about 6 hours, it was a fun shoot and I totally enjoyed myself.

When a model calls me for the very first time asking me to shoot a portfolio for her, I basically ask them all the very same questions.

• Is she new to the game ?
• Does she have an agency she works with.
• What’s her height and basically measurements

That will usually lead to her emailing me a few of pictures of herself so I can get an idea of what type of modeling she could be going into..

When you shoot models, always try to emphasize their strengths and unique features, this could be the eyes, or the skin or her height.

Try to use simple flattering light.

Take pictures of her in the studio and on location.

Try not to shoot in direct sunlight.

Trying having a professional makeup artist on site to help with all the touch ups, this is usually overlooked by some Nigerian photographers, trust me this is very very important.

Have the model come in with a couple of different styles of clothing eg, office clothes, swimsuits, traditionals, dinner gowns, lingerie , you get the picture. I will oftn email her with the type of clothes I would like for her to bring but she’s alway ok to bring along other stuff she likes as well.

This will usually provide you with a very nice variety of images that show the model in enough situations for the agent to get an idea of where the agency can place her and which castings to send out on.

Back to my recent portfolio shoot.

The first couple of images are actually the same dress, I just played around with the colours to provide more options, personally I think it worked, what do you think ?

A few close ups of her eyes, such gorgeous eyes !!!!

If you follow my photography, you will know am not so big on studio shoots, I will do them when I have to but my preference is usually taking things outside the studio. I love to do a lot of location photography work and that’s just what we did, we took the session just outside of the studio and made some images, who says Nigeria doesn’t have gorgeous locations.

Kayode is a leading photographer based in Lagos, Nigeria.

Are you new to modeling and interested in building a quality portfolio on your first attempt ?

Tired of the the same images that look like they were all taken by the very same photographer ?

Then give me a shout and let’s see what we can do together.

info@xsightn.com