Petra Ford

Hi there!

The best piece of advice I can give you is to contact an agency and try to schedule a meeting. The agency will give it to you straight about your potential as a professional model and what you need to do to get there. Try to meet with a handful of agencies (there are loads of excellent agencies in London, such as Storm, Next, IMG, Premier) because different agencies look for different types of models (although the general advice should be very similar).

As far as freelancing—go for it, but only if you can find legitimate, paid work with legitimate photographers/advertisers/publications. It’s a lot easier to have a successful modeling career when an agency is behind you, negotiating the highest rates for you and putting you in front of the best clients in your city. I’ve been with my agency since I first started modeling and I couldn’t be happier with the work they’ve gotten for me and the advice/career guidance they’ve given me. And from a photographer’s standpoint, I only work with agency signed models. That being said, I have a model friend in Chicago who gets a ton of work and is unsigned. I don’t know much about the London market, so it may be very possible that being a freelancer would work well for you :)

Good luck to you and definitely continue to model for your photographer friends. It’s wonderful practice!