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How Can a Curvy Girl Try Glamour Modeling (without having regrets)?

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It still amazes me that the quantity and quality of curvy, aspiring models was greater 15 years ago than it is today. There are women I photographed when I first started doing this who are lawyers and successful actresses today. You don’t see that too much now. The internet has changed things for the worse. Just about anyone can appoint themselves a model and this has led to a decrease in the overall quality of candidates we see. Aspiring models with college degrees or good jobs don’t want to get lumped in with the cell phone yamps, so they stay away.

Further, any stigma attached to glamour modeling in general is even double for voluptuous women. People see it as more sexual (even though these women are generally not regarded as desirable in the mainstream; that’s the hypocrisy of it all), and therefore less reputable. Don’t believe me? Ask yourself this: where is the analog for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue for curvy women, or the renowned Victoria Secrets runway show?

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Hopefully this will change over time, but for now a curvy woman looking to do this has to proceed with caution. She has to make sure to distinguish herself. She will also want to take images she can defend should they arise in a sensitive context, like say, a corporate job or a future marriage prospect.

The answer to this is both simple and complex: find a good photographer that conveys what you want to portray. This is easier said than done because, while there are seemingly more photographers today than ever, there actually aren’t many good ones. An aspiring model has to have a discerning eye to differentiate a talented photographer from what Kimmi Kennedy refers to as “suitcase pimps.”

I can’t describe to you what makes one photograph higher quality than the next, but I can tell you that high quality photos involve: 1) professional hair and make up, 2) quality locations, 3) a stylist, and 4) time intensive retouching. Hint: Retouching that doesn’t look like retouching takes more time – anyone can apply a skin blur filter.

I recently came across a photographer who has done some of the best work I’ve seen with curvy models -
Bradford Wilcox for Natural Model Management. I would suggest any woman looking to do this check them out. But still, you don’t see the range in terms of sexually racy photos that you do in the thinner girls portfolios. I am more interested in that intersection - the risqué with the Rubenesque (without becoming ribald).

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