Get outside 

Making the most of the natural light and multitude of outdoor options makes spring the perfect time of year to get those glorious images in. We’re thinking dreamy flower gardens, fields, and the rays of the sun can make for enchanting images. 

Capture the perfect light

We’ve mentioned the “golden hour” in previous blogs but as a gentle reminder, here it is again, in this blog, where we’re reminding you to perhaps utilise it if you can. The time to capture this is just after sunrise and before sunset, so grab this bonus and make your child model‘s collection of snaps illuminate.

Think angles and perspectives 

Amplify the images you’re creating by changing how you’re taking the shots rather than where and when. Think close-up, eye-level snaps or images with some greenery poking from a corner or two to compliment the season.

• Do I need professional photographs to be a model?
• From Blossoms to Big Smiles – Spring Photography Tips for Child Models
• How do I find modelling work?
• Our Guide to Modelling with Models Direct
• The Ultimate Models Direct Guide to Getting Your Child Into Modelling

Important moments

When your child flashes the biggest grin, or swoops in and runs through a local park, you’ll know that these are the special moments you need to grab. 

Dress the part (but keep it simple!) 

It can be tempting to put on elaborate clothes in a bid to zhuzh up your child model’s portfolio collection but we’d recommend going for pastel or floral prints to go well with the season’s kaleidoscope of colours. 

If you’re ready and happy for your child to register, (aged 2-12) then you’re at the right place. Apply here and see which campaigns our modelling agency is getting ready to showcase your little one for.

Children with that extra special something can really excel at modelling, with the camera often picking up on that specific sparkle or engaging smile and really highlighting it.

Models Direct has worked with junior models for almost 35 years now.

We know how to spot the children who will really shine during a photo or film shoot and we know how to find just the right youngster for each assignment.

Over the decades, clients we have worked with who have featured our child models have been as varied as Disney, the Paddington Bear Experience, Morrisons, Linda McCartney’s and Tottenham Hotspur FC.

We have teamed up with clothing ranges, food producers, holiday firms and many, many charities.

And you only have to skim through our client list and read our many other blogs to gain a flavour of these.

Those seeking to book child models approach us with their requirements and our team then investigates each and every client and assignment thoroughly.

As a fully government-vetted and accredited employment agency, we understand our responsibility to all our models – especially the little ones – and we have the necessary depth of experience required when it comes to working with children.

Once we understand more about a booking, we search through the e-portfolios of our child models, looking for little ones of just the right age and appearance – and with that special something.

• Do I need professional photographs to be a model?
• From Blossoms to Big Smiles – Spring Photography Tips for Child Models
• How do I find modelling work?
• Our Guide to Modelling with Models Direct
• The Ultimate Models Direct Guide to Getting Your Child Into Modelling

This is why we need you, Mum and Dad, to ensure you have uploaded a great selection of recent images that really show your little Ben or Bella at his or her very best.

We like to see pictures where you have captured that cheeky smile or lovable laugh – that mischievous look or impish grin.

And we also like to hear from you why you think your young model is just that little bit different.

Are they confident when performing on stage? Do they have skills like singing, dancing or playing an instrument? Do they love nothing more than playing in a football team at the weekends?

If your child has modelling experience, then please, of course, tell us about that too…

But if not, it really doesn’t matter – some of our best shoots have been with youngsters who are modelling with us for the very first time.

Read the reviews from the parents of our other child models before filling in our form and sending us some photographs.

Your child is unique – but we need you to tell us why!

And before you know it, your young model could be having fun and earning a little extra income.

This is what Dan and Jack’s parents told us after they were chosen for an assignment with Transport for London.

“Dan and Jack really enjoyed the photo shoot today.

“They got to wear lots of different outfits, from Christmas jumpers to Easter attire to summer casual clothes.

“The team was really friendly and easy to work with.

“There were lots of giggles along the way.

“Thanks Models Direct for another opportunity to earn money and have lots of fun at the same time.” 

If you’re thinking about your child joining you as an existing female or male adult model or as a new model, then you’re probably wondering if they’ll be suitable for the profession altogether. Let’s take a quick dive into seeing if they’ll be model-ready with Models Direct.

Comfort level

One of the first areas we look at, and a particularly important one at that, is your child’s comfort level. So, the questions to ask yourself would be:

Does my child feel comfortable being around new people?

Do they feel comfortable being in different environments?

Do they feel confident in themselves?

Do they feel comfy in front of the camera lens?

If you answered yes to the majority of these questions, then your child might be ready to move up to the next level.

• Do I need professional photographs to be a model?
• From Blossoms to Big Smiles – Spring Photography Tips for Child Models
• How do I find modelling work?
• Our Guide to Modelling with Models Direct
• The Ultimate Models Direct Guide to Getting Your Child Into Modelling

But remember, if they aren’t so confident you can always go ahead and put in an application for them and see how it goes.

If your child feels unsure or anxious, we’ll accommodate and start them off with a small campaign so the process doesn’t feel overwhelming.

Patience and focus

Two challenging factors for children are their patience and ability to stay focused. Both can be very tricky to manage when work needs to be accomplished and time is pressing. Depending on their age, these factors will fluctuate, meaning there will be phases where their patience and focus levels rise and dip.

Enjoyable moments

Finally, will your child enjoy the experience? This is usually a knock-on effect from the previous points, but will your junior like the modelling world with MD? Only time will tell of course, but it’s good to decipher this before they get into the booking system.

If you think your child’s ready for junior modelling, talk to them about it and see if they would like to try it out. Granted, the younger they are, the more difficult it will be to ask this with a confirmed response, but it’s important to keep communication channels open and honest.

Our child models have enjoyed a multitude of varied modelling assignments, including Zainah on her magical Disney collaboration and Sienna on her TOFT campaign. Read their respective feedback below!

Zainah’s mum shared this recount:

“When I signed my daughter up, the process was very easy and smooth, I was very much in the loop every step of the way. Within a few months, my daughter was offered her first assignment, which was great!

I was over the moon as it was so fast, plus it was for a global kids company. The assignment was well explained to me, and I knew exactly what I needed to do as Claire kept me posted very frequently.

On the day of the assignment, I met with the team who were all lovely and welcoming to both me and my child. It was a very great experience, and my daughter had the time of her life representing her favourite character. We would definitely recommend models direct as we have had nothing but a positive experience since signing up, and we are sure there will be more to come.”

Sienna’s mum left us with this lovely review:

“Sienna had so much fun at the shoot. They were really friendly and it was a nice, child-friendly, relaxed atmosphere with plenty of breaks. The products were lovely and Sienna really enjoyed them. They made her feel very comfortable.”

If you want your child to expand their skills, hit the apply button today!

So, what are the best ways to elevate your junior’s photos during the festive period? Would you like it to get noticed by our team and clients? We’ll take a look at some ways you can do this.

Enjoying Christmas activities

There are lots of fun things your child can do at this time – from decorating the Christmas tree to filling up the stockings or writing Santa’s letter and leaving him some milk and cookies. During all these activities, you can capture their emotions and expressions, helping you build a super current portfolio with an Xmas theme.

Take images at their eye level

Your child is likely to be shorter than you in height so if you’re looking to take more engaging images of them, get to their eye level and explore not just Christmas time but other moments too through their perspective.

Festive outfits

There are so many cute outfits your child can enjoy to add to the magical festivities. We’re talking cosy sweaters, red and green colour schemes or Christmas-inspired pj’s. (Maybe you can get your adult version to match with them?)

Bonus ideas: Christmas-inspired earrings, hair accessories and socks.

Make their images dynamic

Instead of your bog standard poses, you can get your junior model to wrap up presents (that’ll help you out too!) and peek out from behind the paper or create a makeshift sledge which they can pretend to navigate. Wherever your imagination takes you, know that unusual and unique images will get your child noticed particularly at the end of the year.

Incorporate iconic Xmas lights

Whether these lights are illuminating in your he or outside on an evening stroll, take snaps of your child with them to enjoy the splendour of this holiday season.

Seeing that we’re in the Christmas spirit, we’ve had our child models get booked with big brands to promote this season such as Sophia and Freya. They were chosen to video call Santa for Sky’s holiday campaign. Here’s some feedback about their experience:

“For their very first job with Models Direct, Sophia & Freya had the amazing opportunity to do a video call with Santa at home. Prior to the project, they were not told and they were delighted to get to speak to Father Christmas.

I on the other hand was briefed by mail from the company and calls with production both the night before and on the morning to go over all the specifics and details for the day. Due to this, the call went really well and Santa was on the phone with both girls for 15 minutes and was very patient with them both as they were very excited. He took time to ask and answer questions and helped unwittingly get the girls to deliver some great content – they even discovered Santa can roll his tongue after asking him.

Afterwards, production made it easy to send over my content and we are looking forward to seeing the finished result. The girls can’t stop talking about it and can’t wait until they get to do another job. Thanks Models Direct!”

This is just one example but there’s plenty where this has come from if you head over to our feedback section!

Models Direct hopes that we’ve given you five useful tips on how to capture your child model’s Christmas images. If you’d like more tips, feel free to reach out to our MD team who’ll be more than happy to help and advice.

So, it is important to do everything you can to reassure and prepare them.

First of all, it’s essential to know that your point of contact here at Models Direct will do all they can to help you prepare your child.

They will give you lots of information about the photo or film shoot and tell you whether you need to dress your child in a particular way or bring any special props from home.

They will also suggest you bring plenty of toys, games and refreshments to keep them busy when they are not required on set.

If they have the information, they will let you know who will be there to meet you on the day, the people the crew is likely to include and whether any other child models are taking part.

Once you have all this information, you can spend a little time practising striking poses with your child.

The best way of doing this is to take them to a mirror – then get them to try out a few expressions: happy, sad, quizzical and thoughtful, perhaps.

Ask them to make funny, silly faces and then to be completely normal again.

Try to make them laugh to show them how much fun performing for the camera can be and try different poses with them sitting on a chair, lying on a cushion and standing up.

Then, get out some of their toys or books and ask them to play or read while you take a few more photos.

Turn a light or two on and gently direct it towards them, then ask them to look up at you and smile as you take another round of snaps.

Click away as they play, calling for their attention from time to time to get them to look up.

The team on the day will know how to get the very best from your little one and from the other models on set – but practising striking a few poses ahead of time will certainly help put your child at ease.

Dressing up may have once been child’s play but these days it has become more popular with people of all ages as even adults are eager to pull on a costume and have a little fun!

Headquartered in Edinburgh, Morph Suits offers a whole range of fantastic and wonderful fancy dress outfits, from Halloween costumes for kids to all sorts of outfits for adults.

Its all-in-one colourful morph suits, crazy inflatables and light-up outfits have become all the rage for young people to wear to festivals and gigs!

And for kids, there are all manner of Halloween outfits, party costumes and items of clothing and accessories for stage plays and shows.

They can dress up in everything from fairy wings and tutus through to furry onesies and cuddly animal outfits.

As well as posing for photo shoots for the Morph Suits website and other publicity material, male, female and child models can also be required for fitting sessions.

And this is exactly what little Aydin was asked to do.

He went along to a fitting session in Edinburgh and was paid by the company to try on outfits to help them find out which ones worked well and which ones needed adjusting.

He enjoyed the new experience and afterwards one of his parents told us:

“We were given a last-minute fitting.

“Charlie was great with providing information and details and anything else we needed in relation to their client.”

Aydin, we are glad it went so well for you – you did a great job!

And if there are any other parents of Edinburgh youngsters out there who think their little ones might also enjoy this kind of modelling work or other very different assignments, then they should read some of the other reviews from parents on our website.

To learn more about how we work and the possible modelling opportunities there are in Edinburgh and elsewhere in Scotland through us, just fill in this form and send us a photograph.

We will be in touch to tell you more!

If so, this Guide to Child Modelling in Seven Steps should hopefully shine a little more light on it for you…

1. Suitability

Most children will really enjoy child modelling. They enjoy the fun of doing something different and the opportunity to see themselves in the final campaign, promotion or advertisement. Read the reviews from other parents to find out what other child models enjoy about working with us. As long as your child is confident, sociable and able to listen then they should be suitable for assignments with Models Direct.

2. Clients

Modelling jobs for our child models may be with all sorts of clients, from supermarkets and high street stores to companies providing services for families. Most of them have worked with us before and we always research every new client and every assignment thoroughly before sending one of our child models along.

3. Process

The process of working with Models Direct is simple. You fill in our form and send us an image of your child and then we will contact you and explain in much more detail how the process works. This is your opportunity to ask questions. If you decide to stay with us, your child may be put forward for any jobs for which he or she meets requirements. Our clients contact us requesting certain kinds of child models (ie a four-year-old boy with black curly hair and glasses) and we offer them a selection to meet those requirements. They then make the final choice. We then contact the parent to see if they still wish to accept the assignment – and, if they do, we remain in contact with them from that point on to offer them support and deal with any concerns.

4. On the day

You will be told where to take your child and when you need to be there. You will also be told what they should wear and whether you need to bring anything additional. We always advise you to arrive in good time and to take spare clothes, as well as books, games and snacks for your little one. When you arrive you will be well looked after by the crew. Everything will be explained to you and you will find out when your child will be needed. Refreshments are often available and your child will be given ample opportunity to rest between shots. You may wish to take some behind the scenes photos of your own to show us.

5. Afterwards

We will ask you to let us know how it went and whether your little one might be keen to take on another assignment in the future. You will be paid within a few days of completing the assignment.

6. E-portfolio

Throughout your time with Models Direct you will be asked to ensure your child’s e-portfolio is kept up to date with new photos uploaded regularly – this is because we and our clients need to see how your little one is growing and changing.

7. Building a strong relationship

We go on to build strong relationships with many of our child models – some start with us as babies and are still with us as teenagers! It is important to us to ensure all our models are happy and therefore we always explain to parents that as our journey together continues they must always feel able to contact us with any concerns or questions.

We know that the modelling world isn’t quite so accommodating to how models feel and can sometimes be an unsafe environment for them to be in. Our long-standing agency is very aware of this which is why we ensure our clients are reputable and that our team thoroughly carries out our necessary background checks.

When a child is selected for a modelling assignment, balancing their life being a child with a professional modelling career can be quite the juggle. We’ve addressed some key points to really think over to enable our junior models to stay junior, have all the fun they deserve and be part of something revolutionary.

Parents – you’re involvement is crucial!

Whether you’re a parent or guardian, you’ll be accompanying and supporting your little one on their modelling opportunities. You’ll be prioritising their well-being and emotional needs when they’re on set, you’ll be seeing to their downtime between breaks and how they are during takes.

What can child models do during their downtime?

You’ll be thoroughly briefed on health and safety precautions beforehand with a risk assessment in place. Any nooks and crannies, or potential danger spots, you’ll know about! Running on-premises – sorry, but that’s a big no-no. Playing with equipment? Nope, another big no-no.

Instead, our team and our clients can advise you where to go to get some fresh air or a change of scenery. Whether this means a place to eat lunch, grab a quick walk, or visit a local attraction, we’ll let you know beforehand and on the day of your child’s assignment.

Alternatively, you can bring things to keep your child amused and entertained whilst they are on the premises, particularly things that you know they like. Examples include:
* Colouring books & pencils
* Reading books
* Downloading an educational app on a device
* Carrying an age-related toy such as a Rubik’s cube or a travel jigsaw puzzle
* Keeping prepped throughout the day

Remember to keep snacks and healthy treats packed too. For more ideas, you can check out our blog about healthy eating on set and what sorts of things to fill your bag with to keep your junior happy and content. We also give our parents and guardians a heads-up about the day’s schedule and the possibility of going over time as we liaise with clients throughout their assignments. Should this happen, we let our models know in advance so that they can prepare their travel arrangements and grab any extra bits such as snacks and nibbles.

The main thing we’d like to say is that kids should be kids and allowed to have fun, roam around, and explore their environment, even when they’re on set. This, however, has to be meticulously supervised at all times but shouldn’t mean that they can’t be who they want to be and show their characteristics when they’ve been booked a gig.

They also love seeing photos and videos of themselves having a good time on social media and in advertising campaigns and promotions.

At Models Direct we know this because we have worked with young people for decades – and because most of us are parents ourselves!

So what makes child modelling fun?

Well, our little ones love the whole colourful experience of being on set and seeing how cameras, lights and photography or filming works.

They love the idea of play acting and stepping into someone else’s shoes for a time – after all, much of modelling is about pretending to be someone else, somewhere else.

They also enjoy the attention they receive, not only from their parents who accompany them and have dedicated their day to being with their child, but also from the production crew.

The clients and production companies we work with know exactly how to look after child models, explain to them what to do and make sure they feel comfortable at all times.

And what makes teen modelling fun?

Well, teenagers love modelling for many of the same reasons as children, but they are also often drawn to it in other ways too.

Lots of our teenagers love nothing more than getting out and about and meeting other young people of a similar age or even other models on set who may be older or younger.

They also love to see the final photos or film when they are posted on line or used in another format, such as a brochure, advert or other campaign.

They love being able to tell their stories on Instagram and elsewhere on social media and to share our posts when we promote the project they modelled for.

And, of course, teenagers also love having the opportunity to make a little extra money.

Most of them like being able to buy their own clothes, make up and games etc – and earning a fee of their own can give them these opportunities.

Our child and teen models can tell you exactly what they have enjoyed about working with us when you browse through their review pages.

Then, if you are still interested about finding out more about child or teen modelling, contact us by filling in a form here and we will come back to you to explain more about how the process works!

Here we answer some of the questions our experts at Models Direct are asked by interested parents:

Q: Do you think my child could be a junior model?

A: Children who become models need to be confident enough to be around adults they are unfamiliar with and to appear in front of a camera. They need to be able to understand and follow instructions on the day or to be happy to sit and play or to join in activities that you, other models or the crew set up to look as normal as possible but for the purpose of shooting or filming.

Q: How does my child become a model?

A: The first step is to join a reputable, regulated agency such as Models Direct. As a registered employment agency our job is to actively seek modelling working for all our models. We have a long history in the business and have forged strong relationships with many well-known clients. The danger of responding to an individual or company on-line that is not actually an agency is that they may simply showcase your child’s photographs and wait to be approached by clients, without spending time seeking out assignments.

Q: Will my child definitely be offered modelling work?

A: No. We never promise any of our models – from babies up to octogenarians – that we will definitely find them work. The process does not work like that. Of course, you can see from the many reviews and examples of modelling jobs on our website and written about in our blogs, that we offer a range of different bookings to our models, including the children, but it is never a guarantee. Our clients ask us for particular kinds of models, people of certain ages and with specific looks etc. We then supply them with a selection of our models to meet their request. Our clients then make the final choice of who to offer the work to from that selection.

Q: Can I go along to the modelling job with my child?

A: Yes, of course you can! You will be offered the job and you can then accept or decline it. If you accept, you will be given all the details of where to take your child, when and what they should wear or bring along with them. We encourage you to arrive in plenty of time, bring snacks, drinks and items to amuse your child (books, toys, hand-held electronic games and headphones, etc). The production crew on the day will then look after you, telling you the timings for the day and showing you where you can relax when your child is not needed and informing you about any catering arrangements. We need you to be there to reassure, encourage and look after your child during the assignment.

Q: Do children enjoy modelling?

A: Most of them really like the whole experience and the excitement of doing something different, as well as meeting new people and seeing themselves in the final advert or campaign. But, of course, it isn’t for everyone. The best thing is to read more on this website about the experience of other families and then think carefully about whether your child might enjoy it. If you think they would, and they are selected for a job, give it a go to see how they get on and then decide whether it is something you and they want to continue with.