Lena Kim
Brooklyn-based, photography graduate, now in front of the lens
Lena Kim did not grow up wanting to model. She wanted to make photographs.
She studied photography at Pratt, interned at three Brooklyn studios, spent two years assisting commercial shoots in DUMBO. She knew lights, she knew framing, she knew what a tired model looked like at hour eight. What she did not know was that being on the other side of the camera was about to change everything.
It started with a favor. A friend lookbook needed a stand-in. She stepped in for an hour. The photographer kept asking her to stay. The agency called the next week.
This is her first feature in our spotlight series. A conversation about why she switched, what working photographers wish models knew, and the Brooklyn block where she shoots almost every test.
I stopped trying to look like a model and started letting the photo find me.
You came up as a photographer. What was the biggest surprise about being in front of the camera?
How much harder it is than it looks. When you are behind the lens you are directing. You are in control. In front of the camera you are not in control of anything except your face and your breath. You have to trust the photographer the way you wished models trusted you. That took me a month to figure out.
And the second surprise: how exhausting standing still is. I had no idea.
What is the one thing photographers wish models knew?
Energy. Bring it from the first frame. Most models save it for the shots they think matter. But the photographer is reading you the whole time. Your warm-up frames tell them what kind of day they are going to have. If you come in soft, they shoot soft. If you come in alive, they push you further.
What is your go-to NYC shoot spot?
The block of Wythe between North 11th and North 12th in Williamsburg. There is a brick wall with rusted iron doors, a fire escape that catches west light at 6pm, and barely any foot traffic on weekday mornings. I have done six shoots there and every one looks different.
What does your portfolio look like a year from now?
Tighter. Right now I have a lot of everything. Beauty, editorial, lifestyle, fitness. By next May I want it to be 80% strong editorial with a clear point of view. Less variety, more voice.
I also want one real campaign. Not a test, not a friend brand. A booked job that paid.
Advice for someone reading this who is thinking about applying to a modeling agency?
Take the test shoot seriously. Whatever you submit is what they imagine the rest of your work looks like. So do not submit phone selfies and hope they see potential. They will not. Find a photographer in your city who shoots the kind of work you want to do, pay for a test, and submit those.
And then apply to ten agencies, not one. Most will not respond. The one that does is the one that matters.
Want to be the next spotlight?
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