Polas: how an agency sees you without styling

Polas are the plainest pictures in your portfolio: no elaborate make-up, no styling, no retouching. The name comes from the Polaroids agencies used to take of models. Today they are mostly digital. The purpose has stayed the same: an agency wants to see what you look like on an ordinary day.

Why agencies ask for polas

A retouched shoot shows what the photographer, the make-up artist and the light make of you. Polas show the starting point: skin, hair, proportions, presence. That is how an agency judges which jobs you might suit. Many agencies therefore ask for them with your very first application.

The usual shots

• Face from the front, once neutral and once smiling
• Face in profile, from both sides
• Half-length from the front
• Full-length from the front, the side and the back

Exactly which shots an agency wants varies. Check its website before you apply, or ask.

How to prepare

• Simple, close-fitting clothes, for example jeans or leggings and a black or white top
• Hair the way you wear it day to day, and off your face
• No or very little make-up, well-cared-for skin and nails
• No loud patterns, logos or accessories
• Even light and a calm background

Polas date quickly. If your hair, figure or look changes, you need new ones.

Polas in the model coaching

In the coaching, polas are part of step 5: 6 pictures without make-up for agency applications plus 15 pictures with make-up in the look of your niche for Instagram, both in one session.