This Is Not a Model Modeling Career

Re “It Helps to Smile” (Jeannine Stein, Nov. 11) about modeling schools: Fashion/beauty photographers like myself, as well as modeling agencies, are not at all impressed by modeling school on a would-be model’s resume.

If a girl has what it takes (proper height and weight, good proportions, decent skin, good attitude) she can simply walk into a modeling agency and take it from there. The agency will teach her what she needs to know, at no charge. The girl does not need a portfolio to apply at an agency and certainly does not need any modeling school.

Consider these modeling schools as charm schools, and decide whether to spend the money. But to think of them as an entree into the wonderful field of modeling is a tragic error.

As with the sad case quoted in your article, many girls who could have been the next Paulina or Cindy Crawford lose out because they don’t even approach agencies, due to their mistaken notion that they need the school first.

JOEL AMKRAUT

Los Angeles