Apparently, lots of faces like seeing her as well, as her reputation for photographing models continues to grow.

This New York native was capturing faces since owning her first brownie camera, and her passion intensified from there.

“It wasn’t until I met my husband, which was fifteen years ago,” she says, “and he bought me my first real camera with a real lens. He’s my assistant now, but he was a model at the time. He wanted a house photographer for himself!

“I then built myself a little portfolio. He was traveling as a model at the time and I just went along with him. I followed him around through my photography. We went to Miami, cross-country. Europe: Italy, Portugal. Everywhere I went, I met models through him and I just photographed them.”

Once back home in the Big Apple, she became a magnet for models and actors who needed just the right comp cards and headshots.  She can also work both sides of the fence, from fashion to commercial.

“My commercial photography has a fashion flair to it,” she says. “It’s not really so cut and dry. It’s not that kind of really staged commercial photography. It’s natural lifestyle, a piece of life, capturing life. It could be a girl in high heels walking down a train track, which is fashion with a business look. I like to capture people, for instance, relaxed in a chair.”

“I think the most exciting of all was the first American Baby cover that I ever did,” she says. “That was also their first cover ever.

“The kids are always great, but there are things you have to work against, like nap time. You have to make sure that the kid’s not cranky or having a bad day or hungry or any of that. When I shoot them, I shoot them out of my home, so when they come here, there are toys around from my own kids, and they get comfortable right away. You capture their real essence as if they were in their own home. It’s not like a cold studio where they shy away. And being a woman helps. They can relate more to a woman than a man.”

Her own babies, who are not babies anymore, are also in the business and doing quite well. Aitana, 12, Cosette, 8, and Talia, 5, take mommy’s work in stride.

Being a mother herself, her advice for aspiring models is careful and urgent.

“Make sure you do your research,” she says. “Don’t go to the first agency that calls you. I always give [models] a list of who I believe are good agents. There are a couple of scams out there. I tell these girls, use the agencies on this list. Somebody who contacts you and is asking you for money and they think that my pictures are not going to get you work, then it is most likely a scam. All the reputable commercial print agencies all know my work. If they ever weren’t happy with my work, they would call me personally. But if an agency says, ‘no, no, these pictures are not doing you justice. You need to go to our photographer,’ then that’s already a sign. Beware of scams.”

Still, as the industry is so subjective, Yolanda tries to give models a smorgasbord to hand to their agents, rather than a one or two-course meal.

“A photo shoot with eight changes takes two hours, and that’s including hair and makeup. In the first hour, I’ve done the hair and makeup, and I’ve shot four headshots. In the second hour, I’ve done the four full-length and outdoor shots. It’s always two hours.”

Of course, it’s more than just shooting. Yolanda strives to bring out the best in the subject, which involves sensitivity and timing.

“[During a shoot,] as soon as the person feels that they are amazing, they stop moving,” she says. “They are staying right where they are. I bring out positive energy in people, and that’s what makes them feel good about themselves.”

Photos / tearsheets courtesy of Yolanda Perez

For more information about Yolanda’s photography, go to

http://www.ypphoto.com/

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