keep in mind, that professional models will PAY YOU to shoot pictures of them. Most of the ads you see in papers about willing to pay 100$ an hour, are usually for either pron sites, or just really horny guys. As for approaching models. easiest way to start is to ask friends to model for you. Usually one is comfortable with eachothers friends. Once you do one person, that person talks to others, and maybe you might develop some contacts. as for making them comfortable, that depends on how you act in studio. If you keep fiddling around and sayong "Well Im new to this" etc, it won't be the best thing. Also, don't fawk around too much between shots, if you find yourself having trouble centering everything, getting the focus perfect, take a picture, and continue setting your shit up, and get your good picture (you never know, the rushed one might come out better). Just make sure to keep things moving, and to make the model as comforable as possible. If they dont wanna do nudes, oh well, no nudes then. Even if they are up for nudes, I'd recommend you hold back on it for a bit until you get the hang of knowing what to do with the lights, how to get the model to do what you want, etc. Theres nothing worse than a bitchy naked girl complining she's getting cold. Remember, if you are nervous, do your best to hide it. If you're confident, or at least appear to be, it will give the model more confidence in you, and thus the shoot. Also, don't ever pay for a model, under any circumstance. Just be/act confident,don't waste time, and have at least a general idea of what the shoot will be abot in advance and don't forget to let the model know what your ideas are. ry