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Where "Be A Model for A Minute" began ...

All site images ©1980 to the present day Barney Douglas  unless otherwise stated

In 1986, while working as a photographer at a small entertainment and modeling agency in East Grinstead, I shot the portfolio that helped the then 15 year old Clare Mulholland gain a place at the top-end Select Model Agency in London.

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Within a year of that I ran the UK's most successful fundraising event for Photo Aid, called "Be A Model for A Minute", the industry's response to Live Aid / Band Aid.  Setting up a studio inside what was then Regals Night Club in Uxbridge we invited anyone who thought they had potential as a model to go in front of the camera ... to "be a model for a minute".  In one night eight young hopefuls were offered the chance of a place at a major model agency, and six accepted.  We raised over £4000 in four hours.

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But fate throws some interesting twists into one's life, and I worked most of the next twenty years in advertising and photo studio management for other people whilst maintaining and developing my skills as a freelance photographer.  Finally I opened my own studio and also embarked on charitable fundraising with models and other photographers raising thousands of pounds for a variety of medical, animal welfare, overseas aid and restoration charities over the years.

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I now have clients worldwide.  I often hire models for those clients and also run regular events enabling hobby photographers to work with top models. 

And occasionally I find a gem of a budding model ... and in 2021 that was Krista ...

southdownsstudio@yahoo.co.uk