I'm a graphic designer by trade, seventeen years into that career now. In that field, nobody asks your permission to make something. You need a skill and a laptop, and if you don't have the skill yet, you go and learn it. Nobody gates the door.
Modelling doesn't work that way. Building a portfolio, getting decent images, finding someone who'll actually put in the time with you rather than treat you as a transaction, that's a real barrier, and I've watched people take advantage of exactly that gap. Aspiring and new-face models get charged for the privilege of being practiced on, or worse.
BE ICONIC is my attempt to be a bridge across that barrier instead. Free collaboration sessions, real images both sides can use, no fee either way. I have the camera and the time; what I'm offering is the nudge that gets someone from "I'd like to model" to actually having a book worth showing.
Some people have suggested this devalues the space. I see it differently. I'm not competing with paid work, I'm lowering the entry cost into a space that's hard to get into on your own, the same way a laptop and a bit of stubbornness got me into design without anyone's permission. If this helps even a few people get their first real step forward, and encourages other photographers who can do the same to do it too, that's the point.
Questions first? Reach out at contact@mettyunuabona.com