One of the first problems a begining model will have is finding a photographer who can take shots for her portfolio. It's pretty easy to find someone to do it for a fee - often $500 or more, but that's a significant investment and one that's often not really necessary when starting out.
There are many model and portfolio websites which not only list models, but also photographers. Checkout the "Model Websites" link on the left. The difficulty comes in figuring out which of the photographers listed is a legitimate model photographer and which are GWCs. "GWC" stands for "Guy With Camera", a derogatory term for someone who buys a digital point and shoot camera, then advertises themslef as a "photographer" in order to meet and hang out with pretty girls. Anyone can push the shutter on a camera, but that's far from being a photographer.
So how does an inexperienced model figure out who is a GWC and who is a real photographer. There are some very talented amateurs who do photography mainly as a hobby, and there are some pretty bad "professionals" so you can't tell by whether they are listed as "professional". Even if they are, there's no reason to believe them. Not many truely professional model photographers hang out on websites. Some do, but not many.
Take a look at the photographer's online portfolio and website. If you like all of the images in the portfolio, that's a good sign. If most of the shots are "cheesy" glamour and nudes and some of them don't seem very well focused or exposed, that's someone to avoid. Pretty much any real photographer these days will have their own website. It won't be on AOL or MySPace, it will be their own domain (like JohnDoePhoto.org or Modshots.com).
Whether you intend to bring one or not, ask the photographer if it's OK to bring an escort to a shoot with you. If he says "no", it's a bad sign. A legitimate photographer might ask that the escort not actually be present during shooting since a third person can be distracting to the photographer and the model, but if there seems to be an objection to someone driving you to a photo.shoot and waiting outside in the car for you, that's a bad sign.
If you have any potential as a model, you should be able to find a good photographer who will work with you on a TFCD basis. That's "Time for CD", where your "payment" for modeling is a CD of images you can use in your portfolio.
