Some models "breakthrough" photo shoots weren't with Mario Testino or David Lachapelle. They were with Mom, in the backyard by the pool on a sunny day.

Top agencies receive hundreds of unsolicited photographs every week from aspiring models, and the great majority of them end up in the trash, or on the office fridge as joke fodder. However, some successful models did start their careers by sending pictures to an agency. Their secret? Besides the obvious genetic advantages of waifish frames and bee-stung lips, they kept it simple.

"Recently we signed a girl from photos, [and she] has gone on to do editorial for Nylon, Japanese Vogue, and Australian Elle," said Karina Diaul, a scout at IMG New York. "She sent very basic shots - hair up, hair down, no makeup, good lighting. Her mother took them."

Agencies don't want to see prospective talent's best Gisele or Scott Barnhill imitation. Elaborate posing, styled hair, and staged lighting effects are better left to the professionals. The idea is to show your appearance under normal circumstances.

"Even if we've been fooled by the photographs - which almost never happens - we're not going to sign anyone until we see them in person," said Wilhelmina scout Duane Gazzi. Roman Young of Elite agreed that the hair and makeup should be left to the Tricomis and Aucoins, so avoid the temptation to employ Glamour Shots. "Photos should be done at home and show us what you look like in natural light without makeup," he said. "And under no circumstances should you pay anyone to take them - a friend is fine."

Young recently signed two girls from unsolicited pictures who have gone on to major success. Carolina Muller, a Polish girl who has shot for Vogue, Glamour, Elle, MAC, Chloe, and Valentino, sent pictures to Elite's Paris office. "A friend shot her smiling on the beach in a bikini," he said. Lana Winter, a U.S. Virgin Islands native who just shot campaigns for Abercrombie and Fitch and Polo Sport, did likewise, mailing natural photos of herself in a bikini.

Even if a hopeful model isn't a complete newbie and has worked before, it's best to stick to the mom-in-the-backyard aesthetic. Chances are, those tears aren't going to impress scouts in a major market like New York. "Unless they're from a working market, pictures from jobs a person may have done in their hometown will be to their detriment," said Duane Gazzi. And don't send portfolios or self-addressed stamped envelopes. "We hate SASEs," Gazzi said. "We want pics they took at home and don't need back." "We get entire portfolios sometimes, which are almost always useless," said Karina Diaul of IMG. "We want: clean, no makeup, outside, in the afternoon light.

Though diamonds do exist in the considerable rough, unsolicited photos often serve another purpose: office entertainment. Bookers aren't above gathering - round the more bizarre shots for a good gape -n- guffaw. It seems people everywhere - from senior citizens to strippers to prison inmates - hold the belief that they could be models, if only they would be discovered.

"We just got pictures- addressed to the teen division - from a couple who had to be in their 50's or 60's," Diaul said. Elite's Young went one better. "Even though we don't represent men, we recently got photos from a male prison inmate," he said. "Perhaps he thought we could do a work furlough."

Nudie shots are also popular, as wannabes seem to think peekaboos and full frontals up their chances of attracting interest. "We get nude shots in very graphic poses, often from the very people who should avoid them, like women that are 5'2" and 250 lbs," said Gazzi.

Many trannies seem to take Rupaul's success as a sign of a burgeoning market for individuals in various stages of sexual transformation. "We've had lots of transvestite submissions," added Gazzi.

Agents offer similar theories for why these people believe they could be models. "Secretly, people believe they could be famous for some reason or another, that they're beautiful and people haven't realized it yet," said Young.