Tampa Bay models on Tampa Bay Modeling.Tampa modeling portfolio photography services, Tampa model testing photography services, modeling portfolio books, modeling composite cards, comp cards, zed cards, and services for professional modeling career tools. These services are not free, and require an investment into your modeling career!Tampa Bay Modeling features, articles, tutorials, interactive tutorials, anecdotes, stories, tools, paperwork, and more.Risks for models, modeling scams, and protecting the integrity and the marketability of your modeling career.Tampa Bay modeling scams.Tampa Bay Modeling model job board section for model Go-See information and casting.Tampa Bay Modeling resources, including career tool links, contracts, vouchers, scam fighting agreements, forms, and other tools.Tampa Bay Modeling contact information and our monthly modeling mail bag for the answers to your questions.  
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First modeling portfolio picture of a Tampa model on Tampa Bay Modeling. All portfolio photographs, unless otherwise noted, by C. A. Passinault, lead photographer for Aurora PhotoArts Tampa Photography and Design, as well as Director of Tampa Bay Modeling. C. A. Passinault is a top photographer, as well as a modeling expert.Second model photograph on Tampa Bay Modeling. Click on the image for an anecdote of the modeling shoot which produced this picture.In this third picture, you can see why the Tampa Bay area is one of the best in the world for modeling portfolio development work. Photograph by Tampa photographer C. A. Passinault.Image four of our online portfolio of another Tampa model. This photograph, if we are not mistaken, was taken on location in the Tampa Bay area. The best modeling portfolio photographs are location shots.This is another great picture. This is the fifth model photograph on Tampa Bay Modeling. Pictures featured in our thumbnail array may not be the same as those of models which are in our featured model section, but often, they are one and the same.Unmatched in any Florida modeling market. The quality of this image is excellent! Photograph by C. A. Passinault, our resident photographer and modeling expert.Another top Tampa model gets their look on. The best models can obtain a wide range of looks, as you can see when you look at other pictures of this model!Is it any wonder why more and more companies and art directors are booking independent models without going through an agency? Proof that you can be a professional model, with a lucrative career, without being dependent upon an agency to find and book modeling jobs!Another awesome photograph of a Tampa model by modeling photographer C. A. Passinault, lead photographer Aurora PhotoArts, and director of Tampa Bay Modeling.For modeling portfolio work in the Tampa Bay area, nothing beats location work. Studio photography is not nearly as cost effective, or appropriate, for modeling portfolio work.Keep in mind that this picture, for a modeling portfolio, was taken by a qualified modeling portfolio photographer, C. A. Passinault, for a specialized, professional market, which is modeling. A wedding photographer or a portrait studio will not be able to give models what they need for an effective modeling portfolio, as you have to know what you are doing!This is the 12th picture in our Tampa Bay Modeling online portfolio. Yet another Tampa model shows a marketable look in their portfolio. The best models are capable of the most looks, and are not locked into a single look!Agency model or independent model? It doesnt matter, anymore, especially in Tampa Bay. Professional models like this one can be booked without going through an agency, saving both the model and the job agency fees.Modeling portfolios need at least six looks, and by looks, we mean different looks. A composite cards needs at least five, on average, with a headshot on the front, and four different looks on the back of the comp card. This Tampa model is demonstrating a marketable look right now, in this photography. Picture by C. A. Passinault.
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Standards have dropped in the Tampa modeling industry 1. Standards have dropped in the Tampa modeling industryStandards have dropped in the Tampa modeling industry. By C. A. Passinault.
Agency TFP and dumping the modeling portfolio market 2. Agency TFP and dumping the modeling portfolio market
The difference between TFP and professional collaboration 3. The difference between TFP and professional collaboration
Amateurs pretending to be professionals 4. Amateurs pretending to be professionals
Studio training wheels 5. Studio training wheels
Stumbling in the light 6. Stumbling in the light
The aftermath 7. The aftermath

By C. A. Passinault, Director of Tampa Bay Modeling

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Amateurs pretending to be professionals

Portfolio networking sites were never new. One Model Place was all the rage back when I turned pro as a photographer in 2000. Of course, the market, and the Internet, was a different place back then. Digital cameras were just beginning to have enough resolution, at 3.3 Megapixels, to do printable, or maybe even professional photography with, and the few of us who invested in them (I had to take out a loan to get mine, and I was a banker making plenty of money then) found out that they were expensive; that expense, however, was more than offset without the overhead of film and development costs (for a while, though, the high cost of digital cameras was a barrier to the amateurs and kept the digital revolution in the hands of professional photographers. This would change, in time, but it took years). 80% fewer people were using the Internet, too, and it was a lot less crowded; the time which the Internet was the most cost-effective to really work was between 2002 and 2006 (and roughly the same arc of using the Internet can be applied to digital photography, as both revolutions were parallel in some ways). Why? Well, there was little competition on the Internet, as well as enough people on there to make the return on the investment worthwhile. Now, with most people using freebie social media sites instead of search engines and web sites (I know this for a fact. Many of my web sites are number one in the search engines, and if no one is looking, well, being number one is pointless), the Internet is a noisy place full of rather ignorant people. Some people have not earned the right to be on the Internet, but there they are, cluttering it up.
The main problem, and this affects both social and business circles, is that the traditional cost of entry which provided a barrier to preserve standards is now gone. Now, everyone has a voice on the net. Everyone is supposedly a model. Everyone and their little brother is supposedly a photographer. There is a lot of noise out there, and many professionals get lost in it.
Is this the end?
No, not quite. Things go in cycles, you see. After new technology and tools are introduced to markets, there are degraded values and falling market shares, followed by the market realizing that cheap, or free, is a false economy. That’s when it returns to balance. With the economy recovering and many beginning to realize that free or cheap does not equate to value, well, the market is going to get better. It’s especially going to improve after I get done with it, and I won’t be the only one who will benefit from my work. All professional photographers and models will benefit. The only ones who will NOT benefit will be amateurs pretending to be professionals, modeling scams, modeling and talent agencies, and unethical, unprofessional models and photographers who lie, cheat, steal, take shortcuts, and don’t bother to invest in their careers. Standards will be set in this market and throughout the industry, and integrity will be maintained for all professionals.
I’ve fared better than a lot of professional photographers throughout this transition, thanks to my web sites and referrals from clients. A lot of others, unfortunately, have gone out of business (I believe that’s how I landed TampaCommercialPhotography.Com, which used to be owned by another photographer. I really do feel bad for him if he went out of business, because I recall that he was pretty good. That domain name was a score for me, though, and I’ll really put it to good use in the coming years!).
It’s not just people trying to get photography and career support services for free, either. You see, the models are also getting a taste of this, as there are many so-called “modeling jobs” trying to get them work for free. What is the point of being a professional photographer or model if you work for free? Your career will not be sustainable, at any rate.
I talked to the mother of a model recently, and she stated that a model friend of mine who we both knew, a high profile model, didn’t always get paid for her work. The model’s mother thought that I had insinuated that free was always bad. That is not the point. The point is that, in every job or collaboration, the model should receive a benefit to their career, and ideally both, such as pay and tear sheets. In that instance, I was observing a group of guys with camera equipment paying money to take pictures of new models in an attempt to build the portfolio of both the amateur photographers and the amateur models. I did not see much of a point to this, because, although the models were getting free pictures, without a professional in the mix amateur plus amateur equals amateur. Yes, they were getting pictures, but were those pictures worth it? Were they really worth the time? The photographers were practicing, all right, but they were only practicing, and perfecting, mistakes. They were spinning their wheels. The models were getting pictures and practicing, too, but the pictures were not portfolio-worthy, and would not be effective in marketing their modeling careers. Why settle for average when you can get much better, with less time, by paying a professional? Both the photographers and the models needed professional help. The photographers, one of whom was marketing himself as a model coach, which he wasn’t qualified to do, were doing high-risk modeling photography with new models, crippling the careers of the models before they even had a chance to begin. High-risk modeling, which is ONLY for experienced professional models who choose to specialize in those fields (and professional photographers who specialize in high-risk work and who I have talked this over with AGREE with me on this, as they understand the implications of such work, and give it the appropriate respect that it demands), include glamour, boudoir, lingerie, body paint, so-called “artistic” nudes, skimpy bikinis, and posing provocatively. Even if the photographs had turned out good, which wasn’t likely with this group (later verified when I saw major mistakes in composition with some of the shots), the fact that they were shooting new models like that proved that they did not know what in the hell they were doing. To me, a working professional who had paid my dues and who was a leader in the market, they were like children waving around a loaded gun, unaware of the dangers of what they were doing, and showing outright disrespect for the power of photography. Pictures are forever, you see, and many of those models had a dramatically reduced chance of a career after those guys with cameras took their pictures and posted them all over the Internet. The models, too, were not getting much out of the experience. Some of those girls should not have been modeling, and I saw one of them who was so clueless that she had to be posed and micro-managed during her shoot (She had no instincts or talent). The photographer who had to instruct her was the only experienced professional photographer there other than myself, and I wasn’t shooting. He had to literally give her specific, detailed instructions for every shot, and I couldn’t believe how bad that the model was.
To me, though, it was downright inspiring. These guys were not a threat to my business, for sure, and those models would certainly not be able to compete with the models who I work with. If this was the best that the free, TFP amateur modeling market held, then those of us who were working professionals had little to worry about.
You really do get what you pay for, especially when those who offer to work for free don’t have a clue about what they are doing. Hey, there is nothing wrong with photography and modeling clubs doing their hobby, but don’t you dare misrepresent yourselves as professionals when you’re nothing more than amateurs who work for free.
Remember when I said that a job should have benefits to the career? Well, to the layman, some professional models and photographers might occasionally network and do work that looks like it is free, but don’t misperceive what is really going on; the difference is that they are receiving something of value for their time and work. That’s the KEY! They are also established professionals who are NOT in the market for what the other party has to offer. In the case of those amateurs, they were all in the market for investing in a portfolio, so a professional collaboration was out of the question, especially when they were not qualified to be professionals at all. It was the blind leading the blind, and it was not cost-effective!
Someone asked me why, as a photographer, I was not there with a camera, and why I wasn’t taking pictures. I told them that it was because I did not have to. If I were to have taken pictures of those so-called models, I would have certainly been doing them much more of a favor than they would have done for me as a photographer. I do not pay to take pictures of models, especially when those models were nothing more than aspiring models who were amateurs in need of qualified instruction and guidance. I am in business to provide models with effective modeling portfolios and modeling career tools, and real models invest in my experience and my skill. I have a proven track record. There was no way that I was going to take pictures of the models for free, unless they could demonstrate to me that the professional benefits would be mutual, AND I did not undermine by business and my target market by doing so. I also avoided taking any pictures with any of the photographer’s cameras there. Why? Because of the risk that they would try to market a business with my work. It wasn’t going to happen.
After a while, the organizer photographer started running around outside with two skanky looking “models” who looked like they were doing one last shoot before checking into meth rehab. They were both decorated with trashy looking tattoos, which further limit their marketability as models. The two girls, who were not properly introduced to me, gave me dirty looks as I observed. I noticed that the organizer photographer, who was also ignoring me, had a tripod attached to his camera. He kept moving around, posing the models, and then moved the camera around again.
Really? Was he serious?
I had seen enough. I decided to go home.
Now, going back to “proper introductions”, that is an interesting story in itself. You see, the organizer had invited me to attend the group shoot. I did NOT crash it, although with the restrictions that were imposed upon me as far as interacting with anyone, I would have had the same experience, and possibly a few advantages, HAD I crashed it unannounced. We had been talking for a good week on the phone, and he told me that I was where he wanted to be as a photographer. I thought that he was a good guy with a dream, and didn’t have a problem helping him out, as he had only had two years of experience doing photography, and I had seventeen; eleven of those as a professional photographer, and a leader in the Tampa Bay modeling and talent photography services market. I told him, though, that I wasn’t sure if I had the time to attend, but that I would try. I’m thinking that he thought that I would pay over one hundred dollars to participate, although I had made it clear to him that I would not have a camera on me, as I would not be taking pictures. I also told him that I would not be taking pictures because it would not be fair to the other photographers who had paid, and I did not want to get him in trouble with them. One of the last things that he said was “You could meet some of the models and consider them for your agency”. I then told him that I did not have an agency, although many people assumed that I did because they did not read my sites like they should have. He then told me that he would have to take the time to read my sites, and asked what it was that I did, which, had he listened to me, he would have known. Well, he already knew that I was a professional photographer who had been professional for the past eleven years, and had made a successful business of it. I told him that Tampa Bay Modeling was a modeling resource site which educated models about their careers and how to work it. I told him that I was a modeling expert, and that I instructed new models, too, while making a business of providing them with portfolios and modeling career tools which they invested in.
He then stated “That’s what I do!”
I shook my head, which he couldn’t see over the phone (His statement also floored me, because he has just said that I was where he wanted to be, and admitted that he was not making money shooting modeling portfolios like he claimed to in public! How could he say that?!?! Perhaps he should have said "That's what I TRY to do!"). I didn’t think so, not if he had only been working with models, and amateur ones at that, for only two years (there was one professional model who worked with him, and the pictures were not very good, despite her experience and talent. I will have to ask her why she worked with him; I’m thinking that she did so she could make money by being one of the few paid professional models at his shoot, as he would not allow any model to attend the shoot unless he worked with her first). Also, when he was still going around working for free, with no professional web site, and no connections in the industry, he certainly was not qualified to coach or mentor anything. Although I liked this guy, and respected what he was trying to do in his beginning of his career, he didn’t do what I had been doing for over a decade. I was qualified. The coach was not, although he seemed to be able to convince aspiring models that he was, well, at least enough to convince them to shoot for free with him.
Of course, you also have to realize that I had been, and continue to be, straight-up with this photographer in regards to my intentions. He knew who I was, he knew my experience, he had looked at my web sites, and he was the one who invited me to check out the shoot.
So, with some unexpected time on my hands the morning of the shoot, and wanting to get away from work in the studio, I decided to take him up on his offer and check out the shoot. What could possibly go wrong?
On the way over, I did continue to wonder why he had scheduled the photography session to begin at noon. Who starts shooting at noon? I certainly did not. When I arrived, I found out why. He had seven photographers in an indoor set with studio set-ups.

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