1. Standards have dropped
in the Tampa modeling industry
2. Agency TFP and
dumping the modeling portfolio market
3. The difference
between TFP and professional collaboration
4. Amateurs
pretending to be professionals
5. Studio training wheels
6. Stumbling in the light
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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06/09/11
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