
Been getting alot of inquires lately….pretty much every week.
Common themes:
- Model Mayhem.
- Traveling “art nude” models.
- “I also do photography”
- “Imma ARTIST. You’re an ARTIST. We are ARTISTS! Hire me!!!”

What’s going on here is obvious: blanket cut/paste messages to anyone with a pulse and a camera in an effort to make some cash with local rubes while some area 50-60 y/o suburban “art nude” industry bro-tographer (the person she really is “here” to see) is letting her crash at his place in exchange for b/w “artistic” spreads and O faces.

This sounds terribly unfair and judgemental on my part.
Yes it is, because more often than not, it’s true.
Photographers and Models often refer to their “years” of experience in their profiles and wear it as a badge of validation. The number of years I’ve been doing this is only part of the story. Since 2002 I’ve been getting an education.. a series of lessons: Wins, Fails, all learning experiences. This is what influences my recent decisions on who I work with and, more importantly, WHY? When it comes to drive by models sending bulk inquiries asking that question is critical.
It is possible I suppose that some of these traveling models might not be depending solely on blind requests. They might actually take a cursory look at who they are asking to shoot with, but I doubt it.
As I’ve said many times: “you don’t have to be a fan, you just have to
show some engagement.” Meaning: you actually looked at the portfolio and
presence of a photographer.

Truth be told, many just are looking to dazzle their way to book a shoot and start asking questions and examining a photographer’s portfolio AFTER they express interest.
This is why you see so many “art nude” traveling models nowadays…because “nekkid” is more of an assurance of actually getting paid. Add “Fetish, Erotic” to that and you WILL get takers shooting in their basement paying 200 USD/per hr to new exciting muses they want to fuck. This includes those chest-beating “industry” photographers who claim “I DON’T PAY MODELS”… but actually DO for their “special” projects (bodypainting, body-sculpting/nude casts, POV vids, “not porn, it’s erotica” images and the usual bullshit…)

That doesn’t truck here. Working with some rando, unknown (to me) model who is popular with the aforementioned “old, balding, suburban” photography bunch is a game of chance. You might be lucky and find someone great….or, often, you find yet another diva who has listened to her fanboys and minions a wee bit too often.
Recently a model contacted me. I had no clue who she was. She claimed to be “a full time professional traveling model and did “fetish” work. Nothing in her port of “art noodz” supported this.
No photographer I knew and or whose work I was familiar with had shot with her. No models I knew at the time ever heard of her. She rented a hotel room and were inviting photographers to shoot there.
I had a bad feeling and declined.
Since then:
- I found out she had a rep for being one of these “bored divas” that lobby heavily for a shoot and when they arrive they act inconvenienced that they actually had to show up.
- She’s been accused of shaking down a photographer and assaulting him during a shoot.
- Her MM has been taken off line.
This could be all coincidence…or validation. Either way, crisis averted.

Social media has given everyone the chance to be larger than life and pretend they are celebrities. Followers and sites like Patreon has provided the illusion of “fandom” (and admittedly in some cases turned that to actual monetary results). But let’s be clear and somewhat fair…photography silliness isn’t just a model thing obviously. There are plenty of photographers who pretend they are “professional” bad asses and brag brazenly about their skills, talent and “art.”

They hold $700 “workshops” that are more self promotion/marketing masturbation sessions than education.
They show up at events, Solo cupped cocktails in hands and bitch about GWCs destroying their lives while waxing eloquently on their own artisan-like skills of shooting with carefully ironed muslin backdrops and faux stone pedestals.
They do “test shoots” (bullshit industry photography term) and “fine art” (yet another bullshit industry term) NOT porn thankyouverymuch because it’s in b/w.
Their work (appropriately) is proudly “published”… in minor league vanity “magazines,” freebie newspapers, their own self published overworked, pretentious, neo-artsy Blurb books and at local post-Fifty Shades niche “fetish art” shows.
They claim they only work with “agencies” but bitch and moan when some part time 19 y/o “model” they found on Facebook or Craigslist to do nude “test shoots”, flakes on them.
They claim they work in LA, London and NYC…which is only true when visiting relatives and friends who live in those areas or they go on vacation.
They tout their “team” of “assistants” who, in most cases consists of the MUA (relative or someone that he’s fucking) and some cousins/bros lugging around his gear hoping to see a boob.
They feel anyone who isn’t earning income exclusively from their own chosen, dying, profession are inferior. This is required to embolden their self esteem and justify all that “professional studio lighting” and ProFoto gear they invested in that is used primarily to shoot senior pictures, local “pageant” contestants and mall fashion shows.
The cake, is indeed a lie.

But I digress…LOL
The number of traveling model requests I get each week is a bit strange and irritating only because of the shallow, arbitrary nature of most of it. It’s getting to the point that even sending a “I’m not interested” response is more work than it’s worth. I used to have a policy that I should at least be courteous and answer each inquiry, but now I’m not so sure. Does a general cut/paste message blast deserve such attention?
Jury is still out on that one.

So…I decided to be a bit proactive.
A traveling “artist,” before sending that shallow inquiry, might click a few links, land here and encounter this “gate.” Some will get offended.
Works for me. One less
“wanna collaborate as artists” message
makes the world a better place.
But who am I kidding, right? Realistically, TL;DR is more likely the result.
Meh.

Let’s talk first principles...
I am NOT a great photographer. I do ok. This is a journey. I am better than I was in the past. Next year I will be better than I am now.
I do NOT have “fans.” Some people just dig a few of my images.
I have NO ILLUSIONS about who I am, what I do and the images I produce.
I refuse to buy into the “psuedo-celebrity” internet model/photographer subculture that is so prevalent today.
I’m not angry…but I am a bit jaded…and tired of the utter bullshit that has been assumed to be the norm in photography, modeling and that bugbear called social media.
I’m open to shooting with new people, but just like models have “conditions,” I have my own.

While I’m not a “professional” in the accepted “industry” sense this is still a business with business transactions and conventions.
This is how I handle MY business.
I’m thinking if someone does in fact get triggered by these words, they need to look inward at themselves, as I have done, and face the reality of what they are trying to do and how they are doing it.





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