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Does this model sound like a dimwit?!
Wow. This one is a LONG rant. But here goes ... I completely respect a model who voices her limits. For example, if a model says she won't do nudes, that is cool. Fine. I respect that. I understand it. No problem. But now and then, some models post STRANGE things online. Many of these strange things seem to prove that these models have worked with far too few legitimate photographers and have instead just been lecherously ogled by GWCs one too many times. What strange things are these models inspired to post? Here are a few gems I've spotted on various profiles ... "I will not tolerate PUSHY OR HANDS ON PHOTOGRAPHERS. Please act in a RESPECTFUL and PROFESSIONAL manner when working with me." Okay, kid, listen. If you actually feel the need to explain the behavior you expect, there are only one of 2 explanations: 1 - You are far too uptight and have some serious issues if you feel violated by the touch of fellow human beings. 2 - You are working with too many sleazy photographers who are trying to sexually cop-a-feel from you. Okay? It's one or the other. Either you are a weirdo freak with issues or you are making bad judgements about who you work with. Pick one. I think I have touched just about EVERY model I've ever worked with at one point or another on a shoot. And not ONCE in a decade have any of them complained or gotten freaked out by it, because there's never anything inappropriate behind my physical contact. 9 out of 10 models offer me huge hugs at the end of a shoot. This different model has a real odd statement ... "I am engaged to be married to the most wonderful man in the world so please don't send me any messages of THAT nature." Any messages of WHAT nature? Marriage proposals? Look here, sweetcheeks, don't get me wrong, I understand that beautiful women DO get weirdos online sending them marriage proposals by email. It's happened to many of my friends. But, honestly, if you're trying to be a legitimate model, WHY do you feel the need to post a disclaimer like that? It just makes you sound like a nimrod. Here is another good one from a random model ... "Not here to get into a relationship besides friendship only." Again, an appropriate statement on MySpace or Match.com. But on a site where you are networking for modeling? Why? Let me explain something to you, dollface: 1 - Legitimate models and photographers who are NOT looking to date you in the first place don't need you to clarify your stance of not being interested in dating. 2 - Those who ARE looking to date you are gonna try to get in your pants regardless of whether you put that sentence in your profile or not. This anonymous model really blew my mind ... "If you have an attitude and are a jerk to your models because they won't sleep with you, Please don't message me. I don't work with jerks and I don't sleep around." Woohoo! You hear that? Take note, boys. Don't be a jerk. She doesn't sleep with jerks. The only way you're getting in her drawers is if you are a gentleman. So bring flowers and wine to the first shoot and charm her right out of her britches. WHAT IS THIS CHICK TALKING ABOUT!? Like some jerk who is trying to scam models into sex will read that and say, "Oh, damn! She'll be wise to my trickery in no time flat! Drat! Foiled again! Better avoid that one!" Riiiiiiight. Finally, we have things like this ... "I will bring a friend with me to all shoots, for my own protection." Tell you what, sugarbuns, you have 3 options on a photoshoot: 1 - You pay the photographer to build your portfolio. 2 - A client pays you because you already HAVE an established portfolio. 3 - You do a free test shoot just for fun and to add a shot or two to your portfolio. If you do #1 why don't you try hiring a hairstylist, makeup artist and find a good clothing designer to help you with the shoot? That crew will provide plenty of people for your "protection" from the mean, scary photographer. Handle your shoots like a professional production instead of a gradeschool fieldtrip, where you have to bring your little boyfriend or your mommy along. Mmm'kay? If you do #2 then the stylist, makeup artist and designer should all be provided already by the client. End result is the same as scenario #1 - more protection than the Corleone family. If you do #3 then you and the photographer should collaborate on having the rest of the crew available. Find a stylist, makeup artist and designer who will also want to do a free shoot. Again, being around a large group like that should help you feel "safe" on your fieldtrip. But, of course, the most perplexing are those poor, clueless models who say things like this ... "I am new to the modeling industry ... I am looking for limited exceptional TFP shoots to help build my portfolio and of course paid work. If you are more than 2 hours away I require travel reimbursement of .12 cents per mile + tolls if applicable." TRANSLATION: I'm a carpenter and all I've ever built is a desk. I am not willing to pay any money to learn more skills in my trade. Please hire me to construct your house. May 14 05 05:08 am Link I read that also! Sounds like she has spent all of her time at dating sites!! ""I am engaged to be married to the most wonderful man in the world so please don't send me any messages of THAT nature." "Anymore messages" cause she met him at the last dating site!! "I am new to the modeling industry" Really coulda fooled me!! May 14 05 05:37 am Link lmao is she hot? May 14 05 05:42 am Link You can always tell the newbies who think that the same social techniques they employ at the local nightclub will cut it in modelling. Whenever I see stuff like that, I just move on to the next portfolio. I don't have a problem, however, with a model bringing an escort [of the well-behaved variety] to a shoot. A few times I've actually INSISTED on it with more skittish prospects. The last thing I want is for someone to start telling stories six months or a year later [to the latest "Most Wonderful Man Ever"] about how i "made" her do this and "made" her do that. I'm inching closer and closer to having a space on my release for the escort to sign off on my professional behavior. Sorry, didn't mean to filibuster again. I agree there are a lot of dimwits who think they're "models". May 14 05 06:43 am Link EricMuss-Barnes.....I so agree with a lot of your statement and your humorist approach to this issue, becasue it's those few photographers that puts us professionals on guard with dealing with models. For a lot of us this is a livelyhood. So for those that deal with this issues, sometimes it seems a madness. When you work with a photographer and the work you are doing is nothing more than the photographer getting is sexual rocks off..then really think before you shoot with them. Most of us that shoot models we have a crew with us and the second we go beyond those boundaries...we might as well say our names is mudd in the industry because words gets around and you find yourself out of work so easy. So people do your homework when you are working with a photographer and models truly understand the nature of this industry, that a few do paint a picture of only a few and it's not a reflection of the whole industry...Stop watching movies that show photographers as slezy low lifes..... May 14 05 06:55 am Link ...Stop watching movies that show photographers as slezy low lifes..... You just touched on something that I often think about: Did you ever notice how photographers are almost always depicted on TV and in movies as preadators, child-molesters, pornographers, casting-couchers or various other unsavory types? What's up with that? May 14 05 07:08 am Link Posted by Melvin Moten Jr: ...Stop watching movies that show photographers as slezy low lifes..... You just touched on something that I often think about: Did you ever notice how photographers are almost always depicted on TV and in movies as preadators, child-molesters, pornographers, casting-couchers or various other unsavory types? What's up with that? Becasue there is truth to it. but it's those few that do break the bounds of professionalism in the industry and it makes for good imiganation to have those types in movies....the clean well manner photographer does sell in a driven world of reality..unless you are watching the Courtship of Eddie's Father with Bill Bixby May 14 05 07:11 am Link Posted by Melvin Moten Jr: True. But models are always typecast on TV and in movies as ditzy sluts. Look at the best modeling film ever - Zoolander. I love that movie. Hysterical. But, it just goes to show that models suffer from an unfair and inaccurate stereotype just as much as photographers do. May 14 05 07:13 am Link Posted by Alex Alexander: Posted by Melvin Moten Jr: ...Stop watching movies that show photographers as slezy low lifes..... You just touched on something that I often think about: Did you ever notice how photographers are almost always depicted on TV and in movies as preadators, child-molesters, pornographers, casting-couchers or various other unsavory types? What's up with that? Becasue there is truth to it. but it's those few that do break the bounds of professionalism in the industry and it makes for good imiganation to have those types in movies....the clean well manner photographer does sell in a driven world of reality..unless you are watching the Courtship of Eddie's Father with Bill Bixby There's probably at least one model murdered per year. May 14 05 07:17 am Link Here are some of my favorites... "I DON'T DO NUDITY OF ANY KIND SO DON'T ASK!!!!" Ok, how about telling us what you do do? And, why are you shouting? When I see something like this, I won't even contact the model for non-nude work, because I can already assume she has an attitude. Why would you want to appear stand-offish to other professionals who you are trying to get work with? I realize it's important to make your limits understood, but there's a better, more polite way of doing it. I also love when they start listing their hobbies and what they like to do in their spare time. Like Eric pointed out, employing the social skills from the dating sites won't work when someone is trying to be taken seriously as a model. And then there's the OMP models who list themselves as "amateur, no experience" who want $125 per hour. Unbelievable! I contacted one girl for a shoot, offering to pay her a very reasonable day rate for someone who only had webcam pics on her profile, and she shot back that she wanted $200 per hour! I told her, I didn't even pay Erica Campbell anywhere near that much, and she's been published in a ton of magazines and has a huge internet following. And this girl was no Erica Campbell. She said that she had plenty of photographers paying her that and that she got all her work offline. Riiigght... So, why do you only have webcam pics posted to your "professional" modeling portfolio? Just this week, I found a newbie model on OMP that I wanted to work with, so I e-mailed her to offer her a TFP shoot, and paid nude assignment. The only pictures on her profile were family pictures - her with her mom or dad or boyfriend, so I figured she could use some images. She hasn't written back, but she changed her profile to state that she "expects to be paid for her pictures." Ok, but I did offer her compensation for the nudes as well as 10 images to use for her port, which I think is more than reasonable for a model with zero experience. Do my pictures just suck or are these models flaky? Enough about that... I'm off to see a preview showing of Revenge of the Sith in about an hour. Woohoo! May 14 05 07:19 am Link Wading through the BS consumes a lot of energy. I wish there were some way that the dingbat, ego tripping model wannabe's with attitudes and the lecherous GWC's could only connect with one another and leave the rest of us alone. May 14 05 07:51 am Link Posted by Herb Way: We need a Dingbat/GWC detector. May 14 05 08:03 am Link Posted by Melvin Moten Jr: Maybe they read the topics in here. May 14 05 08:15 am Link um, is she hot or what? answer me dammit! lol May 14 05 08:16 am Link Posted by John Swoger: Posted by Herb Way: We need a Dingbat/GWC detector. Great idea! Tyler, are you listening? LOL May 14 05 08:35 am Link Posted by * Visual Mindscapes *: Is who hot? May 14 05 04:03 pm Link Posted by EricMuss-Barnes:True. But models are always typecast on TV and in movies as ditzy sluts. Look at the best modeling film ever - Zoolander. I love that movie. Hysterical. But, it just goes to show that models suffer from an unfair and inaccurate stereotype just as much as photographers do. You mean they aren't? WOW! LMAO... May 14 05 04:53 pm Link Haha, she must've been a youngin'... I do understand where some of these girls are coming from..but they have to understand that not all photographers are unprofessional. I had one photographer who was fixing my dress in the back, and I stepped backwards on accident, and right into him, hehe..and he had a hard-on. This guy was married and had 3 kids. I just ignored it and did the rest of my shoot with him..but do you think I will work with this guy again....um..no! He also kept telling me that he needs to take a "cold shower"..well, duh! Most of the male photographers I have worked with have been very professional and we got along great, but there are a couple whom I have had problems with. One of them hangs out at the bar every Saturday night, because I see him there when I go with my friend. Maybe he's scoping out girls to shoot, haha! On our last shoot, he asked me to rub ice cubes on my nipples to make them hard...haha..all he brought to our shoot was a bag of icecubes... There are weirdos in every profession...I am sure there are some pervert models out there as well..hell look at some of their websites for crying out loud!, lol. May 14 05 05:04 pm Link Posted by Angie Rae: Well don't hate him cuz he found you extremely attractive and his little friend is awake. The REAL question is did he perform his duty in a professional manner. You have no idea how many new photographers we've had on set who REALLY need to take a cold shower after shooting stuff for us. May 14 05 05:35 pm Link Posted by Classichorror: Posted by Alex Alexander: Posted by Melvin Moten Jr: ...Stop watching movies that show photographers as slezy low lifes..... You just touched on something that I often think about: Did you ever notice how photographers are almost always depicted on TV and in movies as preadators, child-molesters, pornographers, casting-couchers or various other unsavory types? What's up with that? Becasue there is truth to it. but it's those few that do break the bounds of professionalism in the industry and it makes for good imiganation to have those types in movies....the clean well manner photographer does sell in a driven world of reality..unless you are watching the Courtship of Eddie's Father with Bill Bixby There's probably at least one model murdered per year. I have no problem with a model bringing an escort -- actually I prefer it. My comment was just concerning an overriding stereotype in film and television. As for one model killed every year, many more gays, lesbians and minorities are killed in hate crimes than that every year, but I don't see the media stereotyping those criminals. May 14 05 05:38 pm Link Posted by Angie Rae: Wait. You won't work with a photographer again because he had an erection? May 14 05 05:40 pm Link Posted by EricMuss-Barnes: Bravo! I couldn't agree more with you any more...but that post about .12 and all that is obviously from the photographer that shot her first and put up the page...hmmm...have to make sure he's not "managing" her, we don't want that type of garbage here...I've seen that mileage and toll thing on at least two model's pages. May 14 05 07:38 pm Link I think its all very funny, myself. I am partially hands on because there are just some positions you cant explain and litterally have to put a model into for a shot. Even if its as simple as sitting with her ankles crossed and hands on her knees..... *laughs* Mind you not all the models I have worked with are that unsure of themselves. And the others, well congrats but this is model mayhem, not model marriage. Stop copying your profile from every other site your on. Scary to think there is someone from one of the adultfriendfinders on here, aint it? May 14 05 07:49 pm Link Posted by EricMuss-Barnes: I'm shooting with this model tomorrow. She is very new and, as I understand it, hasn't done any shoots with photographers other than some friends. May 14 05 08:07 pm Link Posted by Gary Davis: I've said it before and I'll say it again: May 14 05 08:59 pm Link Alright, sure, never say never. Take it easy. Understand what I mean, not what I say... But if a model I'm shooting slips, I'm not going to be close enough to grab her anyway.... My point is simply that the context can be subjective. Something like straightening a piece of clothing can lead to an inadvertant brushing of a breast which the photographer may not even realize he did but the model may interpret as "groping". I'm not saying I'm going to run away if a model offers me a hug after a shoot. May 14 05 09:08 pm Link I have truly been enlightened! I didn't know it was such a problem. I think if you are both trying to attain a goal, (getting a portfolio together) that is usually what the intention is for both parties involved. I model alot of my clothing on my limbless mannequin and she doesn't mind at all when I touch her! lol May 14 05 09:20 pm Link Posted by Gary Davis: Yeah. I hear where you are coming from. It is true that things can be too-easily misconstrued. May 14 05 09:22 pm Link No one touched on my Favorite, The one with nothing but nudes in her portfolio and in her profile she state she does not do nudes.... I really get a kick out of those! May 14 05 09:25 pm Link Posted by EricMuss-Barnes: Man...someone accused me of having way too much time on my hands. heheheh. May 14 05 09:25 pm Link I have to admit...Profiles with odd staatements make me run...But I too have offered to help, only to be told that they have a photographer that will pay them 125/hr. Two weeks later, they still have crappy pix posted...I don't get it, but then I don't have time to waste on it, so I move on to someone that will appreciate the help and those have always been the people that are not only fun to be around, but have good attitudes and outlooks on life. May 14 05 09:36 pm Link Bravo Doug! I think there are an Astounding number of GWA (Girl With Aspirations) out there who simply put up a few crappy pix and figure Revlon, SI, or the Ford agency are going to see that webcam pic and come to knock on their door with a pile of cash. Or maybe it's do they can say "Look I'm a model" I honestly don't know. I just know it's frustrating to try to sepeate the Wheat from the Chaff so to speak. May 14 05 09:51 pm Link Hahahaha, great post, EricMuss-Barnes. Userinfos that ONLY say "I'm a model?" or "I wanna be paid!!!!!" Are classic too. May 14 05 10:22 pm Link Posted by * Visual Mindscapes *: ROFL! May 14 05 10:49 pm Link HE HE - HERES MY 2 CENTS Im a model/mua/photogrpaher so I can relate (I think from all points of views ) -> heres the cure: -Damn it, you can with one look at a portfolio of a photographer what style he shoots and his level of professionalizm. -If you choose to work with someone who shoots sleezy playboyish glamour that looks like something you can snap with your cell phone... dont expect him to act 'normal' -Meet with the photographer PRIOR working with him, Starbucks?! hello. This will help you even get more comfortable as well as make the right decision. -What is your goal? fashion? glamour? face the facts, the real world. You will encounter that and thats OK... yes OKEYYY, your reaction is what matters. jeeez. Im done. May 15 05 04:43 am Link excuse my spell. rrr May 15 05 04:45 am Link Posted by DeLuxe Image: I usually meet my models at Hooters. No joke. May 15 05 04:55 am Link Hooter... hmm.. you'll find no fashion material there. well, not in WA at least. May 15 05 06:08 am Link Posted by RFAphoto: Yeah, the "DUH" factor! LOL May 15 05 06:25 am Link Posted by RFAphoto: Amen! Amen! You hit right on it! I like that term, "Girls With Aspirations." From what I've seen of web "models" so far, a great many appear to have considerably more ego than looks and talent (let's not talk about brains) and should be begging for TFP opportunities instead of demanding ridiculous fees for their "services." May 15 05 06:38 am Link |