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Help! I'm ignorant!
I'm curious if anyone can help me out here. I recently submitted a photo to a website (which will remain nameless) in hopes of having the photo and my contact info added to the website for self promotional purposes. I was later contacted and informed that my submission had been turned down because the photo was not of the "caliber" that they are looking for. They then suggested that i contact one of their professional photographers and set up a shoot so that i can obtain some photos that will market me well. I wasn't completely suprised by the rejection because i know that i have tons of work to do as a model. However, i was suprised in that the photo i submitted was taken by a photographer who has been published by well known magazines and is, in my opinion, a very good photographer. My question is: Is a photographer necessarily considered good/professional if their work is published? What should one look for in the works of photographers in order to determine if they are professionals or not? I am not saying that my photo was denied because of the photography. I am well too aware that they may have been trying to let me down gently, or even that they are simply trying to market their photographers. But the situation did give rise to my questions mentionned above. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks! Dec 05 05 05:18 pm Link First, keeping the site "nameless" may or may not get you a good answer here. It is very possible the site referenced is just trying to drum up business for their own photographers. Assuming you submitted photo was a good image. I'm sure at least some people here would be able to tell you if it is a scam site or not if you let the cat out of the bag. Dec 05 05 05:29 pm Link I'm sorry if my initial post was misleading. My main focus is not so much on my isolated incident, but rather, on the general questions i had asked. I merely explained what had happened to me because the situation is what led me to have such questions. But the questions still stand regardless of the situation with the website. My questions are: Is a photographer necessarily considered good/professional if he/she's work is published? In other words, is published work a sufficient condition for calling a photographer "professional"? And what characteristics can you look for in photos in order to determine wether or not a photographer is professional? Dec 05 05 05:39 pm Link Down_2_Earth wrote: To whoever published his/her work, yes. I have seen many published photographers whose work was no better than mine was when I first started shooting at age 10, 23 years ago. Dec 05 05 05:42 pm Link It really depends on the publication. There are some really cheesy magazines out there that will publish anything. Think about your favorite magazines and the style of photos you want to be known for. Then you can compare the quality of your images and the photographer that you are shooting with to the quality of what your favorite magazine puts out. But just being published in a random magazine does not really mean anything. I have been published in quite a few magazines and I would say my work is nowhere near what I want for bigger magazines like Maxim and FHM. Not sure if I helped but I tried....lol Dec 05 05 05:50 pm Link Down_2_Earth wrote: Not at all. There are alot of cheesy third-rate magazines out there. Dec 05 05 06:01 pm Link U240Robert wrote: Thank you for pointing this out. I still dont understand why models will pretty much do anything for a "tear sheet". Most of which are in third-rated magazines. The whole thing is just retarded. Dec 05 05 06:11 pm Link My first impression after reading this post: how convenient! Perhaps this is a scam to get you to pay a favorite photographer, who is probably related to the site? The quality of your submission was probably irrelevant to the scam. Side note: as a photographer, I don't necessarily need exceptional photographs of a model -- I just need photographs that reveal the model's style & (pardon the objectivefying term) "assets". You are attractive & very fit -- and your face is expressive. Sure, the photographs on your profile may not be world class, but if I were a swimsuit photographer, I'd be interested. Dec 05 05 06:30 pm Link I got the same e-mail from what I believe is the same website because it was worded the same way. I just figured my photos weren't good enough. Yours are definitely better than mine. Dec 05 05 06:51 pm Link Down_2_Earth wrote: Something to keep in mind on this point specifically: in reference to publication, sometimes it is not so much about being either good or professional as it is about fitting the project. The way some publications determine how "fit" a photographer is by how little he/she is willing to accept monetarily to do the job (which could be $0.00). In that respect, image quality may not be high on the publication's priority. Dec 05 05 07:30 pm Link Down_2_Earth wrote: If this isn't a scam, it's at least scum. But, as you said, that's not what you were really interested in... Is a photographer necessarily considered good/professional if their work is published? No. Others have already said what I would like to have said. What should one look for in the works of photographers in order to determine if they are professionals or not? The key is for you to study the photographs that you'd like to be in. Once you can recognize good photography, recognizing professional photographers will be easier. Dec 05 05 07:54 pm Link I bet this web site just wanted you to pay thier photographers and i bet it has nothing to do with you or the photographer Dec 05 05 08:12 pm Link I know very little about the whole situation, but it is also possible, that the photographer who took your pictures simply did not match the type of stuff the other website was looking for. It is possible that the photographer from Maxim might not do a good job taking pictures of sports. Let's say you had your pictures taken by a Maxim photographer (someone many of us admire) these would be some kick ass shots, but if you took them to a website that does totally different style, those might be rejected, even though taken by the great. Would that mean he's not that good? Mark Dec 05 05 08:17 pm Link One thing no one else has mentioned so I figure I will...it may also not be quality, but concept. If you were submitting yourself to something like glamourgirlpromotionalmodels.com and submitted something done by a high fashion photographer, they might have said the same thing. More likely, it's what people have discussed previously, but it may not be as much quality and target audience. Andy Dec 05 05 08:25 pm Link Down_2_Earth wrote: they want your money. You probably have to pay for the in house photographer. Dec 05 05 08:57 pm Link Model Sarah wrote: It's good entertainment for the rest of us. Dec 05 05 11:30 pm Link |
