Diana Moffitt wrote:
haha!  touchee!  i will take yo money!!  LOL

Deal! I'll MM-mail you in the morrow. Tired now. Wading through TFP requests, you know.

WG Rowland wrote:
I have to imagine it's:

Browse
Local area photogs..
Send message..

Much easier than actually READING a person's profile..

Ask the models I'm sure they get a ton of:

Browse
Local area models..
Send friend request..

With no explanation...

Nobody likes to read anymore.. And on MM it's hard to blame them.. I'm finding a lot of people either don't keep their profiles up to date or have contradictory information in them, anyway..

So people go fishing..  Cast 100 nets eventually you get a fish..

Why you would want to photograph a fish, I have no idea..  (Or if you're a model doing the fishing.. Why you would want a fish to take your picture???  I mean, they can't even hold a camera..!)

All these Christian models...cast ye bread (or net) on the waters and....

Photographing fish gets you restaurants clients....

I can understand those that don't read, literacy level and all falling in the U.S., but what about the one's I solicit?  One girl models but her boyfriend doesn't want her in any magazines but she needs to build her portfolio. Huh? Another would love to be in a book but she needs TFP so she can post the pics to her web page to get exposure. Double huh? Another enters body building competitions so she needs TFPs that she can send to muscle mags and competion entry forms. (If I triple 'huh' my wife will think I am choking. Yeah! Triple hug and she'll do the Heimlich manuever on me. )

One more TFP response and I think I will start Trading for Punches.

Mai Lilly wrote:
hahah Michael...some girls just don't know how to take the money and smile=)

This coming from the gal who has also been known to smile although she's all for the sexy/enticing/mysterious look

Hey, Lilly!

God I love the make up work you did on that Spring-Summer-Fall-Winter series. Fantastic!

I have a shooting date for you! Will MM you in the morrow.

See, ladies and gentlemen? Here we have a fine example of a young lady who accepted my work and pay offer without demanding TFP/TFCD. Hip hip Hoorah!

(She is also a photographer with a brilliant eye...have you all seen some of her work? Enough to make a gentle tog like me jealous!)

MichaelHaynes wrote:
One more TFP response and I think I will start Trading for Punches.

Is it really such a big deal that you can't just send them a polite "no thank-you?"  If that's really too much trouble, then just do the impolite thing and ignore them--or counter-offer to charge them money for pictures.  I honestly think you are being whinny.

Molica wrote:
so exactly how far is norfolk, va from here???
i'll be happy to shoot with you and TAKE your money!!!

Yikes! This wasn't intended as a "Looking for Work" thread. I don't wanna get yanked, please!

I'll MM you, OK?

phcorcoran wrote:

Is it really such a big deal that you can't just send them a polite "no thank-you?"  If that's really too much trouble, then just do the impolite thing and ignore them--or counter-offer to charge them money for pictures.  I honestly think you are being whinny.

Yeah, I am whinny. Going through mail takes time, sometimes too much time and the internet has a way of making you not realize just how long you have been on-line.

Professionally, I do not believe I can just ignore a response from someone I solicited initially. I solicit a model because I really, really want him or her. When they reply with TFP, I then have to find out if they are serious, really don't want the money,  is this your final offer...etc., etc.

I suppose I could be hardcore like some of the cold, hard professionals out there, but I just do not feel comfortable turning a shoulder on people like that.  I figured, maybe a public rant, and people would simply stop wasting my time like that.

So, I be whinny.

Merlinpix wrote:
Holy crap, I just looked at your rates.
I'll pose nude for ya!
Dude you are paying so way above market price for models< even above NY/LA rates> it's nuts!
Just because they take there clothes off doen't mean you buy them a car for it.
I do here in NY 2 hrs of shooting  for less they you pay for an hr nude, and thats for men's magazine work. I get 4-8 models a month with my rate.
You best check with your local photographers  as to area scale before they come and burn a lightstand on your lawn.

Paul

Interesting. I am paying lower than what the agencies I know of shell out. But heck, it's the publisher's money.

Now...if you really want me to lower my pay rates...I count how many models on this thread who'd burn a light stand on your lawn?

This is for publication in a series of books. Not for internet or hobby. My pay scale is actually in the average range for this kind of project. Lots of lawyers and accountants did their fancy mojo to come up with the pay scale. Plus, this is a nationwide project, not local.

On TFP...about three years aback, a photographer was successfully sued by a movie star, even though he had all the proper model releases signed. While the lady was a struggling actress, she did a series of photos with him. When she became a big name star, he auctioned off the series for better than a million dollars. She sued, claiming that she had not initially been paid a representative amount based upon the eventual value of the photos. He ended up paying a percentage of his earnings to the lady because, as the judge said, she had not been paid a fair value at the time the photos were taken. Now she fully and openly and willingly agreed to the trade, yet years later when she could afford a fancy lawyer, she busted the guy's chops.

Pardon me, but I am not looking for any future lawsuits. I'll pay now, rest easy later.

On a side note, at this moment I think a bonfire might be an improvement to my lawn. Mild as this winter was, I still have these ugly dead patches. Maybe they'll spring back as the season progresses, but I dunno.