Everyone wants or needs something yet they want it for free. This, today, is the problem with Southwestern Ontario. Why does Windsor and area not have a vibrant, productive modeling community? Why are photographers fumbling and fighting for access to shoot the same models? It’s simple. Few are willing (or they don’t know how) to turn their photography into a business. They don’t know how to be successful at commerce and marketing, and those that do only flirt with it periodically.
First off, and this will probably ruffle some feathers.. I don’t consider every subject that poses for me a “model.” A model, by my definition is someone who makes money, even if only part-time, by modeling clothing or modeling for a calendar, or a book or some entity that pays them in some monetary capacity more than portfolio images and is someone who is shutter-aware, can find the light, can emote on demand and all the other qualities a professional model needs.
That said, as a photographer, I don’t pay local models (unless I am working on a paid concept or I can otherwise generate an income from the images created). I expect models to pay me to create their portfolios, comp/Zed cards, contact sheets, etc. I paid for my equipment, I paid to learn my craft and to hone my skills. I have to pay for equipment maintenance, I continually pay to keep up with the latest techniques and organization dues such as the National Association for Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) and others. Put simply, I pay to keep my photography skills and my post-processing skills sharp and competitive. I expect models to pay me for this expertise, because I need to pay the bills and, frankly, because I earned it and I turn out a images that make people look good. For my part, I need to practice what I preach and run a successful commercial business model if I am to survive in the field of people and fashion photography. I do it because I am passionate about people photography but to do it well, it needs to be my only job. It cannot be my only job without a community of commerce-minded individuals because without this, we cannot generate revenue in a community where everyone expects FREE. All these photographers don’t realize they are creating portoflios for these individuals who are using those images to spawn a career. Assuming you are not creating utter crap with these “models,” shouldn’t you be paid for helping catapult them to be a successful model? Sure, I’ve done free shoots. However, any free shoots that I’ve done are done with a way to use them commercially in mind.
I once said as much to a model and she quipped back, “Models need to make money and eat too, Ray.” Yes, they do but her error was assuming that models and photographers are equal and their expenses are equivalent. This is not to say that I think models are not worth paying. Quite the contrary, but if a model is going to expect me to pay them they had better be professional and model as such, not just stand there waiting for me to tell her how to pose. If I’m paying you as a model, I shouldn’t have to hold your hand throughout the shoot. Once I explain the mood I’m going for and what I expect, he or she should be able to turn it on. Additionally, If I’m going to pay someone to model for me, his or her portfolio had better be f-l-a-w-l-e-s-s! Otherwise, the “model” is going to pay me for a portfolio. As part of the portfolio creation process, I will even help he or she by teaching them how to model.
The problem with expecting models to pay for a portfolio is that this “free shoot” mentality has everyone doing free shoots because they don’t know how to turn it into something commercial and because all the GWCs (AKA “guys with cameras” or “girls with cameras”) are now undercutting professional rates and in the process are turning out crap and posting it on social networking sites, making models look awful. What happens then? The novice model gives up because the images look like crap, thinking they aren’t good enough to be a successful model. Nine times out of ten is the photographer who fails the model, not the other way around. No matter who the model is, a “photographer” that doesn’t know how to use that model will fail him or her miserably, which can sometimes lead to issues for the model such as lack of job future, self esteem problems, etc. However, we’ll save the GWC conversation for another blog post. Back to commerce..
I have equipment maintenance, studio overhead, bigger travel costs due to larger vehicle requirement to transport My equipment to photo shoots, etc. There is just no comparison. The photographer creates the images that will either catapult or at best sustain model’s careers. For that, we deserve compensation. However, this is only one part of the problem. The free mentality exists across the board.
A local fashion shop recently put out tenders for a job that would result in additional commerce for their store using promotional images with text and font-work on posters, boards and printed advertisements. I put in my bid only to find that the job was given to an entity that decided they would do the job for free. Sure, the entity wins by getting promotional material out there and the shop wins by getting free work done. However, commerce loses and it throws the already difficult local commercial photography industry deeper into a commerce-free chasm! The consumer loses, the photographers lose and eventually, the shop will lose. This probably sounds like bitter grapes because I didn’t get the job hence am out a good chunk of change which I could have used on equpiment for my studio, but getting past that, think about it. If we all do these jobs for free. As promotional work, who gets paid? Who is making money? I’ll tell you who is making money: the fashion designers and shop owners who are selling goods, those who should be paying photographers And models. That is how it works.
Designers and fashion shop owners sell their designs. They make money on a tangible product that consumers can touch. In the case of fashion photography, fashion designers and shop owners should be paying models and photographers to create advertising materials. The excuse in this recent case was, “we aren’t making enough money to pay for marketing/photography/ad-work.” Yet they want us to work for free and use our equipment, our time and our vehicles for free. I say, if you pay for a better product and professional advertising then commerce will find a way of rewarding you with business. You would have my recommendations PLUS those of my associates and friends and so on and so forth. Commerce would take over and reward you with more business by referral. That’s just how successful marketing works. It has been established for some time that discounts and “free work” only gets you more of the same and puts the whole industry into a downward spiral.
Another case.. I worked for 8 months with a “fashion designer” who was always shooting TF* (that’s “trade for” to the layman. Trade for pictures, trade for prints, trade for CD, trade for portfolio pictures, etc.) The problem is, he made a 13 year career out of TF*, not paying photographers, not delivering to models what he promised and always promising everyone involved an “edgy calendar” as promotion for everyone involved, which apprently the models were supposed to shop around to friends and family in order for the project (and the designer) to make money. Our working relationship ended when I demanded to be paid a certain amount (and not a large sum either) per shoot. I later found out that the “designer” was charging models and taking money from their families and using their families vehicles as a ride, under the promise of creating them a portfolio which was never delivered and he never shared his gains with the person responsible for the portfolio images and images of his fashion designs; his photographer, to whom he would toss a few dollars for gas out of the couple hundred or so he was making from a given model. What an insult! Again, failure to apply sound commercial practices and follow through with delivery.
In the end, TF* will kill most photographers. Not literally, but it will drain the life out of our creativity, our passion and our industry.
The solution is simple. Designers need to step up and pay photographers and advertising people that are responsible for representing their products. Designers are the reason the fashion industry exists. Local designers should be paying models and photographers, not opting for free shoots so they can churn out a cheaper product! If you create an upstanding business model and a solid product and practice good commerce, your reward will be plenty. Photographers, don’t sell yourself and others short, don’t work for free. Your camera equipment cost you money, learning techniques costs you money. Sometimes it only costs you time, but time is money too!
Until next time..
[The image at the top of this post is one in a series of promotional images shot for a local music artist, who paid us to do the work, because he loves our product and is impressed by our quality.]
