Once you start taking photography serious you’re going to get tons of messages from people trying to shoot for whatever reason. One thing I noticed was that when the conversation starts to lean towards money it get awkward on both sides. GET PAYED OR GET PLAYED. PERIOD.
I have wasted countless hours on other people’s projects trying to help/assist their dream and I got screwed in the end. Music artists ESPECIALLY “Rappers” are notorious for this. They will contact you about them needing photos and they’re going to get you exposure blah blah blah and not one time will they mention payment. Then after their cd/mixtape comes out your work is either everywhere and you got ZERO to minimum credit or they never even finished the work and they move on to something else. Not only did I not get paid in either situation but SO much time was wasted. Ask yourself, if they’re songs are talking about the amount of money they have, why shouldn’t you get some? I have NO sympathy for artists anymore. I understand the struggle but I have to eat too.
"Models" are next in line. Instagram has jump-started many careers and has gotten many models exposure. Do not be fooled by the pretty face or her flawless body. GET PAID OR GET PLAYED. I’ve worked with a few models with over 10k followers on instagram. They would promise to post the photos and give me credit which would hopefully get my numbers up as well as bring in new business. Here’s what really happened; Photos were posted with NO credit, watermark cropped out, and a dumbass filter was added (which kills the photo in my opinion). They got hundreds of “likes” and I’m sitting there with egg on my face.
I’m at a point now where if a model does contact me about pictures whether I can use them for my portfolio or not I hit them with a price tag. Serious models will pay no problem because they understand quality work costs. The pretenders will ignore your message. They are the ones relying 100% on their looks to get what they want. Nothing wrong with that, I’m just not the photographer for the job.
Here’s a couple of examples.
I could of used this particular model for my portfolio so I hit her with a low price. She replied but unfortunately we will be unable to work at this time.
This particular person wanted gym photos. We had an in depth conversation about what all she wanted so I gave her a deal. (No way in a normal situation would I have 3 outfit changes for $125) She was a pretty fast texter too so we were going back and forth for about 30 minutes until I hit her with the price. I sent that message over 4 weeks ago…Still no reply.
People may not understand photography but they understand money and everyone can speak that language. No money, no shoot, no time wasted. Simple as that.
