TAMPA BAY MODELING
Amateurs
VS Professionals
Tampa Bay modeling and photography markets
See
also:
Standards
have dropped in the Tampa modeling industry - Statement
about Tampa Shootouts - Warning
to models about Tampa shootouts - Tampa
Shootouts (The official shootout event series of
Tampa Bay Modeling, and an ethical, professional alternative to other
so-called “shootout events” in Tampa Bay).
"PSA
for models, avoid working with cocky photographers that think their work
is better than everyone else and talks shit bout other photographers,
everyone has to start somewhere, im sure when they 1st started their pics
look like shit too, lol just sayin"
-
Posted by an amateur photographer on a social media site
Well, I don’t
know about anyone else out there, but the post above says it all. I wouldn’t
work with this person, and the reason is that their “PSA”
is highly unprofessional. Their attitude is poor, too, and they are awfully
defensive because they are obviously insecure. This person is also obviously
jealous of the work of professional photographers whom they cannot compete
against, and they seem to be aware that they cannot compete against real
professionals.
You know, if cocky is misread by an idiot, and translates into “confident”
and “experienced, I don’t know why a model would NOT want
to work with such a photographer, because that photographer will sure
as hell be able to a lot more for them and their modeling career than
the amateur would. An amateur warning “models” not to work
with professionals? Sounds like bad advice to me! Are you letting ego
get in the way? Do you know what you are doing? Can those “models”
take you seriously? Stop crying, step up to the plate, invest in your
career, learn how to do it, and get real! Otherwise, you’re going
to offend real professionals, you are going to step up to them with work
that cannot compete, with that whiney attitude, and you will rightfully
be knocked down on your ass. Of course, I mean this in a figurative sense.
I will tell you what, though. If any model supports an amateur photographer
and convinces themselves that they are what they need for their career,
have at it. I know a lot of professionals who won’t be inspired
to work with such models, unless the model wises up and invests in a professional
portfolio by paying for it. In the amateur/ hobby modeling TFP/TFCD world,
though, that won’t happen, because the people who claim to be models
and photographers are sold on the false economy that they do not have
to pay for anything. They obviously do not respect their careers, and
are, mostly, not serious about it out of ignorance. They do not comprehend
that you only get out of your career what you put into it.
And these people wonder why they cannot make money in their so-called
“career”, and why they cannot compete against real professionals
who actually did invest in their careers. Even as a professional photographer,
I have to invest in my career, spend money on marketing, and spend a lot
of time and hard work in marketing myself. Do you think that I would be
booking work if I didn’t invest in my career? That is the reality
of this business. Digital cameras, working for free, free online profiles;
none of that can compete with professional marketing tools. If you delude
yourself into thinking that you can work a successful career by taking
shortcuts, knock yourself out! Don’t blame me when no one takes
you seriously, though, and real professionals take work from you!
I am an experienced, professional photographer with the experience, and
the skill, to give models effective portfolios that they can use to market
themselves in their careers and book work. I do so while giving them quality,
relevant photography work which maximizes their marketability. I’ve
been consistently booking paid shoots over the past decade, even with
all of this freebie stuff going on. The amateurs, and even other professional
photographers, cannot do this, and they need to know this. What I do is
not easy, and it is certainly not something that someone without a lot
of experience, and proper training, can do. It takes literally years of
hard work and study, as you not only have to know how to take good pictures,
but appropriate ones which are relevant for the proper positioning and
marketing of a professional modeling career. You also have to know how
the modeling industry works to make it as a modeling portfolio photographer.
I’m not just an expert on the modeling industry, but I am a pioneer
who has introduced new ideas to it. My ideas are more effective than what
was originally there, and it has changed the industry. That gives me a
massive advantage over anyone else.
I’m a professional photographer, and I’m not cocky, although
some, especially insecure amateurs who are frustrated because they cannot
begin to compete with me, might incorrectly perceive me as such. I have
over a decade of experience making a business out of the highly specialized,
and elite, field of modeling portfolio and talent headshot photography.
Unlike consumer photography fields, where it is easier to sell services
of questionable quality, my clients are educated. You have to know what
you are doing before they will invest in what you do because they know
what they need. It’s perfect for me, too, because I would never
sell photography services of questionable quality; I know that my work
is good, and I believe in it. So do professional models and talent, as
they also know good work when they see it, and they refer others to me
after they experience the results of my work on their career first-hand.
Being in the game, and having experience, I am really annoyed by amateurs
who don’t bother to pay their dues and who don’t bother to
learn the business that they claim to be working in. I just love it when
someone can sign up for a free online profile on a social media or a portfolio
networking site, go around working for free with other amateurs, and then
go around talking like they are players in the industry when everyone
knows that they are not. It’s offensive to those of us who are real
professionals; those of us who have spent years investing in our careers,
and who have earned the right to be in the industry.
Just because you go out and buy a digital camera, and then go around building
portfolios working with other amateurs, does not make you a professional,
and it does not make you an industry player. You are going to find that
out the hard way when professionals take work from you. As a matter of
fact, people like that, not bothering to invest in their career, and not
working to learn the proper way of doing quality work, is the reason that
most of these people will never make it. Collaborating with amateurs is
like the blind leading the blind. Sure, you can practice all that you
want, but you only perfect mistakes, and without proper instruction, you
might make it eventually through trial and error, but you’ll learn
the wrong way of doing things.
All of us, amateurs and professionals alike, are on different levels in
the industry. Some have more experience and skill than others. Some of
us are more talented. Some of are less talented and have to work harder
to acquire the skill that we need. A career is a journey. Did you invest
in a map, and in the proper tools, to get to where you need to go, or
did you take a shortcut and fall off of a cliff?
Are
we cocky if we have paid our dues and have professional experience?
Well, you have to consider the experience of the person, and their skill.
If they have had a long career and have a portfolio which is strong, then
the confidence may be warranted, as they know what they are doing. The
term “cocky” is often described as “overly” self-confident
or self-assertive. Clue into the words “overly” and “self”.
If someone praises themselves when praise is not deserved, or tries to
sell what they do way beyond what the can actually do, the term cocky
would fit, and it would also be closely related to “arrogant”,
which means unwarranted pride. The insecure and inexperienced overcompensate
for their feelings of inadequacy by being cocky about it, to the point
of deluding themselves that they are players in the industry.
I would think that cocky would be a more accurate description
for amateurs who play like they are professionals. It’s
not what professionals are. Sure, confidence may be mistaken for cocky
by the ignorant and the inexperienced, but that perception is not reality.
There is a difference between cocky, or arrogant, and confident.
In reality, the cocky ones in the industry are the insecure amateurs who
try too hard to convince people, and convince themselves, that they are
professionals, and they bite off more than they can chew.
So, go ahead, talk a big game. Accuse others, like real professional photographers,
of being cocky when you are the one who is actually that way. Most people
will easily see right through your insecurity, overcompensation, and general
B.S., and you will find that becoming a professional will be a lot more
difficult in the long run. YOU are the ones that need to shut your mouth,
as professionals have earned the right to have a voice in the industry,
and to express their qualified opinions. You need to shut up, listen,
learn, and earn your way into a career. You also need to respect the professionals
who have invested in their careers, and who have spent years earning their
way into the industry. If you don’t respect those who have actually
made it to where you aspire to go, you might actually annoy them and find
yourself, figuratively, knocked on your ass by true professionals whom
you cannot compete against.
Amateur
VS Professional Photographers
Do amateur photographers really think that they can go out, buy a camera,
open a free online profile, and compete against professional photographers
who have years of experience and have invested in professional career
tools?
It’s a joke, really! The amateur who posted the poorly-written,
neurotic “public service announcement” at the beginning of
this article has been taking pictures for less than a year, and he thinks
that he has a voice in the industry. He does poor quality work,
and thinks that he can compete. He takes pictures which are totally
inappropriate for modeling portfolio work, and he thinks that
he can work with models and help their career. He claims that “models”
tell him of “stupid things” that photographers tell them so
that they will not work with other “photographers”, although
anyone who would label what was said to the models as “stupid”
reveals their ignorance about the modeling industry, which makes them
useless. For the record, though, I don’t think that any models told
him anything, as most of the so-called “models” that he works
with are inexperienced amateurs like himself. I think that he read what
I wrote on my web sites, and started to cry, and he is trying to play
it off as something that “models” told him after they disregarded
what I wrote and worked with people like him anyway. If that is the case,
then why do these people react to everything that I do, by backtracking
and changing the way that they do things in an attempt to adapt to information
that I publish? You don’t think that I see the idiots staggering
backwards as they try to redefine what they do to comply with the conditions
that I impose upon the market? Who’s the follower, and who is the
leader? Who really knows that they are doing? Your actions define you,
as you are what you do. Primitive, whiney amateurs. You might talk a big
game, but you know who is really calling the shots. It’s me, and
you know it. No wonder you are so insecure around me. No wonder you whine
about me, and about things which you simply do not comprehend.
A photographer asked
him who it was that he was referring to, which was obviously me, and he
stated, in some idiotic street-slang which was some pathetic attempt to
make him look cool, that he “Wouldn’t put me on
blast on there, because I would sink myself”. Really?
I’ve been busting modeling scams, imposing order on the modeling
industry, and making photographers, models, and even the agencies themselves
accountable for what they do for OVER TEN YEARS now! I’m not sinking!
I’m thriving and leading. Also, I’ve had people say that they
would like to see me humiliated, or put me in my place. Who’s going
to do it, them? In my experience, and I have proof of this, 90% of the
so-called modeling experts in the Tampa Bay market refer to my sites for
information and ideas, even though they won’t admit to it or give
me credit. What morons. I’d like to see a public debate one day
with these idiots, versus me, when it become obvious that I am the true
source of all of their “expert advice”. What, are you going
to have to put the debate on hold so that you can go study my sites and
then try to come back at me with a retort? I’m for real, and they
know it, and this goes way, way beyond me being a photographer and doing
good work. I’m much, much more than a photographer, and this is
why so many can’t compete with me. You are going to have to be a
lot more than a good photographer in order to compete with me, and most
of the idiots can’t even match me in that one area.
It doesn’t take a public debate, though, to figure out that I am
the true source, especially when my sites dominate search engine results
for anything modeling, and it is easily verified. A lot of these con artists
have found out the hard way that plagiarizing my work backfires, as a
lot of people realize that they have stolen the information from me, and
this destroys their credibility.
The really funny thing is, and I laughed out loud at this, is when he
posted “i
guess some models just dont want help getting there name out there”.
Oh my God. How are you going to get their name out there, on a social
media site wall? What are you going to do it with, crappy photography
work and inappropriate modeling photography which degrades the amateur
models whom you are supposedly helping? Who is arrogant and cocky, little
boy, when you have been shooting for less than a year, your work looks
it, you’ve only been able to convince amateurs who think that they
are models to work with you in a free shoot, and you post cocky, poorly-written
statements like that? What an idiot! You go right ahead and think that
you are in the position to help “models”, and that you are
all that when you have yet to pay your dues. The statement shows, though,
that most people look at his work and decide to pass on it, as the statement
is whiney, desperate, pathetic, and insecure. Perhaps he should put his
camera to good use and practice proctology on himself, as that is the
best photography that he will ever do, in my opinion. He might even like
it, with that nice wide lens. Regardless, he can continue to think that
he is an industry player, and that he can compete. He’ll eventually
get frustrated when he finds out otherwise, and hopefully he’ll
give up, quit photography, and find some other way to find purpose in
his life. Maybe he’ll find some other profession to drag through
the mud, and stay the hell out of my industry!
My opinion? The guy is a sleazy, pathetic wannabe photographer
who is having some sort of mid-life crisis. After seeing
him kiss the butts of known dirtbags online, too, I have to wonder about
his motivation. He either does not know what he is doing, or isn't the
nice guy that he portrays himself to be; either way, he is useless in
the industry, and will hurt the careers of models and aspiring models.
I will have more to write about this so-called “photographer”,
soon.
Most of these guys with cameras, in my experience, obtain cameras not
to become professional photographers, but to pick up so-called “hot”
girls, and it is pathetic. You know what, though? If you don’t have
what it takes to talk to a girl on your own and respect them as as a person,
no gimmick or scam is going to help you. The girls will still think that
you are a creep, and you won’t get anywhere. Regarding the other
guys with cameras, though, who get cameras in an attempt to become “professional”
photographers and to try to compete, though, I will also have to add that
there is no such thing as a short cut in this business. You also have
to learn what is appropriate for modeling portfolio photography, and avoid
inappropriate, high-risk work such as boudoir, glamour, so-called “artistic”
nudes, and trying to get he models to look “sexy” (In other
words, degrade them by making them look like sluts). You have to respect
photography, and the models, and learn what you are doing. You have to
pay your dues, and most of these guys learn it the hard way.
I suppose that the amateurs can try to compete. Experience will school
them, though, when no one takes them seriously, and professionals take
all of the work from them. They won’t be able to compete, and I
could imagine that this would make anyone neurotic and insecure.
No wonder the amateurs whine so much about professional photographers,
even trying to say that their work is not that good when they obviously
have no room to talk. Consider the source when it comes to any opinion!
Come on now, if you were in the market for professional photography, especially
if you were a model looking for an effective modeling portfolio to market
your career, what would you choose?
Differences in obvious quality and relevance to your modeling career aside,
would you book a photographer who had obviously invested in their career,
with tools such as real web sites, or a photographer who operates from
free profiles and who has limited accountability and credibility? Think
about it. You know that I’m right.
PUBLISHED
10/01/11
UPDATED
12/02/11
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