Tampa Bay models on Tampa Bay Modeling.Tampa modeling portfolio photography services, Tampa model testing photography services, modeling portfolio books, modeling composite cards, comp cards, zed cards, and services for professional modeling career tools. These services are not free, and require an investment into your modeling career!Tampa Bay Modeling features, articles, tutorials, interactive tutorials, anecdotes, stories, tools, paperwork, and more.Risks for models, modeling scams, and protecting the integrity and the marketability of your modeling career.Tampa Bay modeling scams.Tampa Bay Modeling model job board section for model Go-See information and casting.Tampa Bay Modeling resources, including career tool links, contracts, vouchers, scam fighting agreements, forms, and other tools.Tampa Bay Modeling contact information and our monthly modeling mail bag for the answers to your questions.  
Tampa Bay Modeling. The new look of modeling. The future of the modeling industry begins in Tampa Bay. A free modeling resource site for independent models and agency represented models. Tampa Bay Modeling is a part of Independent Modeling, and is also affiliated with Florida Modeling Career and Advanced Model.
  Tampa Bay modeling portfolios, modeling photography services, and Tampa model testing photography services by Aurora PhotoArts Tampa Bay photography and design and Tampa Bay Modeling.
First modeling portfolio picture of a Tampa model on Tampa Bay Modeling. All portfolio photographs, unless otherwise noted, by C. A. Passinault, lead photographer for Aurora PhotoArts Tampa Photography and Design, as well as Director of Tampa Bay Modeling. C. A. Passinault is a top photographer, as well as a modeling expert.Second model photograph on Tampa Bay Modeling. Click on the image for an anecdote of the modeling shoot which produced this picture.In this third picture, you can see why the Tampa Bay area is one of the best in the world for modeling portfolio development work. Photograph by Tampa photographer C. A. Passinault.Image four of our online portfolio of another Tampa model. This photograph, if we are not mistaken, was taken on location in the Tampa Bay area. The best modeling portfolio photographs are location shots.This is another great picture. This is the fifth model photograph on Tampa Bay Modeling. Pictures featured in our thumbnail array may not be the same as those of models which are in our featured model section, but often, they are one and the same.Unmatched in any Florida modeling market. The quality of this image is excellent! Photograph by C. A. Passinault, our resident photographer and modeling expert.Another top Tampa model gets their look on. The best models can obtain a wide range of looks, as you can see when you look at other pictures of this model!Is it any wonder why more and more companies and art directors are booking independent models without going through an agency? Proof that you can be a professional model, with a lucrative career, without being dependent upon an agency to find and book modeling jobs!Another awesome photograph of a Tampa model by modeling photographer C. A. Passinault, lead photographer Aurora PhotoArts, and director of Tampa Bay Modeling.For modeling portfolio work in the Tampa Bay area, nothing beats location work. Studio photography is not nearly as cost effective, or appropriate, for modeling portfolio work.Keep in mind that this picture, for a modeling portfolio, was taken by a qualified modeling portfolio photographer, C. A. Passinault, for a specialized, professional market, which is modeling. A wedding photographer or a portrait studio will not be able to give models what they need for an effective modeling portfolio, as you have to know what you are doing!This is the 12th picture in our Tampa Bay Modeling online portfolio. Yet another Tampa model shows a marketable look in their portfolio. The best models are capable of the most looks, and are not locked into a single look!Agency model or independent model? It doesnt matter, anymore, especially in Tampa Bay. Professional models like this one can be booked without going through an agency, saving both the model and the job agency fees.Modeling portfolios need at least six looks, and by looks, we mean different looks. A composite cards needs at least five, on average, with a headshot on the front, and four different looks on the back of the comp card. This Tampa model is demonstrating a marketable look right now, in this photography. Picture by C. A. Passinault.
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SEPTEMBER 2006

Model Consultation Scam
A model has a bad experience with a model consultation scam.

I am writing in reference to a company out of (a Tampa Bay location) claiming to be holding casting calls. It is a classic bait and switch scam and I knew it the second I referenced Independent Modeling in the interview- ( he asked about my agent) because he started stuttering, acted like he'd never heard of it, acting snotty and berating me.
As soon as he realized that I have a brain and don't need him or their "services" he began to insult my character, integrity and even my age(23). He said I was too old to compete with the "16 /17 yr old tall blondes". He also told me that I would never make it in this industry because I wouldn't allow him to sell me on their classes or whatever. It is true that I am inexperienced in this industry but I am learning as much as I can to try and get started. Knowledge is power and I love your website. If you have any advice for someone who knows little to nothing about getting started please let me know. For example, since TFP is so shady how do you recommend I get started? Should I contact Aurora for a consultation? I know I need marketing materials, is the best way to just find a reputable photog and pay for them? Please respond at your earliest convenience. Thank you very much for your time and have a great day.
- Michelle, a model from Tampa Bay, Florida

Hello Michelle,
Independent Modeling rocks! I’m not saying that because I used to be on their staff or anything, but just about everyone who has a problem with my friends is probably doing something wrong and they are threatened by any free modeling resource which teaches models how to get work on their own.
The fact that models are throwing Independent Modeling in the faces of model scams is hilarious, too! The look on his face must have been priceless.
If you encountered anyone who invited you to a model job go see only to have them turn around and try to sell you some service, then yes, that is a bait and switch scam. Any time that you are bait and switched, you become the victim of a deceptive trade practice, which is fraud. You should contact the Florida attorney general’s office, which handles consumer fraud in Florida, and also the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and report what happened to you. If you know of anyone else who encountered the same scam, get them to contact the authorities too. You can get more instructions on how to do this and get the links to the relevant resources by going to Tampa Bay Modeling’s REPORT A SCAM section (incidently, the section is going to be greatly enlarged later this month with the opening of our new model and talent agency scam-fighting resource section for models and abused agency bookers.
While Aurora PhotoArts is a good photography company to invest in model portfolio photography with, it is not the only one. Other great photographers that you should check out include Andy Meng, Craig Huey, Michael Cairnes, Susan Jeffers, and ITD Photos. Also, please note that Aurora PhotoArts is our main sponsor, and their senior photographer, C. A. Passinault, is also the director of Independent Modeling. Although they are our main sponsor, we are obligated to point out other great photographers, too, because we will not endorse one company when it could become a conflict of interest. Know that you will get excellent, professional-quality pictures with any of these photographers and photography companies. As a professional model with experience in the matter, I will say that you should avoid any photographers who agencies and model consultants refer you to, as there is a great potential for a conflict of interest there. I cannot recommend any of those photographers who work with agencies.
For a more comprehensive list of reputable, professional photographers, check out the TALON Talent Online database over at Independent Modeling. They even have a reference star-based rating system which will tell you the ration of good references over complaints that they have on file at a glance. You cannot go wrong booking the services of any model portfolio photographer or photography company on there with a four or a five-star rating (all of the photographers who I have mentioned are currently five-star rated).
Regarding TFP, it depends upon the definition that you are referring to. TFP used to be a term that described a professional collaboration between established professionals. The term has been hijacked by amateurs, though, and what it generally means now are amateur photographers and amateur models running around teaching each other bad habits and practicing poor Quality photography. Most photographers offering TFP (free shoots to aspiring models) either do not know what they are doing or are up to no good; in this case it could be considered a shady practice which has the potential to be dangerous and at the very least usually turns out to be a waste of time. Would you respect a so-called professional who did nothing but free work and never got paid? A part of human nature is something called “perceived value”. Most people do not assign much worth to things that are given to them, while the same person may think highly of the exact same thing if they pay for it. This is why TFP photographers get the dumbass of the year award from me. Not only do they not get paid for what they are trying to do, but the models who do TFP with them are far less likely to like the pictures or respect the photographer because of perceived value. For those unethical TFP photographers out there with shady hidden agendas such as trying to meet “hot girls” to try to hook up with them, they should know that if this is what they are trying to do, then they handicap any chance that they have with any model simply because they handicap the potential for respect that any model may have for them. Women are not attracted to anyone who they do not respect. Please note that I am not condoning the actions of TFP photographers who are trying to hook up with models, I am merely pointing out the irony that what they are trying to achieve becomes less likely because of the reduced respect. If you want to increase the odds that you will be rejected by beautiful women, by all means enjoy yourself. This TFP hook-up irony is something that greatly amuses me while, at the same time, I am also disgusted by the sleazy guys who try this. Talk about mixed feelings!
Sometimes, if you are an established professional model who already has a portfolio, composite cards, and maybe a few tear sheets under your belt, you may find professional photographer willing to do a professional collaboration for time (which used to be known as TFP before the guys with cameras, or GWC’s, hijacked the term). By default, it you already have your modeling career tools, you’re not in the market for investing in portfolio services and the professional photographer will feel better because they will know that the potential for a conflict of interest and cutting the throat of their portfolio photography services is minimal (no professional ever wants to find themselves in the position of undermining or competing with themselves). If you are just starting out and don’t have a portfolio already, it may be very tough to find a professional photographer willing to collaborate with you in this manner. If you are an aspiring model with no professional tools, who shouldn’t even try to book any model jobs until you have invested in the tools that you need. By all means, find a reputable photographer or photography company and pay for the professional photographs to build the portfolio and the composite cards that you will need to work on your own or by being represented by agencies.
I recently took out some time to study what could be the saddest joke that I have ever seen in the industry. It was some misguided model consultant business that bordered on being a model consultant scam. It was run by this TFP model who had used portfolio networking sites to build a portfolio with TFP. The same model was also taken in my the place that you are writing about, and had some of their pictures on her model consultant site. The pictures were so bad that they would have handicapped the career of this model rather than helped to market her. One thing that was really sad and amusing at the same time was that she had this plan where models would be introduced to TFP photographers to build their “professional modeling” portfolio. It takes all kinds, and people really need to know what the hell they are talking about before they form some sort of model consultant business around a bunch of misguided ideas. So, what do people really get for paying her a few hundred dollars? She cannot legally book them into model jobs (and there is no incentive to do that if you cannot get paid for it), she doesn’t know enough about photography to refer anyone to any photographer. The also contradicts herself. The very people who she puts down she also builds up as a source for her “professional” modeling experience. Screw the modeling schools and the pictures that show that you were taken advantage of my some model scam. Do you have tear sheets? What model jobs have you booked and been paid for? Why is your portfolio full of the crappiest pictures I have ever seen? So much for being a qualified model-turned model expert. She should spin it as “I, too, have been victimized by models scams! Let me consult with you today and you can pay me for my time so you can learn from my mistakes instead of making them yourself!”
What does she claim to offer? She claims to be able to offer models her professional connections and profiles on portfolio networking sites that only she seems to know about. Well, guess what? I can recreate her list by spending ten minutes on a search engine. I can also find superior information on this site and on Independent Modeling as well as a list of genuine professional photographers and others on Independent Modeling. The cost? Nothing but a few minutes of my time. People really need to quit taking advantage of naive aspiring models and they need to stop reselling the free information that they take from other sources. Why not just ask for donations out of pity? I’ll be sure to be the first one to send five dollars to the misguided model expert fund if they retire. That business will probably be closed before the end of the year. I am sure that she means well, but it’s more of a joke than anything else. What this is could basically be described as a dysfunctional, mentally handicapped version of a model consultation scam, and there are many others out there who do it so much better, and they are actually a danger to models! I haven’t seen a model scheme that is more pathetic than this one is.
Well, that’s it for my 1,000th rant. Good luck with your portfolio, by the way, and let me know how it goes!
~ Model Monica Stevens,
Tampa Bay Modeling Mail Bag Editor

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September 2006 Mail Bag

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C/O Monica Stevens, Mail Bag Editor

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