I’ve been shooting now for about 4 years.  In my first couple of years, the stuff I shot was pretty shitty. But at the time, I thought it was decent. As you shoot more, grow, progress - you get unshitty. At some point, you even get good.  You get comments from people you respect who have always done good work.  So I know at this point that I’m not shitty anymore, and I can occasionally produce some work that people really like.  That thrills me - a lot.  I love it when I do something people like.

This creates a small set of problems though. It’s not all gravy and gumballs (eww).  When shooting trade/tfp/’for free’/testing or whatever you want to call it, you always want to ‘trade up’. You want to work with people who are at least as good as or better than you so that you can get something great for your portfolio. 

Model Mayhem is a great place to get started. Lots of people to network with.  But people who are new, or have less than substantial ‘agency stats’ (I will get to that in a sec) don’t have the look or experience for me to ‘trade up’ with.

So does that mean that I won’t shoot with someone like this?

Well, NO! It doesn’t mean that at all.  I like to help people, if I see some potential in them to produce some great images. It’s sort of a play it by ear thing with me, but if I like your look and feel you have potential - I will probably agree to shoot you. And I can help you get better images, and more experience. Sounds good right?

But there’s a catch.  Are you ready? It’s shocking and horrifying!!

See ‘Zee Deal!’ (next page)