I am taking a hiatus from active photography. If you want me to model for you, go to my other profile,
http://www.modelmayhem.com/45315
I am tired of getting stood up. People saying they want to work with me then they never show up when it is time to actually do something. Be courteous and at least call if you are going to cancel. I get booked up in advance and if I know you are not going to show, then someone else can take that time.
I am tired of people not being as advertised.
I am tired of the saturation of GWC’s ruining the perceptions people have of alternative fashion and fetish and bondage photography.
I am tired of being associated with scumballs who use fetish photography as a way to get into girls pants.
I am tired of people stealing my images and calling them their own work to try and get models.
I am tired of people name dropping me, yet they seem to want nothing to do with me in person. I have many stories to tell about this, but one of the funniest is when some girl came up to me (I was holding a camera at the time in a club) and told me about this great photographer they had worked with called Patrick Andraste. Then she asked me if I had ever met him. I just said no, I had never heard of the guy.
About Escorts. I welcome and encourage escorts. I have heard the stories about bad escorts and I have a couple to tell myself, but for the most part, it is good to have people around, the more the merrier. Being a model myself, and being engaged to a model, I have found that those photographers that do not want escorts around are up to no good. Not always, I understand some guys have performance anxiety, but about 99% of the time. If you want to be a photographer and you cannot work with other people around, it is time to stick with taking pictures of your puppy. I am probably going to have a few people around with me, I cannot understand why you should not have a few people around with you as well.
About Trade Shoots. My idea of a trade shoot is where the Model and the Photographer actually trade, as in the model gets all of the pictures, un-edited to do with as they please. I even give what I call a reverse model release. This idea of a trade where the model gets only 3-10 pictures of web resolution with the shutter pusher’s name or website plastered all over them is fertilizer. I think if you are good, then your images should speak for themselves and you should not have to stroke your own ego in such a way. I have heard the argument of “Well I have all of this expensive camera gear!” well, since I am both a photographer and a model, I have to say the Model usually has as much or more invested in their makeup kit, costumes, outfits, time, travel expenses, etc. than the photographer. I personally know that when I show up for a shoot as a model, unless you have the latest Hasselblad or LEAF digital back on your RZ-67 my costumes and gear cost a lot more than your camera gear.
The Dilution of photography as art. Once upon a time I used to think of photography as art. There was a lot of time and energy and money that one would have to invest to take pictures. With the advent of digital photography and all these GWC’s with their latest digital whiz-bang calling themselves artists because they spent a lot of money on a camera is also fertilizer. A lot of the people I know that I would consider an artist using a camera as a tool use simple point and shoot cameras. It is not the gear, it is the thought and passion that goes into creating the setting and the image. It is like the guy that owns a Ferrari yet has never had it over the ton. I personally use a lot of eclectic cameras but that is because I have a hardware fetish for old interesting cameras.
Maybe I will get over it. I have in the past but for the foreseeable future I am going to only shoot with those girls that I have shot with before and enjoyed shooting with. If someone new comes along with great ideas I will consider them. Or if they want to pay me lots of money
anyhow I am more successful as a model than a photographer so I am devoting more of my time to that.
Art Shows I have been featured in:
Seattle Erotic Art Festival, 2004
Seattle Erotic Art Festival, 2005
Seattle Erotic Art Festival, 2006
SUSHI Art Show 2006
SAKE Art Show 2007
S&M Underground March 2007
SAKE Art Show 2008
Publications I have been featured in:
Secret Magazine, issue 25
D&S Magazine, France, winter 2000
The Stranger Newspaper
The Seattle Sinner Newspaper
Websites that contain my work:
http://Andraste.com
http://RubberBound.com
http://Bondage-toy.com
http://Miss-Sabine.com
http://JadeIndica.com
http://FedorasBox.com
http://RopeLover.com
http://HouseofGord.com
http://FetishNation.com
http://GwenMedia.com
