Kajira wrote:
Hello! I have been modeling in the US primarily and I know the rates for various genres here differ by geographical location.

Do you, really?  I would think that modeling rates will vary greatly from location to location, based on "supply & demand".  Modeling rates is, say, San Francisco might vary greatly from rates in, say, Cleveland.  I would expect that rates in London would vary greatly from rates in Calias, Rome, Dublin, Nice, Madrid, Athens, etc.

There is no substitute from knowing the local going rate, and I imagine that there is no such thing as a continent wide rate.

Other than that comment, I can't help you with the local rates in Europe.  Wish I could -- it would be interesting.

Eyesso wrote:
Europe is going to be more of a "no big deal" place when it comes to nudity, so it's easier to find a nude model, so demand is less, and payment is less.   Probably similar with Australia. 
.

I don'k know where in Europe you are talking about. Germany which public nudity is not a big deal, you won't find models for less than €100/h usually more than that. This rates aplies also for no nudity.

I guess the crazy high rates that midels demand in Germany is because of lack of models. I have posted annonces looking for models in 4 facebook communities, and models website like MM and the result is Zero so far. my shooting rate is once a year.

It is the very opposite of Ireland where public nudity is not ok but you find many models to choose soon after you post a casting call. And rates are less the tha ralph of german models rates.

Marcio Faustino wrote:
I don'k know where in Europe you are talking about. Germany which public nudity is not a big deal, you won't find models for less than €100/h usually more than that. This rates aplies also for no nudity.

Sorry, but that's nonsense.
You can find tons of very appropriate nude modelsmin Germany for 30 or 40 € per hour. (200 € for ~8 hours shooting for erotic video clips for night hours tv is a common standard...)

I guess the crazy high rates that midels demand in Germany is because of lack of models.

You can cobble the streets with nude models in Germany... (Models from Germany, Poland, Czechia...)

I have posted annonces looking for models in 4 facebook communities, and models website like MM and the result is Zero so far. my shooting rate is once a year.

Maybe you should try some German web communities....

Kajira wrote:
Hello! I have been modeling in the US primarily and I know the rates for various genres here differ by geographical location. How about internationally? In Ireland I seemed to only be able to get $50/hr US equivalent for art nudes.

That's a good European rate.
(That famous "100$/hr" rates in the US at least do not fit to the official statistics regarding pro models yearly income in the US, by the way... Bureau of Labour Statistics: median income of freelance models in 2015 $27,530 per year, $13.23 per hour)

In Germany the average payment for professional fashion catalogue models is approx. 2,000 Euro per day. "Day" means: we shoot as long it takes to do the job. Maybe 8 hours, maybe 12 hours. And this applies to pro models hired by major fashion distributing companies... All these rates tend to drop as all media business rates drop for years now. (Agency provision is deducted from this 2,000 Euro, by the way. Agency provisions must not exceed 18 percent in Germany, by the way. It's regulated by law.)

Three or four years ago I had an email conversation with a rather well known US fetish model who planned to make a trip to Europe. When I asked her for her rate for a whole day she answered "$ 1,000".

Okay... That was ~ 900 Euro at that time. There is a really famous fetish, nude and erotic model from the UK - she demands 1,000 british pounds per week. That was 1,300 Euro at that time. For $ 1,000 I could have hired this model for 3 days. Not only for one day...

(And by the way: if you want to act legally you need to have a work visa if you want to do paid model jobs.)

Marcio Faustino wrote:

I don'k know where in Europe you are talking about. Germany which public nudity is not a big deal, you won't find models for less than €100/h usually more than that. This rates aplies also for no nudity.

I guess the crazy high rates that midels demand in Germany is because of lack of models. I have posted annonces looking for models in 4 facebook communities, and models website like MM and the result is Zero so far. my shooting rate is once a year.

It is the very opposite of Ireland where public nudity is not ok but you find many models to choose soon after you post a casting call. And rates are less the tha ralph of german models rates.

In Berlin its rare to get more than 50 euro for a nude shoot, almost everyone in Berlin is a nudest and some kinda model it seems ;P I haven't looked at working out of Berlin in Germany though.

In Australia people are actually very prudish, I made way more money nude modelling there than in Europe. People are super open about skimpy/sexual outfits and acting sexual unless it comes to actual nudity or actual sex work.

TomFRohwer wrote:

That's a good European rate.
(That famous "100$/hr" rates in the US at least do not fit to the official statistics regarding pro models yearly income in the US, by the way... Bureau of Labour Statistics: median income of freelance models in 2015 $27,530 per year, $13.23 per hour)

In Germany the average payment for professional fashion catalogue models is approx. 2,000 Euro per day. "Day" means: we shoot as long it takes to do the job. Maybe 8 hours, maybe 12 hours. And this applies to pro models hired by major fashion distributing companies... All these rates tend to drop as all media business rates drop for years now. (Agency provision is deducted from this 2,000 Euro, by the way. Agency provisions must not exceed 18 percent in Germany, by the way. It's regulated by law.)

Three or four years ago I had an email conversation with a rather well known US fetish model who planned to make a trip to Europe. When I asked her for her rate for a whole day she answered "$ 1,000".

Okay... That was ~ 900 Euro at that time. There is a really famous fetish, nude and erotic model from the UK - she demands 1,000 british pounds per week. That was 1,300 Euro at that time. For $ 1,000 I could have hired this model for 3 days. Not only for one day...

(And by the way: if you want to act legally you need to have a work visa if you want to do paid model jobs.)

I guarantee you the US Census Bureau wasnt surveying freelancing nude internet models when they came up with their stats. That same old bit gets trotted out like some set-in-stone law everyone must abide by, or as some weird attempt to discredit people who claim they get paid 100/hour in every discussion about rates. It doesn't fit this niche, it is not the end-all-be-all of modelling rates. Let it die.

Laura UnBound wrote:
I guarantee you the US Census Bureau wasnt surveying freelancing nude internet models when they came up with their stats.

They surveyed average figures for all kinds of models...

And honestly I doubt that average nude models in the US get paid three or four times better per hour than average models in general.

And by they way: if nude models would get an average payment of 100$ per hour there would not be so many of them trying to earn $10 or $20 nibbles at Patreon... ;-)

TomFRohwer wrote:

They surveyed average figures for all kinds of models...

And honestly I doubt that average nude models in the US get paid three or four times better per hour than average models in general.

And by they way: if nude models would get an average payment of 100$ per hour there would not be so many of them trying to earn $10 or $20 nibbles at Patreon... ;-)

I do and I am only part time and average in terms of looks and ability. I know many girls here who earn 100 or more on average who are full time.

TomFRohwer wrote:

They surveyed average figures for all kinds of models...

And honestly I doubt that average nude models in the US get paid three or four times better per hour than average models in general.

And by they way: if nude models would get an average payment of 100$ per hour there would not be so many of them trying to earn $10 or $20 nibbles at Patreon... ;-)

You're right, I have no idea how much money myself or my peers have actually made...They probably all just lie. For fun.

Lisa Everhart wrote:

I do and I am only part time and average in terms of looks and ability. I know many girls here who earn 100 or more on average who are full time.

I know many full time models who make $100 per hour.

Lisa Everhart wrote:
I do and I am only part time and average in terms of looks and ability. I know many girls here who earn 100 or more on average who are full time.

Full time means 36-40 hours a week. Are they making that $100/hr outside of shooting?

Edited to add that I understand they're charging  and billing 100+ hour but I am surprised if someone is earning an average of $100 for every hour that they put into modeling including networking, marketing, and any other administrative time.

Vindictive Images wrote:
Full time means 36-40 hours a week. Are they making that $100/hr outside of shooting?

Edited to add that I understand they're charging  and billing 100+ hour but I am surprised if someone is earning an average of $100 for every hour that they put into modeling including networking, marketing, and any other administrative time.

This is certainly true, however, the OP's post was regarding the hourly billing rate for a shoot and this is what I responded to. If I add all the time I spend, then I am probably lucky to make minimum wage and this is why 100 an hour is so misconstrued when it is cited as some sort of outrageous fee.

*Why anyone would begrudge a model for earning an overall average minimum wage for their time, effort, skills and image is beyond me. We pay more for other services each day when we go to a store or restaurant or engage other service providers for things that we want.

Full time to me means this is how they earn their primary income. I am not aware of any 9-5 modeling gigs.

Vindictive Images wrote:
Full time means 36-40 hours a week. Are they making that $100/hr outside of shooting?

Edited to add that I understand they're charging  and billing 100+ hour but I am surprised if someone is earning an average of $100 for every hour that they put into modeling including networking, marketing, and any other administrative time.

When you need 4 or 5 hours overhead to aquire 1 hour paid $100 (which means $20 or $25 per hour effectively) you maybe should think about lower rates because this may bring better per hour earnings. Because the number of potential customers will double or tripple or even quadruple.

And that can reduce the overhead for aquiring jobs a lot...

But of course everybody does his/her own calculation and your figures at the end of the year do not lie.

TomFRohwer wrote:
When you need 4 or 5 hours overhead to aquire 1 hour paid $100 (which means $20 or $25 per hour effectively) you maybe should think about lower rates because this may bring better per hour earnings. Because the number of potential customers will double or tripple or even quadruple.

And that can reduce the overhead for aquiring jobs a lot...

But of course everybody does his/her own calculation and your figures at the end of the year do not lie.

You may have a slight point but the time spent networking, doing administrative tasks and "marketing" our clients work are somewhat fixed per client, so the reality of your scenario is more clients for a lesser rate equals more work for a lesser amount per hour. I imagine this would be the same for rates charged by a photographer or any other service based professional. Investing time and effort in diminishing returns is not always the best business plan. Sometimes less really is more.

In the end, this conversation is fundamentally about whatever exchange two people freely agree upon as fair for both. Anyone who would seek work for reasons that do not serve the needs and goals of both parties involved is simply trying to exploit the other for their own self interest.

Laura UnBound wrote:
You're right, I have no idea how much money myself or my peers have actually made...They probably all just lie. For fun.

Laura, I am always amazed at how many members insist on promoting the idea that models have little to no monetary value to photographers on a site named Model Mayhem where the primary purpose is for models to be able to market themselves. I seriously doubt that many other types of members would still frequent this site if there were no models here. Maybe some members feel they can influence less experienced models to work for lesser rates if they consistently expound this point of view. Thank you for always speaking out in support of those of us who believe our time, skills and image are worth a buck or two and are able to manifest this by working hard, seeing to our customers needs and keeping our word.

Jerry Nemeth wrote:

I know many full time models who make $100 per hour.

Thanks for saying Jerry.

Risen Phoenix Photo wrote:
For those of you who probably don't have a wife or children at home , and have a large disposable incomes. Stick with the paid models and pay them as much as the market will bear.

I pay them what I pay them or, to be precise, what I value their services. I don't care what the market dictates I should pay them.

Vindictive Images wrote:

I pay them what I pay them or, to be precise, what I value their services. I don't care what the market dictates I should pay them.

Ok so what? Good for you.

Risen Phoenix Photo wrote:
Ok so what? Good for you.

Where I come from, a "market", is any medium by which two or more people freely and voluntarily conduct mutually agreeable trade on whatever terms and agreement they determine are fair and just for each.

Another member seems to have this confused with coercion or blackmail in which one or more people, for their own self interest and on their terms only, forces one or others into service against their will.

Eyesso wrote:
Supply and Demand.....the USA is sort of prudish, so nudity comes at a price, and possibly the highest in the world.  $100/hr seems to be the standard here. 

Europe is going to be more of a "no big deal" place when it comes to nudity, so it's easier to find a nude model, so demand is less, and payment is less.   Probably similar with Australia.

Gee you think???

Some models demand A$350 per hour to shoot nude. And mind you I'm talking about models based in Australia.

For those cases, I simply be polite and say "Sorry those rates are too steep for me" and look elsewhere. I never speak to those models ever again.

Marcio Faustino wrote:
It is the very opposite of Ireland where public nudity is not ok but you find many models to choose soon after you post a casting call. And rates are less the tha ralph of german models rates.

If working in the east of Ireland, there are plenty of nude models available, the further west you go the more rare they become. That's partly because of the much lower population. I've never paid more than €50 per hour for a nude model.

Travelling models, usually American, have asked up to €120 per hour but some will negotiate. If they don't, I don't book them, there's no need, as there are alternatives.