JimBobLc
Posts: 192
Martinsburg, West Virginia, US
As a new member of the site, this has perhaps been the most useful thread I have seen yet. I mean, that is the heart of the matter, where the money is. MM seems like where you would find the raw materials to make finished products to sell elsewhere, not a place for photogs to make money. I was actually surprised that anyone but photo retouchers and mua's were making serious money here. Since the people most actively seeking my friendship have been retouchers, I instantly assumed that is the direct incomes to be made here. But then I saw in this thread a few photogs were making money here also, using ports developed with mm models, and I looked at their ports, and I see I need to shoot more of the material that seems to appeal to portrait customers, one common theme I saw in several of those ports was white peasant style blouses and long flowing red skirts soft focus in natural settings etc, interesting not so much interest in big cleavage, but seductive open shirt not really revealing anything but narrow strip of skin from throat to navel seemed popular, so now I know what type of port I need to make any money from portraits (other than weddings or babies, but that is not really 'models' according to MM). But as a few people said, real money comes from large clients, and can't get to that level using tfp. But I am not sure I want that type of high power work. I want to enjoy shooting subjects I like, and I don't need high power models, but I do want some income, I see I must work on white peasant style blouses and long flowing red skirts in soft focus in natural settings in my port then maybe I can make some modest profit from low key work that is not going to stress me out too much.
JimBobLc wrote: As a new member of the site, this has perhaps been the most useful thread I have seen yet. I mean, that is the heart of the matter, where the money is. MM seems like where you would find the raw materials to make finished products to sell elsewhere, not a place for photogs to make money. I was actually surprised that anyone but photo retouchers and mua's were making serious money here. Since the people most actively seeking my friendship have been retouchers, I instantly assumed that is the direct incomes to be made here. But then I saw in this thread a few photogs were making money here also, using ports developed with mm models, and I looked at their ports, and I see I need to shoot more of the material that seems to appeal to portrait customers, one common theme I saw in several of those ports was white peasant style blouses and long flowing red skirts soft focus in natural settings etc, interesting not so much interest in big cleavage, but seductive open shirt not really revealing anything but narrow strip of skin from throat to navel seemed popular, so now I know what type of port I need to make any money from portraits (other than weddings or babies, but that is not really 'models' according to MM). But as a few people said, real money comes from large clients, and can't get to that level using tfp. But I am not sure I want that type of high power work. I want to enjoy shooting subjects I like, and I don't need high power models, but I do want some income, I see I must work on white peasant style blouses and long flowing red skirts in soft focus in natural settings in my port then maybe I can make some modest profit from low key work that is not going to stress me out too much.
Glad this thread is helpful. Thank you for sharing your perspective.
Sure, a few thousand$ over the past 5 years or so for model portfolios, almost all of the nude and semi-erotic nature, since the models working those genres seem a bit more sensitive about the quality of their images and consciously look for a photographer with specific professional experience in those areas. OTOH, that's probably about as much as I've spent doing TF sessions to build my business website portfolios. I don't consider that a loss; most of my senior-portrait, glamour, fine-art nude, and pregnancy/newborn clients come to me after viewing website images captured with models from MM and other modeling sites. If you consider the indirect financial benefits of having a profile here (and I do), the payback has been considerable and well worth the minimal maintenance required.
JOEL McDONALD wrote: I joined MM as a resource, not as a job search. I find that this site is great for networking and for gaining resumes of other professionals that can then be utilized in various shoots and creative projects I have.
Job search??
I make money off model mayhem.
But its not a job search site, thats the wrong way of looking at it. its not Craig's list.
Your talking about networking... But networking and making money goes hand in hand.. and is the most practical type of networking (where you make money).
People don't realize those creative shoots and ideas can make you money.
What you should be doing is having model pay you to be used in various shoots and creative projects you have..
AJScalzitti wrote: Nope, but my portfolio does. This site isn't for clients, it's for us (the creatives) to network together to maybe win clients. We talk, share ideas, build our portfolios, and talk about what is going on in the business - that hopefully guides us to clients.
x2 for me... i make my money from companies that book me for their catalogs and lookbooks...
i just cruise here to see what everyone else is up to....
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