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Photographers - What do you do when..
What do you do when you're approached by a model that you think is just TOTALLY hideous. I mean, the girl isn't even hot enough to sleep with, and sure as hell doesn't belong in front of a camera. I know tis happens - I've just always wondered what goes through your head, and how you politely turn them down, or if you don't, how do you get them to go away? And of course, if the girl is paying you, that's one thing, but if she contacts you wanting trade time, and you sure as hell don't want her look in your port or your copyright near her face... what do you do? I know I'm not the prettiest thing around - but I've seen some ports that make me wonder, "How drunk were your friends when they said, 'Hey! You should model!" This could be an interesting thread... Feb 09 06 10:36 pm Link I be honest and say I only do select TFP with models I feel who can enhance my book/portfolio. Usually they can get it from there. Then some will ask your rates and still shoot with you or look for a TFP shoot elsewhere. Just be honest...Models are big girls!!!! Feb 09 06 10:55 pm Link Acceptable enough I think... By the way - you're avatar is the hottest thing I've seen in a long time. Hot chicks with big knives, guns, swords... Damn sexy. Feb 09 06 11:04 pm Link "Thank you for your interest. I'm sorry but you do not have the look we are seeking at this time."  Feb 09 06 11:04 pm Link dncphotos wrote: Yep pretty much to the tee... Feb 09 06 11:06 pm Link Honesty is the best policy. However, I do not tell any models who approach me they are "hideous" as honestly, what is "hideous" to one may very well be beautiful to another. However, if approached for TFP by a model whom I cannot use for any of my "TFP" projects, I simply let them know that I cannot use them at this time. My "TFP" projects generally involve images that the model and I can earn $$$ on either right away or in the near future. If the resulting images won't earn us $$$, it is very rare that I will do a TFP. I generally keep the e-mail on file as a future project may, indeed, come up in which I may use them. Regards, Denoy P.S. I find that I really don't get that many "TFP" requests but requests by models or other clients who are willing to pay for my photography. Feb 09 06 11:06 pm Link dncphotos wrote: Im on the same page... if they are not what Im looking for then I will tell them so. If they still want to shoot it will have to be a paid shoot. Feb 09 06 11:07 pm Link Andon wrote: I just tell them that I can't shoot them TFP and refer them to my rates page. Feb 09 06 11:08 pm Link A camera does not descriminate among models. Every single model presents challenges and opportunities to a photographer. There is no such thing as ugly in photography. It's all about the approach. Not good looking people tend to offer an inner beauty far beyond from people's expectations. It's the photographer's job to capture that beauty hidding somewhere -right there in that body that some people perceive as ugly. Feb 09 06 11:15 pm Link I try not to be too narrow minded about who I shoot with because I am not going for publication right now. I am willing to shoot with "GWC's 5-1/2s" because I am probably a 5-1/2 photog right now. I think I am pretty good with natural light but I have a lot to learn about the world of artificial light so I just want to shoot. When I am "all that," and ready for publication, I guess I am going to have to be a bit more picky because the reality of the market place is that the competition is high. No, GWC, I'm not payin you a manager's fee for those models of yours! No, I said! < insert silly grin > Feb 09 06 11:18 pm Link Nazul Montesinos wrote: Well said, in my opinion - I think the matter really is whether or not the prospective model has anything to offer in this symbiotic relationship. Feb 09 06 11:24 pm Link OP, You are posing this question to people (i.e., Photographers) who generally enjoy photographing people. So the answers you are getting may not be what you expected... Most people photographer (and those who do it for a living) always find something worthwhile about a "model" to photograph...especially if they are paying.  - Denoy Feb 09 06 11:28 pm Link Andon wrote: The one thing I don't do is be honest. Honesty is considered mean. You can see that very easily on these forums where everyone basks in mindless encouragement by the ignorant in the face of nearly hopeless odds. It's better to just "politely" find some excuse to reject her and then let the poor thing go on from photographer to photographer ocassionally finding someone who will shoot her for a price, until she finally tires of the depressing reality of it and wakes up to the knowledge that the only one who believes she can model is her. Feb 09 06 11:29 pm Link BTW, if a "model" approaches me for modeling images, I generally ask them what they intend to do with them. If it is to submit to agencies, I let them know up front that it may be more beneficial to contact the agencies FIRST...and then come back to me for images... Yes...this practice results in "non sale" oftentimes. But I'm not into photography to sell "hopes and dreams" of modeling. I try to generally help when I can. If they feel more comfortable having professional pics BEFORE visiting the agencies, I proceed to shoot them per my rates. If they just want to "look" and "feel" like a model, then we treat the shoot as a FUN shoot and "play" model/photographer without really planning to submit to an agency...although we shoot the images as if we were shooting FOR an agency. And of course, some models know up front that they like my work and would like me to shoot specific shots for their books. Feb 09 06 11:38 pm Link Dave Krueger wrote: It is not my job as a photographer to determine if someone can or cannot model. I leave that up to the agencies. If someone wants me to photograph them as a model (after I have referred them to the agencies), I have no problems with photographing them as a model. Feb 09 06 11:42 pm Link This is one case where Silence is golden. Feb 09 06 11:44 pm Link Turn to her slowly and let her down gently..."OH MY GOD..MY EYES MY EYES...BE GONE FROM HERE YOU FOUL LOOKING BEAST FROM BEYOND!!!" Then I'd scratch my eyes out and give them to her saying that she's tainted my vision forever... Too subtle, you think? SB Feb 10 06 01:32 am Link Samurai B wrote: Definitely. Feb 10 06 01:34 am Link I thought so. I don't think I was getting my message accross...I feel it lacked a certain, well, bluntness to the whole thing! *snigger* SB Feb 10 06 01:37 am Link Butt ugly? The same thing I tell "girl-next-door" types. "You don't have the [height/bone structure/confidence/exotic look of the month] for fashion. Maybe a glamour photographer would be a better match for you." Feb 10 06 01:41 am Link What about male models who use steroids rather than go to the gym, and then expect to get work? Often, they don't cut out the junk food, so you get the odd combination of muscle and fat. And you can't tell them you know they're drug abusers, can you? Feb 10 06 01:50 am Link Images By Ijumo wrote: I like this solution best. ^_^ Feb 10 06 02:03 am Link Maybe just photograph the person and see what you can do. It's easy to make some who is already good looking look great with the camera. It's a different challenge to photograph someone with bad looks, you may not even want to give them their picture. I had an experience not too long ago where I got a model off the internet. Let's just say the pictures she sent me didn't represent her current looks. But rather then pack up and head home, I just photographed her, and actually she got some nice pictures of herself. Those pictures will never see my portfolio, but it was just another learning experience. A photographer should never stop learning or challenging oneself. Feb 10 06 02:15 am Link What do you do when you're approached by a model that you think is just TOTALLY hideous? Easy... turn her into an actress! Do her headshots, help her build her bio, give her a list of casting directors, hook her up with an agent, charge her a few hundred bucks and send her to an acting workshop. I mean come on... look at all the butt ugly actresses out there that could NEVER make it as models, and just about every model on the planet has aspirations to be an actress. And why do you think she'd be a good actress?... HELLO... she's already convinced herself and probably half the family that she could be a model... that in itself is a GREAT acting job...  Feb 10 06 04:59 am Link I can think of a thousand wise ass comments to make but the truth is that I politely tell them that my book dosen't need their look at this time and that I would be happy to cut them a break on a paid photo shoot. Feb 10 06 06:01 am Link Andon wrote: there is lots of forms of modeling..all sorts and sizes Feb 10 06 06:23 am Link For TFwhatever maybe, and probably, nothing at all... but, then again, there is a market for literally EVERYTHING if the model is willing to work within their market. Now that market, in absolute honesty, for the "not-model-material-model" may only be in porn/adult... where virtually anyone, M or F, and no matter how hideous you or I think they may be, can fit in to some porn/adult niche somewhere... but then again, if they will work within their market they can make money at it. BUT, they also need to understand what their market is and be willing to do it. For most porn/adult wouldn't be the, or even a, first choice... not by a long shot... but it is sometimes the last and the only chance they will ever get to model any where, any time, and any thing. Studio36 Feb 10 06 06:43 am Link I usually shoot with them anyway. Sometimes great things can happen when you least expect it. Who would have thought a creature as hideous as an oyster could have a beautiful pearl inside. I guess it was worth a shot to look inside. Feb 10 06 06:57 am Link studio36uk wrote: Well, yes and no. You have to be really extreme to get onto these 'niche' sites, but for ordinary adult stuff the standards are now quite high, and a model who doesn't make it in mainstream work probably won't be able to get adult work. Feb 10 06 07:03 am Link RED Photographic wrote: This may be extreme... hell it IS extreme... but she made a lot of money at it and was, in her niche, very popular. What chance would she have otherwise? Feb 10 06 07:09 am Link MY EYES!! MY EYES!!!!!! AAAAIIIIEEEEEEE!!!!!! (Covers face with hands and runs away) Expect to be served with a suit for damages.... Feb 10 06 07:17 am Link Mayanlee wrote: The truth often hurts... LOL Feb 10 06 07:20 am Link Bill Tracy wrote: RED Photographic wrote: OK, here's the deal... you send me [or Bill Tracy] all the ones you can't make money with and I will make money for both the model and myself. Maybe even lots of money! Feb 10 06 07:25 am Link studio36uk wrote: I hate you for that...im glad i can touch type...cause i cant see anything now...youve scared me...and i dont mean to be an elitist, im overweight myself, but you know... i keep my clothes on, and occasionally walk around or bend over to do something...or in do some kind of phyiscal activity..but damn...damn... Feb 10 06 07:56 am Link studio36uk wrote: Not being funny, but there IS a market out there for this sort of thing. SOME people find this beautiful, otherwise this picture would never have been taken. Not my cup of tea, but I find it amusing that people see this and take the piss just because it's an image that THEY don't find attractive. I'll put my hand up and say that my initial reaction was one of "ARRRRRGH", but I thought about my reply and what I wanted to say, I felt that my karma and the fact that my philosophy is very much in the vein of "each to their own and good on you if you you want to pursue whatever you want so long as you arent hurting anyone", would be tainted. Just because a person doesn't fit into the mould of what a "fashion model" looks like, doesn't give anyone the right to take the piss. Feb 10 06 02:32 pm Link Still trying to get my head around this part: ""What do you do when you're approached by a model that you think is just TOTALLY hideous. I mean, the girl isn't even hot enough to sleep with..." To me, there is more than a fine line between "hideous" and "hot enough to sleep with". Even I have quality standards. Feb 10 06 02:35 pm Link I've been absolutely stalked by this one model on OMP and this site....she responds to every posting, casting, and even randomly emails me every month or so.... After numerous replies of "I'll keep you on file", I had top draw the line and say "you're simply not my type...please do not e-mail me anymore" Guess what, yup....she's BAAAAACK! Feb 10 06 02:36 pm Link studio36uk wrote: my initial request to seeing this photos is that she must be terribly unhealthy and needs to do some exercise quickly. Feb 10 06 02:38 pm Link Its simple...tell the model that all your ugly lenses are were sold on Ebay. Feb 10 06 02:45 pm Link Tell them what they would tell you, I sorry but your look is not what I need in my port, Trust me they have no problem with it... You shouldn`t,and don`t worry about be rude because it is not ,it`s honest and direct....If they don`t appreciate it......? SWTF Feb 10 06 02:53 pm Link |
