Is my experience common or an outlier of bad experience? Part rant, part observation, definitely disappointment.
WTF is happening and why do models think photographers don't matter?

Having recently returned to mk and arranging a couple shoots, it didn't take long to be reminded just how ugly this industry (I don't know what else to call it) has become and how poorly it seems to be going.
My "first" shoot since returning was supposed to be a TFP shoot answering a job posting by a model here ended in her no-showing and leaving me stuck for over €200 in wasted studio rental plus significant time - as you all know what it takes to organise and gather equipment, etc. Her position: It wasn't a real shoot because you weren't paying me and it wasn't my fault for not being able to show up.

Second shoot, a paid job with a very experienced and well-known model. I paid a deposit to help cover her travel here. Also a no-show and refusing to refund the deposit. No reason or excuse, no response at all.
In both cases I had a contract explicitly stating their financial liability for no-shows, but that requires even more time and expense. In the first case, I am pursuing legal action simply because of her selfish, entitled communication.

But I'm left extremely disheartened and wondering if I should give up shooting all together. I can remember when TFP was valuable for models and photographers alike, when shoots were something to look forward to and valued for what we created. Now it seems taken over by travelling models looking only for extortionate fees and trying to get as many shoots in as possible; not actually caring about what they create or what time, effort or investment the photographer is making.

Ok, I get it. TFP is essentially dead - at least here. But is the rest of this common? Are the negative experiences increasing or outnumbering the positive?

I'm sorry for your bad experience. But no, TFP isn't dead. All my recent sessions have been more or less TFP-based, with great results and a great time together – whether it was just a few hours or a multi-day trip.

What I will never do is pay a deposit. The risk of a no-show and a grateful wave would be too high for me, indeed. But I do pay for a plane ticket and accomodation every now and then – and I've never had a bad experience in all these years - except a model standing on a closed highway while her flight took off from Heathrow. Bad luck!

Giving up photography isn't a solution—you're robbing yourself. Admittedly, it's getting harder and harder to find like-minded people - to be honest, they found me most times - and you have to do more researches.

Maybe you should contrast stronger with your subject matter. The more special you are, the more interesting you'll get. Try to find a niche. The "dancers" are a good approach. Keep going.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.

For those who have usual budget restrictions they mind find themselves rather in opinion #1. Using grey colors to evaluate the current photography market (private sector) situation I would rather see give it a dark grey (white=best, black=dead). Although we had the discussion multiple times earlier why should we not continiously repeat our findings and what we did experience.

I do some free works occasionally. And there is a good chance to meet passionated people. However, interest in cooperations has diminished poorly. We all know the reasons. And it is not because of lack of communication skills or missing photography competences. This goes far beyond. It is based on a structural change which is taking on for over a decade. Yes, it is a lot of work to find reliable models these days. But it is possible still. So don't hang on. MK is probably suitable to finding pay models for nude related projects.

Good luck and stay tuned.

I am with T Bichler thinking that a unique concentration on dancers might lead you in a more comfortable position.

1. Warum schreiben Nutzer, die ihren Sitz in Deutschland angeben hier auf englisch?

2. Diese Kuh (Problematik) wird hier regelmässig durchs Dorf (Forum) getrieben. Wo ist die Neuigkeit?

3. Ich habe schon genügend Model erlebt, die mich kurzfristig versetzt haben. Daher verzichte ich darauf etwas zu vereinbaren, was Kosten auslöst, auf denen ich sitzen bleibe, wenn ich kurzfristig versetzt werde. Da müsste ich das Model schon gut kennen.

4. NEIN - TfP ist nicht tot. Manchmal ist es mühsam. Manchmal braucht man Geduld und muss mit kurzfristigem Versetzten, Ghosting etc leben. Aber wenn ich einen Strich drunter mache, dann funktioniert es - Jahr für Jahr. Und mir sind so schon viele ganz tolle Model begegnet. Auch dieses Jahr.

5. Wer weiss noch ausser mir, wie dieser Thread weitergeht ... :) ?

Please search for similiar threads in here. Closed!