Shooting Models & the Free Trap

After 10+ years behind the camera I've learned a lot. Not just the technical aspects of cinematography (of which there is soooooooo much more to learn) but also life lessons particularly when it's time to say no and to spot and recognize people who are actually of benefit to ones career. It has been an ongoing struggle amongst myself and my peers, struggling to get away from "TF" (trade for print) shoots or put more simply, when to stop working for free. In the beginning when someone first picks up a camera , it is a common thread to see someone use their friends as models and if they keep with it they branch out into their local modeling scene and become become ensconced in it, now while the recognition may feel great this is often a trap that is difficult to escape from. The trap? You don't get paid.

Now you're probably going to tell yourself that it's "networking" and "good exposer" (this may also be the way your model sells you on doing it) and in the beginning this is true and a necessary evil. However when it you hit a certain point (my rule of thumb being the 3 year mark) you should start getting away from these arrangements. Take it from me someone who let this go on many more years than he should have , a models Instagram following does not benefit you as an artist. All you'll be getting is the small hit of serotonin from being tagged and that's all. But if you have aspirations for your artistry beyond a hobby you need to set aside these types of shoots as much as possible and go after those in your niche who respect your work , and do so in the form of money. Now that is not to say there isn't value in doing the occasional bit of artistry without profit. The obvious thing to do is to shoot non human subjects: pets, landscapes, wildlife etc... but if your are locked into human subjects (know to non longwinded cinematographers as models) my advice is to have a small select list of models who bring something special. I myself have gone down to a Top 5 list of models I will work with TF and the majority of the reasons they are on my list are beyond just good looks. Some have proven they respect my time, others actually organize their own shoots and don't expect me to do everything. Qualities such as these are what I recommend in your TF models, but again you should be striving for paid work first lest you fall down the trap.

Now I've come at this from the angle of a cinematographer of course but I've seen similar problems across many forms of art and I think the sentiment carries over to them. If people aren't willing to pay for your art , then they don't respect your art and that means your art is not for them.