I'm looking to make the jump from amateur to professional and need a few more shoots to get my portfolio up to par.  I'm willing to offer a free photoshoot to about 5 women.  If you're interested, PM me, and I'll send you the link to my portofilio.

Thanks.

Most ladies blur their faces. They trust certified, professional photographers only. You might be sincere. But you are not a professional photographer. You are a hobbyist wannabe photographer. You admit you are an amateur who is offering FREE photo sessions?! Sorry. No. The ladies should be charging you for these photo sessions. Not the other way around. If you were a trained, professional photographer I could see this. But no. Not a hobbyist turned photographer who wants to use escorts to complete his training. :/

Discretion and safety needs to be first and foremost... Some of us allow "private" photography with guys we have seen and screened for an additional cost... Free is great, but in a sensitive business such as this, we don't know who and what and where those photos are REALLY going. Ladies, please understand that once you put stuff out there on the web, it will ALWAYS be out there, and there is life after escorting... Professional photos cost, but there is a reason for that.

I do allow private photography on sessions with a photographer that I trust. (ONLY). Although I charge way more than my regular rate. (add $500 more). I don't allow "free photography or video"... you never know where my face pictures would end up.  

Everyone needs to be safe in this industry; you never know where your face pictures would end up

Anonymous, assumptive, and rude.  A winning combination.   You know what they say about people who assume, right?  While it’s true that I have yet to be paid for my passion/craft, calling me a “wannabe” in “training” is kind of mean considering you know absolutely nothing about me or my experience as a photographer.  By offering a "FREE" photo session, does that make me any less talented or serious than those being paid?  Are you trolling me?  

Are you a photographer?  Professional by chance?  I ask because the connotation you use “amateur” in seems pretty negative.  Take a peek at the link below, if you have a chance. Share your thoughts.  I’d love to hear them.

YOU called yourself an amateur in your original post. Not me. I merely repeated what you already represented yourself to be; an "amateur" wanting to "make the jump" to professional. So you can step down off your high horse and lose the attitude. However, I should thank you. I am certain the ladies here will appreciate knowing how quickly you can fly off the handle. If a post like mine will set you off, I can only imagine what else might. I advise you to read my reply again. Be sure to read your original post first.  

Here's what I DO KNOW; You are a hobbyist. NOT a professional photographer. That in itself gives me pause about your true intentions. You might be talented. No one could possibly know that from reading your initial post. Either way, you are a hobbyist first. Talented or not, I wouldn't trust it.

Thanks for showing us more insight into the type of person we are dealing with here. One who flies off the handle with the smallest amount of constructive criticizm. And no. I am not a photographer and do not care to be one.  

Your original post:  

"I'm looking to make the jump from "amateur" to professional and need a few more shoots to get my portfolio up to par.  I'm willing to offer a free photoshoot to about 5 women.  If you're interested, PM me, and I'll send you the link to my portofilio.  
 
Thanks. "

a photographer needs models and a portfolio, a provider needs reviews, a "hobbyist" needs OK's.  

I suppose there are no "hobbyist" (I hate that f-in word) Doctors, Lawyers, Accountants, etc..,. that a provider might trust. Or photographers.

I suppose no hobbyists would ever trust a provider with their "civilian" needs either. SMH. I know a couple great real-life nurses I'd trust, a photographer, an accountant... all with "secrets" we share.  

Oh hell... what if we never knew and everything went well and then we found out? OMG, the world might end.

Just saying that while caution is great, assumption is the mother of all bad decisions.

Dreamcatcher,

Your initial reply to me seemed condescending.  Without any further information that my initial post, you judged me as a wannabe photographer who wants to use the ladies to complete my training.  That’s not the case and I’ll explain below.  And yes, I am currently an amateur photographer.  I haven’t made money doing it.  

You also make judgements of me due to the fact that I’m a hobbyist, questioning my intentions and in turn vilifying me.  I’m a very reasonable person, but I feel that your replies have been unjust.  Rather than questioning me to better understand who am I and what I’m about, you made blank statements, with no basis.  

I’d hardly consider my response as “flying off the handle.”   How I responded may not have been nice, but I felt you were attacking me.  As most people can attest, it’s hard to gauge a persons tone through text.  If there’s any misunderstanding here, I apologize for my tone.

They only thing that I would consider constructive criticism is your suggestion that I should be paying for the privilege of photographing these ladies.  I actually agree with you on that.  I understand that time is money and without any proof of the work I do, it’d be almost impossible to get a client to allow you to photograph them.  For the majority of the photo shoots I have done thus far, I have paid for that privilege and have built up a nice portfolio.

Everyone else,

The thing I’ve learned from all of this is that my initial posting was pretty vague.  I’ve been in the hobby for a while and know how things work in the industry.  I know that a lot of women get proposals for photo sessions often, and it can raise a red flag and come off as creepy.    

The initial intention of my post was to set up a free photoshoot with a handful of ladies.  I stated that it was to get my portfolio up to par.  I wanted to add a little more variety before I officially launch my photography business.  By offering free sessions, I had two goals in mind.  First, to introduce myself to the forum and grow my network of clients.  As you can see from the first reply to my post, it’s working.  I had a great shoot with Autumn and I have other sessions booked.

Second, I’ve notice that there are some highly rated, reputable providers who don’t have the best photos to market themselves.  That may be by choice or maybe some of them can’t afford to hire a quality photographer.  Like I’ve mentioned, I’m starting a business.  The goal of a business is to make money.  Once the ball is rolling, unless it’s a very exceptional circumstance, there won’t be free sessions.  

A little more about me.  I’ve been a photographer for almost 5 years now.  It started out as a hobby and now I want to do it as a profession.  I’ve considered all the usual niches in the photography world; family portraits, weddings, engagement, etc, but the local market for those seems pretty saturated and breaking through has proven to be quite difficult.  

To be successful as a photographer, you need a niche.  The niche I’m going for is the adult entertainment industry.  Being a hobbyist I see that there is a great market here.  Providers need quality photos for their work and there are a lot of providers in the area, both local and touring.  I’m confident that I can be successful so I’m going for it.

I also believe that since I am a hobbyist, it’s a positive, rather than a negative.  I know the business of the clients and understand the absolute need to protect their privacy and safety.  For the privacy of the clients, that’s where modeling contracts and releases come into play.  For the safety there are referrals and verification, both of which I can provide.

I began this journey about a year ago.  I’m not some guy who just picked up a camera and thought, “Hey, I can take pictures of these pretty ladies and that’ll be awesome!”  I’ve done shoots with quite a few clients thus far and the experience has been wonderful.  I get to capture the beauty of my clients and make them feel confident and sexy.  That’s quite a feeling.  Also, I provide quality shots that they love!  As an artist, that kind of validation is priceless and the whole process is a lot of fun.

I hope this can clear up any misconceptions of who I am and what I’m trying to accomplish here.  If you have any questions, please ask and I’ll happily answer.

Thanks

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