A photographer reached out to me through social media asking me to shoot with him sometime. Although I’d love to have a shoot for myself, does this seem sketchy? He’s taken photos for friends i know and they said he seemed cool and laid back. They also mentioned that he took a while to send them their pictures and wouldn’t respond before sending them. Anyway, just wanted to hear some thoughts on this.
This is the ultimate end-all-be-all red flag for any professional photographer. If they don’t want anyone else but you there, run in the opposite direction. Even if it’s in good faith, you never want to put yourself in a position where you don’t have a safety net there with you at all times.
More than that almost, it’s just a safe idea in general. I used to do a few shoots a year for work as an amateur who could get the job done. I used to lead any talent outreach emails with the request that they bring someone along for everybody’s comfort. Like so many people said, that’s a very big, bold line that is simply too easy to enforce if you’re legitimately only interested in the work.