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.
If you like his works and want to do that photoshoot, but not feeling really secure, why not bring a friend with you?
Even bringing a friend cant save u from perhaps a really bad situation with a closet pyschopath… unless its done out in public, which isnt bouduair photography (usually in studio)Im not getting a good feeling… And I am a pro photographer…
But if you do that (it’s totally understandable) take a quiet one that doesn’t disturb the photoshoot.
And if he even slightly hesitates, that’s a hard no
A friend/chaperone being present shouldn’t be an issue whatsoever to any professional (or decent amateur). Hell, they’d probably like having someone being on hand to hold personal items and a robe… one less thing they need to do
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.
Yeah my answer is always you can bring as many guests as you’d like
True. I like when there’s another person - I just treat them as an assisant! :D that way they don’t get bored as easily, because bored friend can sometimes be an issue.
Same. I treat tag-along friends and parents etc. as unpaid help. They typically love being involved.
Right? Especially boyfriends. Oh man, are they helpful bunch :D
A friend/chaperone being present shouldn’t be an issue whatsoever to any professional
When I was a working professional, I always had a chaperone present for every shoot that involved a person. Male or female, didn’t matter. (Long story.) The subjects were welcome to bring their own, too.
A good tell i to ask if he is ok if you bring a chaperone.
Second look at his portfolio and see if the photos hold to a standard that you like.
Ask for a tfp contract.
perfectly normal. If you have referrals from friends or acquaintances, the better. Good photographers take time to develop, adjust and retouch each photo, one by one, and that is an artistic work that also takes time.
Male photographers, even if they seem on get LGBT+ side who exclusively shoot this type of material are always sus. Bring a friend.
cough Dahmer cough
Odd that he would contact you.
No, it’s not odd at all.
He will keep copies and then touch his pee pee looking at them! 😂
To the point about returning pictures the photographer took, is this a paid situation and then a model release is signed or is this where there is a TFP contract where you trade your time for X number of photos?
Don’t go. If you feel insecure just don’t go. You won’t be relaxed during the shoot so how could the images be as good as they could be.
Are you doing a lot of IG modeling? If so, then it’s not particularly sketch. If you’re not though and some photographer just reached out to you to randomly pose in your underwear, then I would maybe think twice.
It sounds like this person might be what they call a GWC. That is an amateur or hobbyist photographer, usually a middle aged guy who photographs young “models” in skimpy clothes with mediocre lighting. They love boudoir and OFTEN refer to their low rent imagery as “art” even though it would be more classed as soft porn.
Definitely vote for bringing a friend. It’s good practice, and I would almost insist on it as a condition. Having that third party protects both subject and photographer by eliminating “he said, she said” to a certain degree. Besides it’s also that extra pair of hands to assist the subject with makeup, wardrobe changes and other little things we don’t necessarily think of. While shooting I may ask for help holding reflectors or moving a light.
I think the issue lies with you, there’s nothing sketchy about it. Like many have said if you don’t feel comfortable don’t do it, also if you do decide to do it, bring a friend. But simply reaching out is not sketchy and if I was the photog and found out you thought that was sketchy I wouldn’t be working with you at all. You seem more sketch to me than the photog reaching out. Now if something was said that’s sketchy that’s different.
Not a huge red flag upfront, this is how a lot of people connect. However shooting boudoir with someone as a first shoot isn’t something I’m a huge fan of.
Definitely bring someone with you. If he’s against that it would be a giant red flag.
About taking a while to deliver pictures I would discuss beforehand what to expect. Both the number of pictures and the timeframe. Not responding to a request for a status update is a shitty thing to do. Clear communication is key, especially when doing something like boudoir.
All the descriptions sounded pretty common especially if the photographer is starting out, building their portfolio. Everyone have to start somewhere and most starting cannot afford to pay models. (including taking a while to send photo back.)
There are things you can do to safe guard yourself: check their portfolio, use image-search on their photos to check if it is really theirs, Google their name, ask for the IG etc of other people they have photographed then contact those people to ask about their experience.
And try to insist on bringing a friend to observe the shoot. If the photographer refused, don’t go.
I’ll break with the top comments and say that any photographer soliciting explicit shots for free is sketch. That’s not advertising services, that’s trying to get a stranger semi nude in front of him.
If he wants to break into that space, he should be talking to models he already has established relationships with about it, not someone he’s never worked with.