Another vote for cosplay from me. You have a giant pool of models with very different levels of skill, assuring you can find someone on “your level” that will be more then happy to do TFP shoots. You also have conventions as a great way of meeting these people and the whole community is very connected, so you can easily connect with new people who are friends/acquaintances of people you have shot with. The convetions are not great places to take pictures (even when they have a “photo area”), but they are a great way to get to know people to connect with.

And even if cosplays are a little “too much” for your taste, in my experience most cosplayers dont mind modelling for “normal portraits” once you have built a working relationship/friendship.

Just please make sure you dont exclusivly ask the ones with the most cleavage and have them pose in a way to show it off. Theres sadly a lot of those kinds of photographer in the community (also a lot of cosplayers talk, once you have that reputation people will avoid you).

Ive had other photographers trash talk me in front of my modells during TFP shoots, only to see them post significantly worse pictures then the ones I took after the fact. So its not even exclusive to “professionals”.

I assume there was no written contract/it doesnt contain an information regarding delivery time?

I think especially for such a short session a month is more then enough time for you to atleast ask. I would assume they did a bunch of those sessions and depending on at what point your shoot is in the queue they might not be done, but its reasonable for you to ask.

Maybe they even just forgot sending them out if they had 30 of those sessions.

A small addition for anyone else starting out/worrying about being a GWC:
If finding someone already experienced to follow around is not an option, it can be helpful to atleast have your first models be someone you already know/are friends with.

It will help you with the “seeing models as people part” (and yes that sadly is a problem for some “photographers”), it will sensitize you to the models feelings and your impact on them as a photographer and it will also help you see the whole thing as a cooperation between people and not you posing your “puppet” to your own likings and exact specifications. Just keep in mind that between friends the comfort levels will obviously be different then when shooting with a stranger/new model, so adjust for that when making the switch.

Being friends with models has offered me a lot of interesting perspectives on my work and also taught me a lot of things. (Although please dont use shoots as an attempt to get close to people that arent interested)

“Guy with a camera”. Commonly used for “photographers” whose main goal is tricking women into posing with as little clothing as possible for pictures. Generally there is also a very low skill and knowledge level implied. Basically a creepy dude who bought and expensive (looking) camera in order to get women to undress.