How To Avoid Being That Photographer

'Oh God; HIM? I won't let him book me any more. Did he do that with you? URGH, he's a nightmare to work with!' No one wants to be described that way, and in this video I try to help you to ensure that if you're a photographer, no model will ever talk about you like this to another model. Furthermore, I'll try to help you to get the best from your model and make sure you get both repeat bookings and glowing recommendations. Honestly, I think that hiring models is quite daunting if you're new to doing so. And I'd hate to put anyone off trying it for the first time. My fellow models and I do not expect you to lay on the perfect day, and we know that everyone has their own approach to how to conduct a photoshoot. Most professional models are flexible about how you want to work, and will do their best to make sure you get results that you're happy with whilst also having an enjoyable day. I'm aware that this video could put people off working with me. I do hope not - if you're someone who works with me already, then rest assured that this video is not about you. Of late I've become much better at turning down bookings from people who don't treat models properly, so if I'm still taking your bookings it's very likely to be because you're lovely, or because you're hiding your deep-seated wickedness terribly well. The reason for making this video is that, in my 15 year career, I've experienced some bizarre extremes of bad/selfish/dangerous/thoughtless behaviour from a minority of photographers. As time's gone on and I've had the chance to talk with more and more other models, the more aware I've become of the fact that we do sometimes get treated abysmally, in a number of oft-repeated ways. Of course, this is not surprising; in any profession there are some unpleasant realities, and every customer-facing role involves dealing with the occasional super-difficult customer. So I know that there's no point in my trying to stop utter psychopaths from treating anyone (including models) badly. What I hope I can do, perhaps, is to influence well-meaning photographers about what issues arise most commonly between models and themselves. Some of them aren't necessarily particularly obvious if you've never yourself been a professional touring model, and I don't blame you if this video makes you aware of some things you might not have thought of yourself. Putting yourself in someone else's shoes isn't always easy to do, and is almost impossible to perfect. So I thought of an analogy which is PERFECT AND I WON'T HEAR A WORD SAID AGAINST IT. Except that I probably will, in the comments. And ok, it's not perfect, but I want to do my bit in helping other models to have better working experiences, and I want to help photographers (especially newer ones) to avoid some of the mistakes that are easy to make but that can limit your opportunities to get repeat bookings from professional models. I'm also of course aware that there are probably any number of things that we models do that drive photographers crazy, and as much as I try to provide a good customer experience, I'm sure I don't always fully succeed. That's probably a subject for a future video though. Thank you for watching! Joceline :)