I am stating now: There is an answer that is proven to be effective in getting people work. However, there is no "right/wrong" answer to the famous question "Should a new model / or experienced model pay for photo shoots."

In addition to 14 years of talent management and working in the entertainment industry I have over 17 years of business experience, degrees and certificates of accomplishment in international business, leadership, sociology, business sociology,  marketing, advertising, and over 15 years experience running my own companies and consulting for others.  

The #1 error I see models, actors and talent in general make is to not understand the difference between a hobby and profession. For this conversation lets assume you actually take your trade seriously and seek to be a professional. In this case, I would consult with talent no differently than I would a high-end jewelry store. 

If you were opening a high-end Jewelry store in a fancy mall next to a Tiffany & Co store, would you hire some random college student to build and decorate the inside of your store? Would you go on craigslist and try to find photographers to "TFP" your photos for advertisements? EVERY professional would say "Hell no" I would want the inside of my store to look amazing, I would hire the best photographers to showcase my jewelry, and I would hire the best - kindest - well mannered employees with years of sales experience." 

So then I would ask the model/actress, "Why not see yourself the same as any other business?" Modeling, acting, singing, DJing, dancing... these are all professions. They are considered a business. So, why would you want to open your business and then not have a nice website, a nice online store, a nice set of photos and videos to showcase your products. If you want to use the excuse of not having money, I would say you should not open a business. If you want to trade new photographers to build your portfolio... then just remember if you want to do things cheap or do things easy, just realize you are making those who do things RIGHT look 10 x better. 

When you are submitting for a job and the casting director has 5 photos, or 5 instagrams in front of them. 4 people go in the no category and 1 gets a call back. Which rout will your TFP photographer get you? 

This same theory goes for photographers who should pay models to build their portfolio. 

For a list of GOOD REASONS TO DO TFP & Explanation of what TFP is click here. 

Please comment below and give feedback!

​For more helpful or useless information on modeling and acting be sure to visit
​www.MesaLoftStudios.com or www.NLEmanagement.com

​Trade For Prints

If you want to print out a copy of your photos today, you simply  print one from your printer at home or office. If you want higher quality prints you can use photo paper. If the job calls for something even better you can spend around $2.00 and print a full page 8.5x11 at Fedex/Kinkos but things were not always  so easy. 

What Does TFP Mean? 
Up until the mid to late 90's photographers still commonly used actual FILM  which meant you had to go develop your  film/negatives to get your photos.  Now almost everything is digital. 
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Actors and Models used to commonly carry around a "Look Book/Portfolio" in the form of a photo album to show casting directors their ability to portray different looks. Sometimes the  casting directors would even want you to leave them copies of the photos which back in the 70's - 90's could be quite expensive and difficult. 

So, the idea was that photographers would develop  several copies of photos for you in trade for your time shooting with them instead of money and Trade For Prints.

According to  Wikipedia,  the origin of the term TFP   is uncertain . Other resources have  been able to trace it back to the 1960's . 

Although the practice of developing photos and making prints is gone away, the terminology has become common nomenclature in the modeling and acting world. People have since adjusted the meaning to "Trade For Photos" , Time For Prints, Time For photos." Etc.   

So where is the benefit now? 
I do not  personally recommend doing "Trade" shoots for exposure or to build a portfolio. (Click here to see  my blog post about  building a portfolio)  however  there is one major benefit to TRADE work . (I hate the term TFP) and that is practice. As a photographer you will need to push that shutter button maybe 10,000 times before you get the hang of your cameras settings for different environments. For models, shooting 15-40 times before trying to find PAID work is not just common sense, it's also better for you. It is very common that  you will discover your cute face and awesome pose you love, looks horrible to photographers. You want to find this out during a free shoot and not in one where you are acting as a "Professional" model.. so for this reason I say, trade away. Just stop calling it TFP!

Please comment below and give feedback!

​For more helpful or useless information on modeling and acting be sure to visit
​www.MesaLoftStudios.com or www.NLEmanagement.com