I very recently received a message from a modeling talent offering me $500 for every magazine cover I put them on or helped them get in the next 90 days. My response was to simply delete the text message and then to make a note to be certain not to pitch any images we did for the next three months. The following week I received another message from the same talent, this time extending the deadline to four months. I made another note to be sure not to pitch their images for that additional period of time.<\/p>\n
Now, there is a reason I reacted in the manner of which I did.<\/p>\n
Firstly; I am a photographer not a publicist. My goal and job is to make the best images I can that work for my client’s needs and goals. There are times those images will get picked up by publications for interior and cover features. However, I make it very clear to my clients that I cannot promise I will ever pitch their images. I’ve even gone as far as telling someone not to hire me because I \u00a0would not promise media features as a result of working together.<\/p>\n
When I create work I am proud of and see a fit for my publishing clients – I happily do what I can to make that connection to try to get those images published. My background is in journalism and publishing and I love to see my work in print. But I will not use it as a false promise to attempt to get more work or money. A publicist is paid to market you. A photographer is paid to get you the materials to market with.<\/p>\n
Secondly; the offer made me feel cheap and used. I work very hard to make a living for myself. Being offered a handful of hundred dollar bills to do something that I perceive as a conflict of interest felt very insulting. That, sadly, is how this talent perceives me and that my motivation comes solely from financial gain.<\/p>\n
Thirdly; I wouldn’t risk my relationships with publishing clients giving them the impression that the only work and images I show them were the ones from the highest bidder.<\/p>\n
Now, I’m certain other photographers were given the same bribe and perhaps others are willing to take it. However I felt it was important to be open with my readers as to why I did not and will not in the future.<\/p>\n
James Patrick
\njamespatrick.com
\nIG @jpatrickphoto<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I very recently received a message from a modeling talent offering me $500 for every magazine cover I put them on or helped them get in the next 90 days. My response was to simply delete the text message and then to make a note to be certain not to pitch any images we did […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behind-the-scenes","category-marketing","category-model-tips-faqs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamespatrick.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamespatrick.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamespatrick.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamespatrick.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamespatrick.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jamespatrick.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1711\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jamespatrick.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamespatrick.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jamespatrick.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}