TFP Blues and a New Challenge
March 9th, 2009
Published in
Photography
2 Comments
Tags: istockphoto, monthly challenge, photo book, TFP, UGCX
This was really just supposed to be about my monthly challenge, but ended up being about TFP/CD shoots. For those not in the know, TFP/CD is short for Time For Print / CD. Which means that you pay the models with photos instead of cash. At the beginning of February, I had set myself the challenge of uploading just 5 photos a week to my iStockphoto portfolio. I chose this because I was going to attend UGCX, and I figured that I would be in the microstock mindset anyway. Besides, my portfolio needed some new images badly.
It seemed a very easy challenge at the time. I even had all the images needed in my archives, so all I had to do was process and upload. But sometimes you want fresh imagery to work on, instead of something that’s been sitting around in your personal archive. At first I did upload some older pictures, but I wanted more. And that’s where things got de-railed.
As I set out to book a few shoots, I put out a casting call on ModelMayhem and immediately got answers from interested models. At the end of it, I had four shoots booked within a two week period. It was exciting. It would easily mean a hundred or so new upload worthy images, and my 5 a week minimum would be so far behind me, I might even forget it was there. Except none of the shoots actually happened.
Shoot 1: Arriving to meet with the model at the downtown conference center in Seattle, I realized too late that the place was packed. For some reason, I didn’t have the model’s phone number, so I tried other ways of getting a hold of him (yay for the internet). But I never heard back. Since then, I have come to believe that the guy never showed up in the first place.
Shoot 2: The model wanted to shoot with her dog, so I started planning around that, looking for a dog-friendly park with other useful locations in the area. A couple of days before the session, the model informs me that she has double booked, and would I mind shooting just before or around lunch? I tell her I don’t appreciate this change of plan after all the prep I’ve done and that harsh light is useless – and I fire the model.
Shoots 3 & 4: One model gets a new job and no longer has time, and the other model gets sick. Each of these might still happen down the line, but after four misses in a row, the lesson is clear: You get what you pay for.
In other words: I set myself an easy challenge at the beginning of the month, then proceeded to mess it all up, when I wanted to add a little excitement. While we’re at it, last month I also mentioned my 12 Seattleites project. That one’s also suffered a few setbacks, but let’s save that for another time. In the end, I only uploaded 17 new photos to my portfolio, during February of 2009 (the shot used here is one of them).
While my microstock heart is broken and my faith in TFP shoots forever shaken, I still have to set myself a challenge for March. In fact, I already did. The challenge for March is: Finish the first draft of a retrospective photo book, which I’ve already written about.
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March 10th, 2009at 10:11 am(#)
Someone had just mentioned ModelMayhem to me when I said I was a photographer. They had noted that it was hit and miss, which seems to be true from your post. I use Craigslist, and even though I didn’t get as many requests, all of the people that I did work with actually showed up. (woo!)
I think I’ll still sign up with MM, just require a phone number exchange… and a contract in blood, or something.
May 13th, 2009at 7:06 am(#)
I have to say that is a real string of bad luck. Knowing you, I am sure you looked at their portfolios and they looked like the type to show up. In both London and Austin, I have not had nearly a bad string of it. But it does happen, even with the best of models – car accidents (actual occurrences), sudden illness and the like. My view of TFP shoots is that it IS a barter. My time and talent is worth something. So the model receives payment the old fashioned way. But when they are ready to fly off at the first “paid” job and leave me hanging, I really get ticked off.
The risk I am often faced with in these TFP/CD shoots is the attitude and experience of the models, makeup artists and wardrobe stylists. A diva, a couple stoned out of their minds and various wannabes have been among the worst participants. But on the other hand, MM has a variety of professionals that are there because they love to model, do makeup, etc. These are the ones I look for when contacting on MM. Collaborating for the creative work is the best part of TF* shoots.
Although, it is a universal principle, “you get what you pay for”, I make sure the TF* participants know that my time is proper payment. At the first sign of them devaluing my photography, I let them slide and find someone else.
I think this may warrant a blog post of my own. :)