Model Pro Tips #6: Model Mayhem- The Good, The Bad, & The Basements
Hey guys! Welcome to the write up of the live chat for week 6. This week we are talking about Model Mayhem: The good, the bad, and the basements. I just got back to Denver from a gig in LA and was working on this talk on the plane. I really wanted to do an interview with a photographer for this Monday, but it was just going to be such a weird hour to do an interview when my plane landed. I will do an interview with a Denver photographer next week.
Model Mayhem- my ears feel like they’re ringing when I hear that site mentioned. I have so many mixed feelings that you are about to read through. Up until about ten months ago I refused to use this website. Why? I felt that it was amateur… juvenile. The layout of the site itself is hideous and uninspiring. I had read about kidnappings online that left a bunch of models dead. Who wants to use a site like that? It had also been the website that all of the girls in high school used to post their photos from little photo sessions with friends. Hilarious how a whole bunch of the girls who played pretend model in middle and high school grew up to be actual professional models, right? We did it! I never used that website, though.
However, with a little convincing my feelings about the website and its potential shifted slightly. Enter photographer Tony Rocco and a Tokyo Joes. Tony convinced me to at least sign up for the website and do the free trial of a “VIP” account. “VIP” means that you pay $10 for unlimited messaging, more friend requests, more photo space, and a few more casting call/travel notice postings.
I tried it for a month and really didn’t get anything. There are very few castings posted for Denver. There are tons in LA, so maybe it really does matter where you are living in order to get the best use out of this site. I let the trial run out and didn’t pay for “VIP.” Instead, I just left my profile alone and waited (sort of… not really) for photographers to contact me for shoots. I posted travel notices for a few trips I went on (Vegas) and got a few shoots. It really wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t as good as some people made it out to be.
Pros of MM?
-Internet portfolio
-You can write a bio in which you can connect people to your email or IG
-You can post travel notices
Cons of MM?
-You get a ton of spam mail from porn people
-Castings are not with big name clients
-You can definitely end up dead in someone’s basement if you don’t know what you’re doing
-Messages from men looking to buy your dirty panties (if you do sell them and make money, cool, but I personally am repulsed by that idea)
-Photographers on here tend to be cheap from my experience and will fight you on your rates (I charge $175 / hour for implied work and have had people try to get me to accept $100 for a shoot that is an hour or two… not happening)
-You can make yourself look either very professional or very unprofessional, depending on how your profile is built
-Limited everything if you don’t pay for it
Like I said- I have mixed feelings about this. I still get way more hits from other websites and from having my own website with my portfolio. I really only use my MM to announce travel dates in other cities, so that is what I recommend using it for. I would also recommend sucking it up and paying the $10 / month for a few months. Request a TON of people so you have a lot of “friends.”
That's all for this week! Tune in next week to watch an interview with a Denver area photographer- Q and A included!
Until next time1
xo
ashlie noelle