I’ve been seeing this symbol more and more lately on models’ profiles.

“Work for free is an oxymoron.”

You’re right, except the model is NOT working for free, she’s working for prints. You see, this is a means where both parties get something out of it, and for the most part, it works out.

TFP. Time for print, talent for print, trade for print. Whatever you want to call it, it generally boils down to the same bottom line. No money changes hands. At least, not to the model.

For any serious photographer, there is a lot of money changing hands.  A quick list off the top of my head:

Equipment – Cameras die a little with every shoot. Even the best cameras have a shutter life. As do flashes. With every shoot, our stuff gets a little more wear and tear, and one day we will have to replace them. The ideal situation is to make enough money off of our photography so that it essentially pays for itself. When we do TFP it is not paying for itself. We are talking thousands of dollars worth of equipment, not a $149 camera at Best Buy.

Location – Every shoot you’ve ever seen in a hotel room costs money. If the shoot takes place in a studio, that studio has a rent payment due every month. Public shoots sometimes require permits, which can also cost money. These are usually all paid for by the photographer.

Assistants – If a photographer has an assistant or two, he usually has a deal with them for some form of compensation. Whether it’s mentoring, or a couple of bucks, or lunch, that photographer is usually paying that assistant in some form.

Food and Water – As part of being prepared and just being a good host, I usually have bottle water on hand. If it’s going to be a particularly long shoot, I may provide some food as well. Not all photographers do this, but it’s still an expense I decided to include, since I almost always treat the models to some sort of beverage during the shoot.

MUA (if present) – Now sometimes a model will agree to pay a kit fee for her make-up, but if not, then that kit fee is either being swallowed by the photographer or the MUA. Professional photographic makeup is NOT cheap.

Props/Accessories – If the photographer has a certain look in mind for a shoot, he or she may have already spent money into props for that specific shoot. Whether it’s a costume, or jewelry, or a hat, mask, chair, etc., that is all additional expense.

Time – Some people don’t realize that the actual shoot is about 10% of the entire process. The photographer does all the planning, setting up, shooting, breaking down, transporting (if on location), and editing of the photos. Then after we finish the photos we either have to have prints made (more $), or burn them to a cd and mail them to the model (more $).

And that’s not counting all the intangibles, like gas, parking fees, etc.

So ladies, if you want to charge for your time, by all means, charge for your time. I charge for my time as much as I can. But please, don’t insult us photographers with that “working for free is an oxymoron” bullshit. When was the last time YOU paid a photographer for HIS time?