Me and a model, our relationship is straining.

[tecboy]

How old are you?
How did she contact you? Phone? E-mail? In person?
Communicate with people, written and verbal, in a professional manner if you want others to respect your time.

You don't tell the model you are not prepared or that you require at least a days notice.
You simply say you have already made your schedule for today, and you can accommodate her tomorrow.

It has been a while she contacted me. I told her I'm available one of those days. She didn't response my email about a week to confirm, and she didn't give me any information about the time and location. She responded my email in early morning, and I checked my email around noon. I though she had change of plan. Beside, this is not a professional manner. I'm not making money out of her. We live in difference cities apart. I volunteer to commute about a hour to meet her and do photo shooting. Anyway, I hope I can get along with this model.

 

[tecboy]

Maybe, I should charge her. She has been demanding. I feel like she is using me. I dunno.

 

[EIngerson]

Being prepared is important. Being reliable is equally important. Even when a model is unreliable and flaky, you should be the reliable one.

Build up your kit redundancy. It took me a while to build up, but I have 3 sets of batteries for every trigger and flash. as well as the camera. I'm working on speed lights right now. It's like mechanics tools for me….."He who has the most wins." lol

For this model, be straight to the point and tell her your time is valuable and you need to solidify the details further in advance. If she has any kind of professionalism she'll understand. If not, well there's more models out there that are.

 

[Derrel]

You don't tell the model you are not prepared or that you require at least a days notice. You simply say you have already made your schedule for today, and you can accommodate her tomorrow.

Exactly!!!! If you cannot shoot for somebody, always tell them you ,"Have another shoot on that day," Or that you, "Are booked that day," or, "Have another client who has already hired me." Put the right spin on it and it works for you, not against you.

 

[tecboy]

You don't tell the model you are not prepared or that you require at least a days notice. You simply say you have already made your schedule for today, and you can accommodate her tomorrow.

Exactly!!!! If you cannot shoot for somebody, always tell them you ,"Have another shoot on that day," Or that you, "Are booked that day," or, "Have another client who has already hired me." Put the right spin on it and it works for you, not against you.

I did tell her that I can shoot the next day. She didn't response my email or give me a phone call.

 

[KmH]

Then I would put her on my 'Don't work with this model' list.

 

[Derrel]

I did tell her that I can shoot the next day. She didn't response my email or give me a phone call.

That's the problem with so many TFP or TFCD aka "trade shoots"...with no money involved, the model has very little incentive to show up unless she feels like it that day...isn't too hung over...isn't too strung out from a weekend (or a night, or a morning, or an early afternoon) filled with frolicking and lots of wine and weed,etc.,etc,etc.. Unprofessional, discourteous,prima donna, borderline alcoholic, druggie types are legion in the wanna' be model field. This is the stuff of TFCD shoot lore that you'll soon learn more about.

 

[TCampbell]

If you're not going to use a battery for a very long time (e.g. 6 months or more) then Lithium Ion batteries do better when stored with approximately a 50% charge on them.

But if you're using the camera somewhat regularly (even a few times per month) then keeping it fully charged is no problem.

I have a battery grip on a couple of my cameras so even with two half-charged batteries I can shoot for QUITE a while before it's a problem (and conveniently all three of my camera bodies use the same battery so I can always steal a battery from a different body if it comes to that.)

If you don't have a battery grip then I'd probably want to own at least 1 spare battery, number them, and swap them either (a) with each charge or (b) at least once a month (it's not good for a battery to sit unused for extensive periods of time.)

You always want your gear to be ready for you when you want it.

Of course, your model *should* be giving you adequate notice.

 

[bribrius]

I kind of get in the habit of pluggin in and cleaning mem card soon as I get shooting. Then I am ready to go when I need it (provided I remember to put a memory card back in duhhhh!)

Model.. I dunno. I wouldn't lie like Derrel suggested just say "look. Cant do it right now. You need to schedule. You don't want to schedule or don't show up your loss. You cancel next time I am charging you a fee as my time is valuable to me"

 

[tecboy]

I kind of get in the habit of pluggin in and cleaning mem card soon as I get shooting. Then I am ready to go when I need it (provided I remember to put a memory card back in duhhhh!)

Model.. I dunno. I wouldn't lie like Derrel suggested just say "look. Cant do it right now. You need to schedule. You don't want to schedule or don't show up your loss. You cancel next time I am charging you a fee as my time is valuable to me"

Well, I didn't tell her that I was not prepared. I should have call a day before to see if she wants to do photoshoots. The problem with her, she doesn't respond immediately. I was clueless whether we are going to have photoshoots or not. She seems like she is experienced model. I thought I may have a good opportunity to see her again. She is being doing some music videos in the past. Actually, my dslr and speedlite batteries are fully charged. I'm fully prepared doing general photography. However, I haven't prepared for the umbrellas and transceivers. Something I have learned so far doing Time for Print.

 

[Forkie]

Just thought I should say that TFP shoots are just as important as paid shoots for both parties. It's still a business transaction even though no money is changing hands. You are exchanging services and becoming a contact for each other. In future, the model may "know a photographer that might do it" and you "know a model that might be available". This is networking. The single most important marketing tool a photographer has.

I've been building my portrait portfolio by doing TFPs with friends who are actors (the industry I want to get into) for the last 6 months and have made over just over £3,000 on my weekends and evenings because people I photographed for FREE have recommended me to someone else who I then charged. It doesn't sound like much, but on top of my day job salary, it comes in very handy for upgrading or adding to your gear whilst building that portfolio.

I've also been asked to do a film poster and production shots for short film next year which is exactly the field I'm aiming for. All through networking and meeting people as if they are actual customers. That doesn't mean I don't have fun during my shoots - there's always a beer, a glass of wine and some cakes to help me and my subject relax and have fun during the shoot, but the work is work - even though it's free and even if I end up out of pocket for it.

Always, always treat your TFPs as if they're paying customers.

 

[tecboy]

I did treat her as a paying costumer, but there is a lack of communication between us.

 

[Overread]

If a free client proves unreliable then chances are its best just to move on. You can't allow a flake to dominate your life, its not fair on you if you are setting aside time and they are eating it up.

There are several ways to deal with a flake depending upon the specific relationship and on how much you want to work with him/her.

1) State that you are now in a position where they have to pay for your services - even if its a refundable booking deposit. Basically you're making them invest into you and thus make the event financially important to them. This can cure their problem of turning up since they won't want to let money go to waste - and if they really don't "need/want" your services they simply won't pay (assuming that you set a fair price).

2) State that you're willing to pay them for their time. Yep you want to work with them a lot if this is the case, might be that they are simply hard to pin down to a booking, so you offer them even more incentive to come and work with you. You're now hiring them to work for you - generally here they'll have a specific look or talent that you require that you can't otherwise source - or you want to do something that you've otherwise not got an opportunity to do with trade for prints etc...

3) State that you are "fully booked". Essentially a repeated white lie to stop them booking you again. Typically most flakes will move on pretty quick if you are unavailable (those who do this a lot will oft pick up on this quick - others might take longer).
Downside is you can get caught out which will harm your overall reputation.

4) State that you simply feel that you and they can no longer work together. They just can't provide what you're currently after, the arrangement just isn't working for you, you are moving onto other projects; you find that their timekeeping just isn't good enough.

Lots of things you can say - its a final end to the agreement. Generally I'd say end on a positive note as much as you can; sure they've messed you around with timing, but they might have good reasons for that of their own - plus no need to tar relationships which might, in the future, start up again with significantly more positive results.
At the same time you want to be clear that you are moving on.

 

[EIngerson]

I'd stop trying on this one. Move on and find other talent. If she's serious about wanting the shoot, make her do the leg work of contacting you. Personally, I wouldn't have time for this one.

 

[bribrius]

A relationship like this, almost sounds like marriage. Maybe you should just.............