Part of the difficulty has been self inflicted. I chose to mirror the choices of many I seen and heard about. I picked up the concept of TFP/TFCD. This was a fun idea but it has been often abused and more often then not over rated; by both parties, models and photographers. This idea is great for those that are new in the arena. Great for models as it is a chance to start out doing something to discover if you want to do more of it. For photographers it is great because you can start with nothing and build something. Where it is abused is that seasoned models and photographers use it as their first choice of work they produce. Photographers invest hours of time capturing images and then retouching as little as one or two images ore hundreds.. Models invest time in preparing for the shoot with items such as outfits, makeup, hair and other tidbits.. Then the end result is work that both parties have a vested interest in but what is the goal at the end of the shoot? To say that you both worked together? To spend hours on work that will be seen by few and used by even less? That is at the end of the day what TFCD/TFP truly is. Now to add insult to injury when you look at deadlines placed on both parties.. showing up to shoot late, delivering no product at the end and not liking the end result of one’s work. Is that truly worth it?
I know I went off on a tangent and that is ok. The end result is that I have decided that ALL work in which I am a part of has a cost factor associated. The higher the cost factor the more work and resources I can dedicate to the job from start to end. My goal each time I capture a picture is to capture something beautiful that my client will love to share with friends, family and even prospective clients. With that being said I realize I will lose out some of the potential people I will work with. I have been preparing for this decrease in work since January 2009 when I started to limit the TFCD work I did. I am comfortable with this choice and know that it will enable myself to provide a high quality product that I love inside and out.
Also of note WestOUT Photography will continue to function and operate as a full fledge photography service that focuses on the Model Style of photography. But I will be working more under the ByCalvin Photography / ByCalvin Studio business as my focus to create has changed to Commercial & Portrait work.
Thank you for your time in reading my article and I look forward to working with you on any photographic endeavour that you have.
Calvin H.
ByCalvin Photography
WestOUT Photography
