Still Working On Sites. New Photography Company In The Works. Tampa Photography Events In Development - Tampa Photography Blog - An inside look at the Tampa photography services industry from top Tampa photographer C. A. Passinault.

Your inside look at the photography services industry by Tampa photographer C. A. Passinault

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Friday, June 17, 2011 - Tampa Photography Blog Post by photographer C. A. Passinault

Still Working On Sites. New Photography Company In The Works. Tampa Photography Events In Development.

I’m still going over photographs in a portfolio going back 14 years. I need to hook up a slide/ negative scanner, too, because some of those pictures were taken with a 35 MM film SLR camera. I just finished up some work on Tampa Bay Modeling, and now have time to get the photographs compiled, edited, optimized, and formatted for the new Mosaic Class Photography and design markets and support sites. The sites, which were supposed to begin deployment weeks ago, will begin deployment in days, with a new site completed and deployed every two to three days. All sixteen of the initial Mosaic Class sites should be online this summer. The number of Mosaic Class sites could go up to twenty-four by next year, or more.
In related news, I picked a name for the new photography company the morning of June 14, 2011, and it is tentative until I can clear it in the Trademark database as well as obtain the domain name. The name is classified.
UPDATE 06/17/11: I began writing this a few days ago, and the name DID clear the trademark and domain checks. I bought the domain name yesterday, and although I am now getting it up and running with basic content, the name is still classified at this time. The brand will be expanded, and once my portfolio for this company is done, it will be expanded to a network of at least six web sites (I already have the names picked and cleared, but am holding off on buying the domain names right now) using an as–of-yet undecided web site design class. My network of Aurora PhotoArts Mosaic Class web sites will eventually link to it, BUT the companies will remain separate, with separate branding, markets, and service lines. I will not advertise this site in the content sections of my Aurora PhotoArts sites. I will also not market those services to my model clientele; if models want to do it, I will first try to talk them out of it and educate them on the risks, and that it will limit their marketability as a model. If they ARE EXPERIENCED AS A PROFESSIONAL MODEL, know what they are doing, and still want to do it, I will then allow them to invest in services from that company, because I don’t want them going to someone who is going to degrade and/or exploit them and increase the risks. High-risk does NOT have to mean all-risk; if they are doing high-risk work, you limit their risks all the same to make sure that they will be able to market themselves as a model. All the same, I do NOT recommend any high-risk services for new models.
The new photography company, which I’ve been working on since 2004, will come online this fall, and it will be a stand-alone company not connected to Aurora PhotoArts Tampa Photography and Design. The reason for this is that the new company will work in high-risk markets, such as glamour, boudoir, bikini, pin up, high-end fashion, and photography more of a controversial and artistic nature. The brand name will also be used for related companies and projects, and I’m looking at five different sub brands to start out with. I will be doing types of photography with this company which I have never done before.
One of the main purposes of this photography company is to provide a professional, ethical alternative to what is available in the market now. This company will set new standards in its target market, high-risk photography and modeling, and it will be a market leader.
There will be some overlap with Aurora PhotoArts in regards to swimsuit photography, but the brands will not overlap, as the work of the new photography company will be more risque in nature. I will also be working under a professional pseudonym. As the branding will be kept separate, I am not concerned about conflicts, splitting my market, or with competing with myself. By segmenting my markets, the work that I do through this new company will not undermine the marketability of the work that I do through Aurora PhotoArts. Aurora and this new company will not be offering services which the other offers, and they will be targeting separate markets.
Because there will be a slight overlap in regards to swimsuit modeling photography, I will be working with a lot of swimsuit models from now on.
Obviously, it’s going to take me a while to build a portfolio for this new market (I need new lighting equipment and studio sets to even begin; as I am a location shooter and not a studio shooter, this is going to take time. Sure, I can do SOME of this portfolio work on location, but not all of it). The branding and the web sites will be up this year, and business with the new photography company and its site is slated for a full roll-out in 2012. My existing boudoir and glamour marketing sites will be relaunched under its brand and used by this company (I hope Craig’s friend at least uses them to market her services until I am ready to take it over. I’ll offer them to her as marketing platforms free of charge until I take it over).
Photography shootout events with photographers, models, AND professional instruction?!?! The new standard in shootout events is coming to the Tampa Bay area!

Photography shootout events with photographers, models, AND professional instruction?!?! The new standard in shootout events is coming to the Tampa Bay area!

In other news, Aurora PhotoArts Tampa Photography and Design, Tampa Bay Modeling, Tampa Bay Photographers, my Tampa Photography Society photography association, and my event planning and stage production companies are working on a series of photography and modeling events. The main event series, a shootout series, will be done through the photography association. After spending over six years researching a variety of shootout events, observing from a distance (in horror) a series of modeling photography shootout events by a screwed-up model held at an alternative lifestyles community which had no business being mixed with modeling, and having a bad experience at an amateur shootout event on May 15 (I wrote an article about it on Tampa Bay Modeling; see “Standards have dropped in the Tampa modeling industry”, on Tampa Bay Modeling, for more. I was treated rudely after being invited to attend, didn’t do anything wrong, I took precautions to make sure that everything that I did was appropriate and that I did not overstep my bounds, and despite this, it was a fiasco. I suppose that the biggest problem was that the shoot was full of amateur, insecure photographers, as well as amateur models; the organizer basically misled and backstabbed me), I have decided to go ahead with my own regular series of photography shootout events, with an emphasis on modeling and professional instruction, as well as a variety of modeling and photography events. The main shootout series, which will have strong branding and its own web site, will focus on more family-friendly photography as well as tasteful swimsuit photography, and I am going to format it to be a monthly event series. Although I am starting a second photography company targeting high-risk modeling and photography markets, this primary shootout event series will NOT touch any high risk work such as glamour, boudoir, lingerie, or modeling in provocative swimwear or poses. New models and photographers have no business trying to do that, as those are high-risk markets that are specialized, and are for professionals only. Sure, the main shootout events will feature a lot of professionals, but we want to make it accessible to new photographers and models, too. There are way too many shootout events focusing on high-risk work, and I especially am disappointed with so-called “professional” photographers who market glamour modeling and photography as “mainstream” modeling to beginners. There are too many trashy things going on in the market; the key is to promote maximum marketability to new models and new photographers, and high-risk work WILL undermine your ability to book work (that is, unless you segment you markets and really know what you are doing, and even then, it is a risk). Why do you think that I am starting a new photography company instead of having my existing company offer that kind of work? You can work different markets, IF you know what you are doing, IF you are a professional with the experience to navigate the minefields present, and IF you segment your markets. Of course, it’s still a risk, and you WILL lose a certain percentage of work because of it; the key is to more than offset that loss of work with additional bookings from the other markets. This said, a photographer might be able to get away with this, but a model, who’s brand is their face and likeness, will find it extremely difficult to pull this off (I don’t know of a single model, other than famous fashion models, who have been able to do this; certainly no one in Florida. There was a really talented model named Rebecca in this market, for example, and I refused to consider working with her because of the nudes that she had all over the Internet. I didn’t want the potential liability, and neither did my clients. To me, this model was not as marketable. Because she never worked with me, she lost out on a lot of opportunities; I met her once at a modeling event- She approached me, acted like she was drunk, and I further convinced me not to work with her because of her crass behavior. She was beautiful, smart, and had a great personality, but she had issues. Although I am outspoken about models who undermine their careers by doing things that they should not do, how many others out there act and say nothing?). Protect the marketability of your image! Pictures are forever, and once taken, they cannot be undone.
Although my second photography company will offer high-risk services, keep in mind that I have a professional obligation to dissuade models from those fields if they have not started working in those fields, and to educate them on the risks (I am even working on a career reclamation program for the careers of models who work in those markets and who want to do work in more mainstream markets). I will NOT be pitching those services to new models! To models who are set on that kind of work, though, it is my professional obligation to provide them with a safe, professional, ethical alternative to the garbage which is out there in the market now. Also keep in mind that this work will be tasteful, and will portray the model as dignified and as classy as possible. It will not be the typical exploitation being passed off as art, it will be true art because it does not exploit. This, my friends, is the thing that only a professional photographer with my level of experience is capable of. You’ll see.
High-risk does NOT have to mean all-risk if you have to work in that sort of market, especially if you become stuck in that sort of career.
For the last decade as a professional photographer, ALL of my work has been family-friendly. While some might think that I am religious, and that’s the reason, it is not, and the only thing that I am religious about is art and entertainment. The thing is that I never felt comfortable doing work which can be easily taken context and used to exploit the model. For years, there have been photographers who convince models that because they are technically clothed, that the shoot will benefit them. The problem is that the context of such work is deceiving, and it is the same as work that the model would normally not agree to. Context is very important! A model can be fully clothed in tight jeans, and posed in a provocative “sexy” position, the picture can be just as damaging to their marketability as one done without clothing. There are other horror stories, too, about photographers who take pictures of models in skimpy bikinis, and then turn around and sell the pictures to companies selling services which the models would never be cool with. How? Because the pictures are tacky, or overly “sexy”, and can be taken out of context.
Amateurs and unethical people posing as photographers, who offer these “services”, are very, very dangerous, and at the least that danger is to the modeling career of any model who works with them.
I am just now at the point in my career where I feel that I can finally do high-risk work with minimal risk to the model. It’s good, too, because I have come to terms that I have a professional obligation to set the standard in markets where other photographers have made a mockery of the dignity of our profession. If someone demands this type of service, I will offer the best and most professional alternative because, like it or not, high-risk modeling is modeling, and a part of the modeling industry. It’s just modeling for professional models only, as it is limited.
One of my model friends called me up yelling at me about this, and called me a hypocrite yesterday. I told her that This was not the model who yelled at me, but it fits. I shot this a long time ago on Clearwater Beach using a 35MM film SLR camera; before digital cameras.

This was not the model who yelled at me, but it fits. I shot this a long time ago on Clearwater Beach using a 35MM film SLR camera; before digital cameras.

what seems like contradiction is actually complexity. I am not selling out, and am not going to the dark side. She might not agree with what I am going to do, but I am not forcing her to participate, am not trying to get her to do any high-risk modeling, and I have a feeling that once she see’s that the work is tasteful and dignified, that she will be fine. She might not agree with me now, and might not agree with me in the future, but this is something that I have to do. The market desperately needs it! There are too many amateurs doing high-risk work now, and it’s time for a professional to step up and bring balance to what is going on. High-risk modeling and photography work is a lot like a bunch of children waving around a loaded gun. It’s important that if a child wants to shoot a gun, that a qualified adult supervises, and that the child grows up knowing how to properly handle that gun with the respect and the care that it demands. For me, avoiding these high-risk markets is no longer an option because I’m not able to compete with the photographers who work in those markets, and am not in the position to save their customers from themselves. This way, at least I can make a difference, and set standards. I’ll also be able to take work away from the photographers who do that kind of work, and force them to adapt to the higher standards that I introduce to the market. As a photographer, I am untying my hands.
Regarding my model friend thinking that I am a hypocrite, it’s merely a matter where she does not understand the details of what I will be doing. A few years ago, a photographer accused me of flip-flopping in regards to my position with TFP. My position, and opinion regarding it, never changed. The definition did, and he wasn’t able understand the difference. I seldom have a change of heart in anything when I have strong beliefs about it, but when I do, I will voice my opinion and the reasons why I changed my mind. In this case, like TFP, it’s complicated, and it is one minefield that I feel is worth the risk to negotiate. Contradiction? To you, maybe, but perhaps it is complexity that you either lack the ability, or motivation, to comprehend. Or, if you are smart, like my model, you can chalk it up to a simple misunderstanding. Clarifying misunderstandings will be a far great challenge, I believe, than the actual photography will be.
I draw the line at adult work and offering services to the adult entertainment industry, though. It is outside of the scope of modeling, and it’s not what I do. In my opinion, that kind of work has no artistic merit, and it is degrading. It also would destroy a modeling career.
So, going back to my shootout events, my main shootout event series will not go into high-risk work, with swimwear modeling photography being as far as we go. I will have separate shootout events for high-risk work, but this will only be offered to professionals and to people determined to get into those markets.