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SEPTEMBER 2007

Be responsible in your modeling career. Invest in professionals. We do.

INTRODUCTION BY MODEL MONICA STEVENS

The first two mailbags of the new mail bag format are behind us, and now it is on to business, or rather, new business. You will all notice that there will be fewer letters published with long responses from me (er- mostly starting in the next mail bag), and if it warrants a lengthy response, my reply will link to the relevant tutorial to supporting article/s on Tampa Bay Modeling, Independent Modeling, or the upcoming Advanced Model.
So, am I skimping on my work? No, not at all. By keeping it short and sweet (or sarcastic; pick your flavor / poison), the mail bags will become even more useful. They will be easier to read, and I may even be able to answer more letters this way. Additionally, I tend to go off-subject and ramble, and that makes these mail bags a more difficult read. I want you, our readers, to be able to get good information and a bit of entertainment value in a few minutes rather than spend an hour sifting through 15-20 pages of a modeling book, regardless of how good that it happens to be. If I do say so myself, it does get really good around here, too. I entertain myself by answering your letters, and I couldn't imagine not doing this. It is good to be back!
Going forward, we will increase the cost-effectiveness of the time spent reading our mailbags, and ultimately their value to the Tampa Bay Modeling industry.
We also have the launch of a new mailbag column by indie film director Alex Cain over at sister web site Tampa Bay Film next month. Since we both must share the same editor, we don't have the liberty of being sloppy by writing with reckless abandon. I officially welcome Alex and Tampa Bay Film to a whole new world of interacting with their readers as the Tampa Bay Film web site continues to grow and expand at an amazing rate. The growth of Tampa Bay Film, in fact, has been so impressive that I wouldn't be surprised if it eclipses Tampa Bay Modeling sometime in 2008 and becomes the leading Tampa Bay Talent web site. Have you seen the Tampa Bay Film online film festival? There are a lot of interesting films on there, and you can easily spend a few hours watching some cool films without leaving home. It's free, too!
Well, enough about all of that. It is time to talk about me. That's right, haters, me. What else would I talk about now? You? Are you really that interesting, or are you just like everyone else in this sell-out society of sheep? Whatever. So, what have I been up to? Booking some modeling jobs as an independent model and updating my modeling portfolio. I worked with several photographers over the summer, and got a lot of great pictures for my book and new comps. Models out there may want to note that all of these photographers were professionals and that I paid for my model portfolio photography sessions. It was a great investment, and I made the most of my limited time as a professional model by skipping the pathetic portfolio networking site "aspiring" photographers, and booking qualified, professional photographers instead.
Hmmmmm... Do you know what I have noticed? That regular reader and contributing model Stacy has not wrote in since we rebooted the Tampa Bay Modeling mail bag. Since she was one of the models who pushed for its return, the lack of participation is rather disappointing. What was that? You say that she got letter of the month in the last mail bag? Well, she did, but you also have to realize that we were catching up on old letters and that the letter was several months old. At least French Fry sent us in a new letter. I am hoping that Stacy resumes writing in, because I find her letters and the points that she makes to be simply brilliant. In case you haven't already guessed, we are now officially caught up and all new letters will be new and current. Readers can now expect answers to their emailed letters in the next or relevant mail bag instead of waiting months for a reply. If selected for publication, you can expect a reply in less than a month. Selected for publication? That's right. Starting next month, you can expect us to become a bit more picky regarding the letters that we choose to publish and answer. The hate mail and addressing all of these baseless accusation is getting old, and I'm even getting tired of model agency bashing. You're all welcome.
Well, it is time to start this exciting installment of my Tampa Bay Modeling mail bag column for the cooler month of September, 2007. Enjoy!
~ Model Monica Stevens,
Tampa Bay Modeling Mail Bag Editor

September 2007 Modeling Mail Bag Table Of Contents

01. LETTER OF THE MONTH: TFP / TFCD Issues
A Guy With Camera Time For Print photographer has an issue with Tampa Bay Modeling.

02. The Golden Age Of Tampa Bay Modeling
A model commends us on our progress with Tampa Bay Modeling.

03. Attacking Ourselves
A model is confused about Monica being allowed to criticize Tampa Bay Modeling and Independent Modeling.

04. Advertising Question
A model notices the transformation of our web site during September as our site format expands.

LETTER OF THE MONTH: TFP / TFCD Issues

Tampa Bay Modeling,
I am sick of you "models" talking down to photographers who use "portfolio networking sites" to make friends and share our love and our art of photography.
So what if I offer TFP to models? We have fun. I also use photography to meet beautiful women. Photography is a great way to break the ice and date girls who are very easy on the eyes.
Tampa Bay Modeling needs to mind its own business. I get really annoyed when these models quote your site to me and refuse to work with me because of the bullshit all over your misleading web site.
Carlson, a TFP model photographer from Tampa Bay, Florida

Carlson,
Your letter speaks for itself, and it proves our point about all of these guys with cameras running around and offering models photography sessions for free. Photographers who claim to be professional are not when they do all of their work for free and try to use the shroud of being a professional photographer as a means to hit on and have sex with pretty girls.
In my opinion, you are very unprofessional and give legitimate model portfolio photographers a bad reputation that they do not deserve. It is not Tampa Bay Modeling which is giving TFP / TFCD Guy With Camera (GWC) photographers a bad name. You are all doing a fine job doing that on your own.
For those who are new to all of this, TFP is a term that means Time For Prints. In the old days, it was a term that described a professional collaboration between established professionals where the model and photographer would exchange their services as a project to add to their portfolios. Since the early 2000's where free portfolio networking web sites and digital cameras became common, the TFP term has been hijacked and raped to represent the unprofessional practice of amateurs trying to help each other to build portfolios for free. This does not work, wastes a lot of time, and is often dangerous. It is not safe to meet up with and work with supposed professionals who have made no investment into their careers and who have little to lose. There is little to make them accountable for their actions, and there have even been reports of con artists claiming to be photographers who steal the work of other photographers in order to misrepresent what they can do. These so-called "photographers" lure unsuspecting models in with free offers so that they can take advantage of them. There have been reports of models being drugged and sexually assaulted through TFP photography offers. The models think that they can get their modeling portfolios done for free and end up paying a very big price for their ignorance.
Oh, yes, and the term TFCD is a TFP where the model gets their pictures on a CD ROM instead of receiving prints. A GWC is a term that means a Guy With a Camera, which describes a non-photographer with no professional experience who runs around on portfolio networking sites offering TFP so they can meet and sleep with pretty girls. Some of these GWC's are aspiring photographers with no clue how to become professional. They offer models nothing more than a wastes of time and potential to become victims of a crime. Ironically, most photographers who make jokes of GWC's are themselves GWC's. Professional photographers are too busy making a living doing photography to worry about amateur photographers spinning their wheels. Since professional photographers have real web sites for their business, they are also too busy working their careers to bother much with portfolio networking sites or to spend all day posting their opinions on portfolio networking site message boards.
Want to meet a GWC or clueless aspiring models? Go to your nearest portfolio networking web site, and you will find them and a great way to learn bad habits, the means to meet dangerous con artists, and ways of wasting time that should be spent building a professional career. What is a Portfolio Networking Site? A portfolio networking site is a membership web site where anyone can make up a profile free of charge and show whatever pictures that they have. Since there is no career investment to do this and it is often hard to check the references of these characters, portfolio networking sites are the primary means for GWC's and model scams to take advantage of unsuspecting models. These sites are dangerous, and I cannot recommend them at all.
Aspiring models and photographers owe it to themselves to invest in professionals for their career. Look up professional photographers in your nearest search engine or, better yet, by checking the Tampa Bay Modeling photographer resource section. You can also find professional photographers and professional models in Independent Modeling's TALON Talent Online reference contact database.
Professionals in any career will quickly learn that time is much more valuable than money. Money can be replaced. Time cannot. Why waste time and take unnecessary risks by doing TFP with amateurs? You'll only waste time and will end up paying for a real professional later on. Save time, assume lower risks, and help the integrity of your career by investing in the portfolio photography services of a genuine professional photographer. It's the best choice.
~ Model Monica Stevens,
Tampa Bay Modeling Mail Bag Editor

 

The Golden Age Of Tampa Bay Modeling

Wow. The work that you have done on Tampa Bay Modeling lately has been amazing. I am really impressed by your web site and all of the useful information it has. I have told all of my model friends about this site, and they tell me that they are telling all of their friends about it. Thank you for helping models and making the modeling industry professionally accountable. Good work!
Emily, a model from Tampa Bay, Florida

Hello Emily,
You are so welcome. We are working hard to make Tampa Bay Modeling the best modeling resource web site for Tampa Bay and everywhere else.
Want more? You got it, baby! We have many new features, tools, and content on the way, and you can find all of it exclusively on Tampa Bay Modeling. Some of the new things on the way have never been seen before, and will give any model who is smart enough to utilize it a major advantage over other models, with or without a modeling agency. You can say that the modeling industry is changing because of us.
My favorite upcoming features? The new Interactive Tutorials are fun, and the modeling pay vouchers are slick, not to mentioned long-overdue. Those vouchers should have been on Independent Modeling in 2001 and on Tampa Bay Modeling on day-one when we launched in 2004. Well, at least they are almost here now.
You might say that we are shaping up to be a very useful site. I am proud of Tampa Bay Modeling, and you should be, too.
Don't get too used to the massive updates on Tampa Bay Modeling, though. Our web team and the Tampa Bay Modeling staff is only getting us up to speed, and by October Tampa Bay Modeling will settle down to routine updates while the web team and several people from our staff concentrates on Independent Modeling, the Independent Sites, and the TALON Talent Online contact reference database. Tampa Bay Modeling will NOT be able to keep up with the updates to the Independent Sites, and this will go on for several years. As it was pointed out elsewhere in this mail bag, Tampa Bay Modeling directly utilizes the Independent Modeling model job board, the TALON Database, and the featured model sections as a back-end resource of our site, so it is absolutely critical for those to be updated. The Independent Sites are a high priority for us all. They are our allies, partners, and friends, and we will do everything in our power to help them.
Those who think Independent Modeling and the other sites are down for the count are wrong. These sites are coming back in full force, and in another year they will be more effective and influential than they ever were before.
~ Model Monica Stevens,
Tampa Bay Modeling Mail Bag Editor

 

Attacking Ourselves

Hello Tampa Bay Modeling,
In the last few mail segments, I noticed that Monica has been critical of the slow updates on Independent Modeling and has been complaining about Tampa Bay Modeling, the very site that publishes her feature! While I can understand her attacking model scams and shady model agencies in Tampa Bay under a fake name for her protection, you know who she is and now she is attacking the hand that feeds her. How can this be allowed? It makes no sense! Why would your right hand be slapping your left? The madness must stop!
- Karen, a model from Tampa Bay, Florida

Hello Karen,
Monica here. Yes, I have been critical about slow updates on Independent Modeling and have a few issues about Tampa Bay Modeling. I care about these sites, just as much as I care about the Tampa Bay Modeling industry, and I am critical because I want these sites to be the best that they can be. As a professional model, I also see the points made and share the feelings about some of the letters that we have received addressing these issues. I am not going to cover for Tampa Bay Modeling or any other professional organization which I am affiliated with if the readers are right and the complaints have genuine merit.
Am I afraid of a backlash for rocking the proverbial boat? No, not at all. It was made clear that I have complete freedom to write anything that I want to, and since Tampa Bay Modeling and the other sites are an open book and are not doing anything wrong, there is little concern of me publishing anything that would be a real attack on them. Tampa Bay Modeling, Independent Modeling, our sponsors, and our advertisers are all professional enough to take professional criticism for what is actually is. They take it constructively, and welcome it.
This much cannot be said of the rest of the modeling industry, which is one reason that I have to publish under a pseudonym. Many people do not comprehend much of what is said here, and get defensive instead of understanding where the opinions are coming from. Others are mad regardless of what we do or say, simply because they are jealous and we are more effective than they are in the modeling industry. Model agencies don't like us teaching models to do what they do because it undermines their control over models and makes them lose money. When you don't like someone, you tend to look for more reasons not to like them. This is why the ignorant, unprofessional players in the modeling industry condemn us for telling it how it is and try to attack us. I learned a long time ago not to take professionalism in the modeling industry for granted. Tampa Bay Modeling and a few others are professional enough to take my opinions constructively and not to be offended. I cannot say the same for many others, and this is exactly why our modeling resource sites are needed in the modeling industry.
~ Model Monica Stevens,
Tampa Bay Modeling Mail Bag Editor

 

Advertising Question

Hello Monica,
I check Tampa Bay Modeling everyday. A few days ago, I was surprised by how much the site changed overnight. Your site looks better than ever, and with all of those google ads looks like a super edition of Tampa Bay Modeling!
My question is why you started putting so much advertising on your web site, and why there never were many ads before.
- Samuel, a fashion model from Tampa, Florida

Hello Samuel,
Independent Modeling began advertising when the Independent Sites relaunched as a network back in 2005, and although the sites have been largely dormant, with few updates, their existing site content has been making them a lot of money.
When we launched back in 2004, this was a small modeling web site and we had a small team. We didn't think much of making money. Today, it's a lot of work, and we are making a difference with a lot of models and professionals in the modeling industry. When our new Raptor Class web site format launched last year, we were secretly annoyed that it did not incorporate page ads like the Independent Modeling Athena Class web site did so well. Well, a few days ago ads were included in the 2.0 Raptor Class upgrade, and we got our ads practically overnight! Sister sites Tampa Bay Film and Tampa Bay Acting will obtain the upgrade later this month. The new Raptor 2.0 code will come by default to the upcoming Tampa Bay Photographers web site, which is in planning but has not been built yet. There are rumors of another Tampa Bay talent or entertainment sister site, and although I know a bit about it, I can't tell any of you what I know for now.
Someone asked me about the regional modeling web sites that were announced last year. There are at least three in the works, and they are staffed up. They are tentatively referred to as Miami Modeling, Orlando Modeling, and Florida Modeling (the names may be adjusted). We have to update some of the older sections of Tampa Bay Modeling before they launch, though, because these regional modeling web sites will be based on Tampa Bay Modeling, beginning as regional mirrors which will take on lives of their own. Currently, the sites are still planned, but are on hold.
Anyhow, please don't think that we are selling out or anything, because we are not. We have bills to pay, and by paying those bills everyone, including our readers, wins. The more money that we make, the more we can create and publish on Tampa Bay Modeling for you. Tampa Bay Modeling remains a completely free online modeling resource!
~ Model Monica Stevens,
Tampa Bay Modeling Mail Bag Editor

CLOSING BY MODEL MONICA STEVENS

Wow. Not only was that mail bag a bit tough to finish due to our schedule, but the mail bag had its format transformed around it in the middle of my work on it. You all probably noticed that the layout of Tampa Bay Modeling has changed in the past few days and that all of the mail bags are now in that enhanced layout. I have never see it so busy around here.
There are other things going on, too. Exciting things. Tampa Bay Film is undergoing a similar site layout upgrade, as is Tampa Bay Acting. Both sites have also launched their own mail bags, too, which has kept our content editor busy. Tampa Bay Modeling and Tampa Bay Film just unveiled branded apparel and bumper stickers, and Tampa Bay Acting will soon do the same.
Tampa Bay Acting has been lagging behind ours since it launched all those months ago, and is only now getting up to speed. They have this witty actress writing for their mail bag, and they have all sorts of site upgrades coming in the next few weeks. The Tampa Bay Acting mail bag editor is actress and model Katharine Franco, which is a pseudonym like mine is. She wanted to use her real name, but we talked her out of it, as the Tampa Bay Talent sites are not talent marketing sites, but rather talent resource sites. We decided long ago that if we were to use our real names, that it may affect our careers and limit our ability to tell it how it is. We are sure that you don't want us to be limited, and since we all have full-time, successful careers in an often shady market, we need to be smart about how we go about doing this.
I have news about Independent Modeling, the Independent Sites, and the TALON Talent Online reference contact database, too. The Eos web team, which is responsible for updating the Tampa Bay Talent sites as well as a lot of business and production sites, is almost done with their backlog of work. As soon as Tampa Bay Acting is up to speed, their advertising agency web site launches, and the Frontier Society web site is up, Independent Modeling and all of those other sites will take priority for at least the next two years. Have you noticed that our model job section and our model section link to Independent Modeling? There is a reason for this, and it is about to become clear as the Independent Sites see updates of historic proportions, exceeding what they once were in many ways. It is a good time to be a professional model, actor, talent, production company, or any business looking for talent in the Tampa Bay area. We are at the threshold of a revolution, and regardless of how old our sites are or what you think that we have accomplished, this is only the beginning! Independent Modeling and the Independent sites also have some amazing things on the way for those with limited time and who do not like to read much. They can thank some of the advancements pioneered at Tampa Bay Film for these new ideas and tools.
Oh, this is good! Our official Tampa Bay Modeling bumper stickers (creatively branded as "Bumper Tagz") are now in! I wonder what would happen if I placed one on my car? Would I blow my cover? What would the model agencies say? You know what, I don't care! Unless the bookers go out to where my car is parked and see the sticker, they will never know, and if they ever find out, I'll just have to deal with their issue when it comes up. In mail bag-related news, I also obtained approval from both Independent Modeling and Tampa Bay Modeling to post all of my old mail bags from Independent Modeling here in a special archive section. For those of you who are wondering what I am talking about, I ran the Independent Modeling mail bag when it existed, from 2002 until 2004. Of course, I will have to edit a few letters in those mail bags, but it'll be good. Independent Modeling no longer has a mail bag or much in the way of controversy, focusing on modeling tools, information, contacts, and promotion. The controversial stuff has been licensed to Tampa Bay Modeling, and now it's our deal.
Well, I have to run. It is time to go put my bumper tag on my car and cruise around Hyde Park. Since I often get double takes anyway, because, you know, I am a model and all that, I guess I will finally get even more looks than ever. I wouldn't have it any other way!
~ Model Monica Stevens,
Tampa Bay Modeling Mail Bag Editor

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E-Mail us and let us know what YOU think! If you wish to add to one of Monica's answers or disagree with her and want to post an answer of your own, please let us know what letter and month you are replying to and if we see that it is relevant we may add it to that month's archive. We will let you know if new content such as letters have been added to mail bag archives!

E-MAIL: TampaBayModeling@Yahoo.Com

C/O Monica Stevens, Tampa Bay Modeling Mail Bag Editor

THIS MAIL BAG IS SUBJECT TO EDITING AND CONTENT CHANGE AT ANY TIME AND WITHOUT WARNING.

UPDATED 09/24/07

© Copyright 2007 Tampa Bay Modeling. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

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