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Thursday, August 13, 2009 - 8:00 AM - Tampa Photographer Log for Photographer Chris Passinault

Do I Hate Tampa Photographers?

People have been asking me if I hate Tampa photographers. Well, the answer is no, but if you look deeper, no answer is cut and dry. Nothing is simple anymore. At least, not as simple as it was in the beginning.
As a photographer once told me, he doesn’t hate anyone (although he acts like it). I don’t hate anyone, either. I do, however, have some observations, some reservations, and many educated opinions.
I am not currently in direct conflict with any photographers, let alone Tampa photographers, although I do have issues with many of them, and respect very few. Well, allow me to qualify that. There are very few professional, ethical Tampa photographers. Those are the ones who have earned my respect, and I don’t have any problems with them. Also, most of those few photographers are friendly with me, or work with me.
Ironically, the Tampa photographers who qualify to be my competition are the ones who I both respect and get along with. The Tampa photographers who do not have any hope of competing with my photography company, however, I often do have issues with. The reason? Well, besides not earning my respect, these photographers are not really photographers. They are people who pick up cameras, claim to be photographers, and do damage to the integrity of the Tampa photography services market as they take shortcuts and stumble their way through it. History has also proven that these aspiring photographers will be the first to try to rip me off in some way.
I will be the first to admit that I am somewhat skeptical of everyone if I don’t know them. I tend to assume the worst until I have evidence to prove otherwise. How, and why, did I lose faith as far as others, and their intentions? I am a student of experience, and let me tell you that I have had a long run of experiences, covering at least a decade, with so-called Tampa photographers.
Allow me to share a little about what I’ve been through.
I started my photography company in 1994, when I needed photographs to support my creative projects. At the time, becoming a photographer was not in my plans. I was a writer, an underground DJ, an actor, an event planner, and was going to school for television production and filmmaking. The photography came about from a need, and it soon took on a life of its own (if you told me then that I would be doing most of my work today as a photographer, I wouldn’t have believed it). I directed my first shoot, on June 10, 1994, for some photographs for one of my DJ releases (Nicole Angel, who was a model for that shoot and was my DJ partner, asked me about the modeling industry around that time, but I didn’t know anything about modeling then- If only I knew what my destiny was regarding that). I didn’t actually pick up a camera, however, until the following year, and didn’t start doing shoots with a lot of models until 1998. The shoots were needed to provide family-friendly images for my first web sites. I built, and launched, my first web site in late 1998, and more pictures were needed.
I wasn’t very good at first, but I spent a lot of time and money on shoots (I don’t ever want to hear models whine about spending a few hundred on a professional modeling portfolio when I spent thousands to build my portfolio; it wasn’t easy, either. Not that I have any complaints about my current work, however). As time passed, my shoots evolved. I also started working with more experienced models, and they taught me a lot. In 2000, I became involved with a woman, named Diana, who found me online and began to talk to me. I had no clue that she was a fashion model until we met, and it made sense that she would be a model because we had a lot in common; Diana was also a professional designer, too (Diana later used my photographs of her to compete on the “am I hot or not” web site, was voted as one of the most beautiful women in America, and eventually was signed to become their spokesmodel). Diana went through my portfolio and told me that it had potential, but was lacking. She made some good points about what needed to be improved with my portfolio. So, we began spending weekends together. She’d drive to Tampa every Friday from Orlando, we’d shoot all weekend, and then she would return home on Monday morning. This went on for many months, although after the first shoot I was already on the verge of turning pro. Shortly after Diana and I started working together, I did turn pro. I was well on my way. Oh, and to the current “I’ll just shoot whatever and fix it later in Photoshop” generation and the “I’ll cover up my lack of skill with a camera with fill flash and other gimmicks” generation, I learned how to get it right from the start. When I turned pro, my pictures were shot well from the beginning, and the prints that I obtained from the developer were already professional quality. I didn’t shoot sloppy and alter the image digitally to correct my mistakes. Even today, I don’t have to Photoshop my photographs to “correct” them, as they were shot correctly to begin with, with attention to detail and strong composition (if any of you Tampa photographers out there even know what composition is- I see too much of your work which screams “idiot aspiring photographer fumbled with camera and started clicking the shutter button while waving the camera in the general direction of the subject”...... I’m sorry, but if you’re running marathons, and see someone who claims to be a professional photographer crawling around, it’s really hard to take them seriously). Other than minor adjustments to brightness and contrast, a common byproduct of utilizing natural light, my photographs don’t need work. I believe that this is one thing that gives me a major advantage as a photographer, and it is the reason that I can shoot circles around most of my competition. More on this point shortly.
By early 2001, I had built an impressive portfolio using a 35MM SLR camera, and did so by sinking a fortune into film and development. At that time, with my bank job (which I had started working at in 1994, ironically) nearing the end, I took out a large loan and invested in my first digital camera. My first digital camera was a 3.3 Megapixel Nikon 990 consumer camera, and it cost $1,000.00. With 64 MEG CF cards going for $150.00 at that time, I ended up spending $1,600.00 on that camera and the accessories that I needed. I began doing modeling portfolio shoots with two tiny CF cards; a 64 MEG card and the 16 MEG card that came with the 990.
That 990 did a fine job, even when compared to the professional digital SLR’s that I use today. It was slow, but the resolution was high enough to do great 8 X 10's (the weird thing is that I have a Nikon L10 today, as my personal camera, and my old 990 is better than the newer camera, despite its lower resolution and twist ergonomics. I use a Canon 10D for my professional camera right now, and will be investing in a newer 50D this year. Next year, I may be investing in the 5D Mark II, as well as more lenses, portable lighting kits, and accessories).
And that’s how my photography career started. I really can’t recall when I first started doing well as a photographer, but I do remember that it was with a 35 MM film camera. I think it was in 1999, just before turning pro.
In 1998, a newbie on the Internet, I knew web sites were the way to go, and began my research into web sites and web site development. In early 1998, I didn’t even own a computer, but owned a massive video game collection. So, while saving up for my first computer, I bought two 28.8 Netlink modems for my Sega Saturns, a PC keyboard adapter, and a Sega mouse, and I used that to get onto the Internet. One of the first modeling sites that I found was Florida models, and I contacted Kitty, the model who owned that modeling site. We became friends, and she and her boyfriend Ken were very helpful in my quest to learn how to build web sites.
In mid 2001, my banking job ended. I was beginning to do well as a professional photographer, and noticed how popular that the Florida models web site was. So, I took some ideas about modeling that models had shared with me and began working on my own modeling resource web site, Independent Modeling.
In early 2001 (before Independent Modeling), I did things the way that I was supposed, and expected, to. I went around to all the main Tampa modeling and talent agencies and introduced myself. My portfolio was strong. Networking with the modeling agencies, however, was difficult. They seemed to have their preferred photographers already, and they all gave me the run-around on why they could not refer me any modeling portfolio photography or model testing photography referrals. I was frustrated. I had paid my dues, had started to do a lot of work as a photographer, and was doing what I was supposed to do. I quickly learned, through research and experience, that most Tampa modeling and talent agencies had their own agendas. My eyes were opened to the fact that modeling agencies were not the answer, and that I had some decisions to make if I wanted to make a career as a professional photographer, at least when it came to my preferred field of modeling portfolio photography and talent headshot photography (the irony was that this reason was the reason that Kitty had started Florida Models. No modeling agency would represent her, so she took matters into her own hands, booking herself into modeling jobs). It became obvious, especially after having lunches and meetings with ex-agency employees and bookers, that if you wanted to work as a modeling portfolio or a talent headshot photographer (which was quickly becoming my specialty), that you had to go through the agencies, and if you did so, that you had to be shady and unethical (although I have seen a few exceptions). The modeling agency way was monopolistic, and ultimately, corrupt. The way that the modeling and talent industry was set up was flawed, with way too many middlemen and politics. Ah, yes, and there were a hell of a lot of modeling scams, too!
I really didn’t have anything against modeling agencies (and I still don’t), but I learned that going through them was not an option. I would have to find another way to obtain work as a photographer. This said, I was on good terms with at least one Tampa modeling agency at the time, and to their credit, they did refer me shoots, but that would not last with my future course of action.
Kitty once told me that she started her Florida models web site because she was given the run-around when she started her modeling career. The modeling agencies were only interested in referring her to expensive modeling portfolio photography services, and wouldn’t get her any modeling jobs. So, she became an independent model, and started her site. She obtained her own modeling jobs, and once the modeling agencies realized that she was booking, she finally obtained representation from them and began to book modeling jobs referred by agencies, as well.
I decided to start my own modeling resource web site, having learned a lot about modeling from models, and market my photography company on the site. After several weeks of hard work, I launched Independent Modeling on September 4, 2001. It launched as Tampa Bay Independent Model, and soon, the agencies noticed it online.
By 2002, my web site marketing was working well. I began booking a lot of modeling portfolio photography work and headshot photography work. I had no issues with the modeling agencies, and was doing what I needed to in order to book photography work, but soon, I learned some interesting things. I met with a radio DJ for a modeling portfolio photography consultation, as he wanted to get his teenage daughter into modeling. I had two consultations that day, and had just booked one. Now, it was his turn. We talked a lot, and then he landed a bombshell on me. He told me that he had contacted a big Tampa modeling agency to inquire about me, and that they had told him that I “was not a photographer”. I was surprised. Ok, if I wasn’t a photographer, then what was I supposed to be, in their opinion? If I supposedly was not a photographer, and I was going around marketing myself as a photographer and doing shoots, were they implying that I was misrepresenting myself and was some sort of modeling scam? I didn’t do anything to the agencies, and they were badmouthing me for no reason. I smiled when he told me this, and showed him my portfolio. I asked him what he thought. He told me that I was obviously a photographer, and a really good one. I asked him which modeling agency was saying things about me, but he wouldn’t give me their name. He told me that I shouldn’t worry about what they were saying, and that I should just keep doing what I was doing. I suggested that the agencies were saying things about me because Tampa Bay Independent Model (Independent Modeling), was showing models how to book modeling jobs on their own, without being dependent upon an agency, and that the agencies knew that the information on the site worked, and they didn’t like it (Man, one day, this is going to make a great book, especially what’s going to happen in the near future).
Well, I don’t think that he accepted what they told him. He looked at my photography portfolio, and like the previous model, booked me, anyway. He also told me about the model search scams that were advertising on the radio, and that the radio stations were well-aware that they were scams, and accepted the marketing anyway (oddly, seven years later, in 2009, modeling scams advertised on the radio is a huge problem. The commercials are constantly running, and I’ve never seen a legitimate modeling job advertised on the radio, or in the paper). I continued to have my eyes opened. Still, I wondered why the modeling agencies would say such terrible things about me when I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I also wondered which agency it was, and soon obtained a hint on just who said what.
Sometime in 2002, I did headshots for an actress named Kerry, and sent her to one of the top Tampa modeling agencies. The headshots were excellent, and she was ready to obtain representation by some local Tampa modeling agencies.
She woke me up one morning knocking on my door. I met her at the door, half asleep, and asked her how it went.
“Chris”, she said, “They don’t like you.”
She told me that the agency booker loved her headshots, until she saw the Aurora PhotoArts credit on it. “Oh, God!” the booker exclaimed to Kerry, “I don’t believe that you got your headshots done with him!” Kerry asked what the deal was. They told her that they didn’t approve of me, or my web sites. Of course, they still represented Kerry, despite her association with me, as she was a top actress and model, and they used the headshots to market her. Kerry told me that the booker loved the headshots, and said that is was the best that she had seen in the Tampa market, and that only when she noticed that I had done the headshots did she start running her mouth. “Obviously”, Kerry mused, “you did something to piss them off”.
Did I, or was it only the local modeling and talent agencies who had a problem with me? I didn’t get any sort of problems with the big modeling agencies. Tampa model and actress Roxanne Kowalska, whom I got into modeling, and who became a regular Dillard’s catalog model, had a modeling portfolio mostly shot by me. She went down to Miami and met with agencies like Elite. Roxanne met up with me in Brandon one night at the Macaroni Grill, with seven other models and myself having a business dinner that night. She had just returned from Miami. She looked cute in her cool retro glasses, and she smiled at me from across the long table. “Chris”, she reported,” Elite Miami looked at my portfolio. They ignored the pictures from the other photographers, and were blown away by yours. All the agencies love your work.” The other models looked at my book, too, and agreed.
I was happy to hear it. Obviously, the smaller, local agencies had other issues with me. I began to become annoyed with the Tampa modeling agencies, after weighing out the facts. I was leaving them alone and doing my own thing, despite learning about their shortcomings. I kept my mouth shut, and was all nice and politically correct, like I was supposed to be, and they were badmouthing me. Well, no more. I was being penalized, despite taking the safe route. I realized that I had to start speaking out. What the Tampa modeling agencies were trying to do to me was simply an act of war (in 2003, in fact, I met with an attorney to discuss suing them for slander, and this remains a strong option), and I was quickly building the resources that I would need to do something about it. It was obvious that modeling agencies were never meant to be the end-all, be-all in the modeling industry. The modeling industry was changing, and change was needed.
I began to talk to a lot of models about their issues and experiences with the modeling industry. I also studied everything that I could find about the modeling industry and how modeling agencies worked, and how they were supposed to work (I also learned from other professionals. One day, in his agency, Steve Benz sat in front of me with a copy of the book Model: The ugly business of beautiful women, and read some of it. He then added his opinion). Because of the unethical things that I was witnessing, and the modeling scams that were all over the place, I also worked hard to become an expert on modeling scams, and business scams in general. I began to study how modeling scams worked, and noticed that they really were what they did. They all had distinctive activity patterns which helped to define them, and those patterns could not easily be altered without the risk of losing effectiveness. These activity signatures would later become important in building new modeling scam fighting tools and modeling scam analysis databases for Independent Modeling and three more modeling resource sites which would come along in the future. I studied modeling scams like a researcher would study a virus. I would engineer scam-fighting tools from that research, often taking components of the scam and using it to enhance the tools which were designed to undermine and combat them.
In 2003, Tampa Bay Independent Modeling simply became Independent Modeling, matching its domain name-branding. I added its first model scam board to it, and it grew. Around this time, too, I began to have problems with Tampa photographers, many of them aspiring photographers who coveted my success as an independent photographer, and who were jealous of my work. My web sites put me on the radars of a lot of people in the modeling industry, along with the crazy ones were the ones who were trying to make it on the fringes.
I never had any issues with photographers before that. Seriously. Between 2000 and 2002, digital cameras capable of professional results were still new, and many photographers were shooting with film cameras. Because of the overhead of using film cameras, there was an investment required to build a photography portfolio, and it was easy to determine who the professional photographers were, and who the pretenders were. There were not many photographers in Tampa, and those of us who were there in the market were seasoned professionals. We had no clue on what the upcoming digital revolution would bring, and how it would serve to clutter the Tampa photography services market with fake photographers who were unethical and unprofessional. The floodgates were about to open.
As digital photography became more mainstream, more and more people decided to become “photographers” because the eliminated cost of buying film and paying for the development of film made taking pictures practically free, once the initial outlay for the camera was taken care of. Of course, the cost of the cameras came down, too, and soon, everyone seemed to have access to a digital camera. I remember my first service agreements, which had services divided between film photography and digital photography. The film photography services, however, were dead on arrival, as “digital photography services” simply became “photography services”.
With more and more aspiring photographers entering the promised land, some with unethical motives and unprofessional intentions, the old TFP arrangement was highjacked. TFP, which is a term which means Time For Prints, was originally a professional collaboration between professional models and professional photographers. All who were involved in TFP were working professionals who had established portfolios, and they were usually paid for their services. The models were normally paid, and so were the photographers, and when they collaborated together in a TFP arrangement, their pay would cancel each other out (that is, as long as none of the parties involved stood to make money from the work, which would turn it into one party ripping off the other). The TFP was done as a mutual collaborative effort between qualified professionals, and each would help to refine their portfolios.
TFP became TFCD, or Time For CD. Since digital cameras were now used, and there was no film and development, the parties would receive their pictures as image files on a CD (and later, on other media such as flash drives. I love flash drives). The terms changed, too, as TFP / TFCD was hijacked by amateurs. Further degrading the investment done to establish careers, amateur photographers and amateur models would collaborate to establish their portfolios for free (and, of course, this reflected in the quality of the portfolio. It is obvious that you get what you pay for). They would also use freebie portfolio networking sites and social networking sites to market their careers. This led to the rise of a new class of photographers and a new class of model, the “deluded amateur”.
With no investment into their career, it was no surprise that these people were not professional. Standards and expectations dropped to a new low, and a new generation of models and photographers became convinced that you didn’t have to pay anything, and shouldn’t have to pay anything, to start a career. Of course, this proved to be a false economy, and was more of an annoyance for the working professionals in the industry because the amateurs cluttered the market and muddied the waters. Values of everything plummeted (ahem- I have developed many ways to counter this trend, and they work. My photographers and I benefit from my ideas).
Of course, credibility was now in question, too, as there was no longer an investment into a career, although careers started that way usually didn’t last long. With no investment, there was no accountability, and professionalism became undermined. Aspiring photographers could go out, buy a camera, and then trick aspiring models into shooting with them. If the arrangement went bad, which usually happened because the work was not professional, the photographer could simply pull up the stakes to their tent and set up shop somewhere else, often using a different name. Some of these characters became photographers to meet beautiful women, and many women became victims of crime, seduced by free shoots and false promises. The amateur models, on the other hand, felt entitled, and with no investment into their career, they didn’t treat their careers with respect; they also did not treat anyone else with respect. Amateur models became demanding and unreliable, increasing the occurrences of so-called models who flaked out on jobs. This was annoying to professional independent models because the flaky amateur models would give modeling on your own, without going through an agency, a bad name. It would also allow modeling agencies to monopolize the modeling industry longer than they should have been able to do.
In retrospect, however, I do believe that the annoyances that we experienced were more perception than reality. Of the professionals, the ones who knew what they were doing, and whom were able to adapt to the new environment, were relatively unaffected. I don’t know of a single instance where modeling or photography was given a “bad name” by the actions of amateurs, and that bad name made any of us lose business. Indeed, it really wasn’t difficult to figure out who the professionals were, and who the amateurs were. The amateurs were giving themselves a bad name, but the professionals were not affected. The new modeling and photography industries became split.
The amateurs used freebie services for their “career”, and it was obvious that they did not invest into their career. They operated off of portfolio networking sites and social networking sites such as Myspace, worked with other amateurs to build free portfolios, and really didn’t know what they were doing. They also took shortcuts, and were not inclined to learn how the business worked, and what they needed to do. The result was that they did not book any work. The professionals, on the other hand, invested in their career, and it was obvious. They had professional web sites that they paid for, professional portfolios that they paid for, took the time to learn the business, and had their act together. As a result, they had careers.
I have a career. My primary goal is to give my clients photographs which they can use; quality photographs that are effective. I also respect my clients, and photograph them in a professional context, where they are put in the best possible light. I’m all business, but I am also an artist, an artist who knows what art is, and respects the power that my photography has. Of course, many models and photographers will also tell you that I have integrity which is beyond reproach. I do the right thing, tell it how it is, and work toward improving the integrity of the Tampa photography services market, the modeling industry, and the entertainment industry.
The work that I do ultimately benefits all professionals.
Is it any wonder that many of my friends are professional models, actors, photographers, and talent? Is it any wonder that many of those friends started out as clients? I don’t even have to go around saying that I am doing things right. My actions speak for me, and define who I am. Everyone knows that I am one of the good guys.
And this, my friends, rubs the bad people the wrong way. It was only a matter of time before my growing dominance, and leadership, of the photography services market would catch the attention of unethical, and unprofessional, photographers. It also attracted the attention of a lot of misguided photographers, too, many of whom were misled by con artists.
In 2003, I noticed that a Tampa photographer had posted an ad on Florida Models for “Teen modeling web site work”, which basically exploited underage girls with “sexy” clothing and provocative poses. Well, Independent Modeling had deployed a modeling scam analysis database, and we posted a warning about the dangers of teen modeling web sites (actually, I think that it was an alert about a “Tampa photographer starting an exploitive teen web site”). I looked over his web site, and cringed at the poor photography and the boastful claims on his site (He claimed to be a professional photographer and a “combat” journalism photographer with over ten years of experience, but his portfolio of snapshots made him out to be an obvious liar). I tracked down a model who he had worked with, whom I knew, and asked her questions about him. She told me that she thought that he was a nice guy, but that he was really hyper and chain-smoked a lot. She then went back and told him that I had been asking about him (A modeling agency owner pulled this on me with another photographer once, and it really annoyed me because it was a violation of confidentiality. That photographer claimed to get models referred to him from agencies, which was not true, and the agency confirmed that they did not refer models to him. Later, that same day, he visited the agency to try to get on their list of photographer referrals which they gave to models, and that’s when the agency owner told him that I had been checking up on him. He was angry and contacted me, and that’s when I stopped talking to the agency, as the modeling agency had violated my trust in them. I told the photographer to quit lying, which further pissed him off, and that was that. A few months later, I sent some models to that agency to get their photographer referral list, as the agency had refused to give it to me, and he was on it at that time- the point was, however, regardless, that someone was lying, and at the time that the photographer was making that claim, he wasn’t on the list. This further harmed the credibility of the modeling agency, as we had proof that they were referring models to unethical photographers). At any rate, the teen modeling photographer called me up, angry about my inquiry, and we talked. He blamed the teen modeling site gig on a web master, and claimed that he was duped into working with him (despite the fact that he was the one who posted the job ad), and I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. This proved to be somewhat of a mistake, because, as time would tell, this photographer was a con artist, and he was the person who was really behind the teen modeling job. He merely made his webmaster a scapegoat, and played cool with me because he was out for revenge. In his mind, I supposedly alleged in my conversation with the model that he was shooting kiddie porn, and he was determined to get close to me so that he could learn enough about me to take me down. He quickly found out that there wasn’t any information that would serve to bring me down, or to eliminate me from the market, so the photographer set out to become my “friend” so he could use me for what he could get. As a beginning photographer who didn’t do a lot of work doing photography, despite what he claimed, he quickly realized that I was doing well as a photographer, and that I was friends with the models whom he wanted to shoot with.
Oh, and speaking of models, I never spoke to that model again. She violated my trust in her by going back and stirring things up with that photographer. If I inquire about anyone, it is very important that the inquiry remains confidential. I am very serious about this, especially looking back. That stupid model and her big mouth set in motion a chain of events that would lead to a Tampa photography war and some ill-will between me and some photographers which still exist today, six years later. I learned the hard way that you really can’t trust anyone until they earn your trust. I also learned to trust my initial instincts.
I was, after all, proven to be right about that photographer.
Well, the photographer was determined to learn the business from me. I swear, he called my studio EVERY DAY. I didn’t have any problem talking to him, as he complained that he wasn’t getting any work (which made sense when you looked at his photography), but he always seemed to be fishing for information. Oh, yes, and he also wanted to start a photography association, which I was down with.
We started the photography association. We had a group of photographers who had regular meetings, and we planned on opening up a studio for all the photographers to use. One of the photographers in those meetings, Andy, was a friend of Craig's, a photographer whom I had met through a model, and I had initially met him at one of my auditions for a indie film project in 2002, where I had set up him and my other photographer friend to take pictures of the actors and models who were auditioning (I was too busy casting with my staff to do any shooting myself, as I am also a professional casting director). At any rate, Andy and I became better friends through the experience (Andy, Craig, and I remain good friends to this day). So, we had these photography association meetings, and we all planned on doing this joint photography studio. It was then that some questions about the photographer began to emerge.
I went on a location shoot for a magazine in Ybor with that photographer and a group of photographers, some who were not in the association, one day. I didn’t bring a camera, and was merely there to observe. The shoot was ok, but there was some mistakes being made my all the “pro” photographers there. They were shooting in an alley with some models, facing east, and the models were horribly backlit (everyone was using natural light, by the way). The composition of the alley was also bad, and the pictures were horrible. I sat around for a good half-hour, noticing a better setting, and waited for the photographers to figure it out. Finally, I grabbed a camera from one of the photographers (politely borrowed, that is), and took two models in an adjacent alley where I was shooting to the west. The pictures were great. Within minutes, all of the photographers and models migrated to the new location, and that, my friends, is where the magazine cover was shot. What bugged me, however, was that all of these pro photographers didn’t seem to know how to work a location, despite their expensive photography equipment. Oh, and there was also a reason why I did not bring my camera along. At the time, I was shooting with a consumer-grade Nikon 990 digital camera, and I really didn’t want the photographers to know that. It was enough that my work was good, professional quality, and that I was working as a professional photographer. None of them, at the time, had any clue that I wasn’t using what they had. In retrospect, that Nikon 990 was proof that good equipment did not make up for a lack of talent and skill. Using that 990, I was able to shoot circles around many photographers who had professional equipment.
Despite the amateur work that this photographer did, as demonstrated on that shoot, there were other questions. He wanted to name our photography association a name very similar to a well-known one, and the name insinuated an association with the established one. I didn’t agree with this, and told him so, as it was misleading and deceptive. He also named his photography company the same name as an already established one, and knew that the name was already taken. I didn’t agree with that, either. The photographer was demonstrating, through his actions, that he was dishonest, and that he didn’t respect anyone. We also disagreed with what to charge with photography services. I told him what fair rates were for different types of photography. He freaked out, and at first, I thought that the issue was that my rates were too high. I was shocked when he said that my idea of rates rates was too low. He insisted that the rates for modeling portfolio photography and other photography services be over $1,000.00, which were commercial photography rates. He took a drag off of his cigarette, and exhaled. “As photographers, we shouldn’t even open up our camera bags for less than $1,000.00". I shook my head, already knowing that no one did modeling portfolio photography work that was worth that; not me, and especially not him. I asked him if he at least got the fair rates that I quoted. He evaded answering at first, and then admitted that he did not. I then asked him how he expected to get such high rates when he was unable to get the rates which were considered to be fair rates.
He accused me of ruining the market for everyone else. I began to wonder if he knew what he was doing, or if he was trying to manipulate the competition by convincing them to overcharge for their services. In my opinion, he was proving to be greedy, too.
But wait, it gets better.
He started to bug all of my contacts (the ones that he could find on my web sites). He composed these badly-written emails and contacted as many of my models as he could find. He contacted my photographer friends, and tried to get them to get involved with the “association”. Ann Poonkasem, who was Miss Tampa Bay, a professional model, a singer, and a good friend of mine (we still are close friends.... God, Ann and I have been friends now for seven years!), was contacted by him. She called me up, laughing about the email, which seemed to be written by a third grader. She asked if she should work with him, and if he was any good as a photographer. Not wanting to bad-mouth the poor guy, I told her to look at his work, and use that to decide if he was worth it. Ann decided to ignore him.
The photographer continued to call me every day. He had lots of questions. He wanted tips on web sites, and on search engine optimization. I told him some techniques, but stressed to him that it was a lot of work and that you had to do frequently to make it work (God, that sounds so bad!). He continued to learn as much as he could.
Not getting anywhere with my models, he tried to get some of my photographer friends to get involved with the “association”. By this time, I was getting suspicious about his motives. I looked at his latest work. I smiled. Shooting like he did, I figured that no model in their right mind would want to work with him, especially with his poor writing ability. I relaxed, not realizing that the guy was a good talker, however, and that he had a natural ability to convince people, and sell them on what he did.
I decided to humor him. The photography association went to Ybor city to check out the site of our studio. After the visit, he and I were talking in front of the store with some of the photographers hanging around. We began to debate about photography rates again. “You know” I said, “the models won’t allow you to charge that much for modeling portfolio photography services. You’re trying to charge too much.” He became irate. “F the models!” He exclaimed, “We are photographers! We don’t answer to any models! We do whatever the F that we want!”.
Well, I was friends with a lot of models. He was disrespecting models. At that point, I had enough of his nonsense. I quit the photography association, and pulled out of the studio deal. A week later, his listing in the photographer resource section of Independent Modeling disappeared. He called me up, and asked what happened to his listing on the web site.
“It should be listed” I replied, acting like I didn’t know what was going on, “It should be there in the resource section. Are you sure that it’s gone? It is? Well, I’ll have to ask the models and see what’s going on.”
Despite my apathy toward him, and my lack of participation with the photography association, he continued to call me EVERY DAY. This didn’t last long, however. One morning, bright and early, he called and woke up my girlfriend, who had stayed over. She just happened to be a model, and she went off on him. After she told him off, she hung up the phone, and we had a good laugh over it. At the time, however, what I didn’t know was that he went to all the photographers in the association and told them that I was unethical because I “slept with models”, which wasn’t the case at all. It’s a different story when you are dating someone, and are involved in a relationship. The irony, however, was how he conducted his career, as he proved to be the one trying to sleep with models.
Around this time, Craig called me up and asked me about the photographer. The photographer had been contacting Craig, and Craig was now suspicious about his motives. Craig asked me if I trusted the photographer. I told him that I did not.
A few days later, I noticed something odd. I went onto the photographer's web site, and noticed some unusual code in his source code (I often pull up source code and take a look at it when I go to any web site. I don't miss anything). There were meta tags copied from my web site source code, with my keywords removed and some added misspelled keywords for him (another photographer, years later, did the same thing with one of my online ads)! He had stolen my source code! I told Craig about what I had found, and then had a revelation. Could it be that the worst scam in the local modeling photography industry was right under my nose the entire time? At this time, I knew that I would have to fight the photographer. I knew that a war was inevitable.
More information about Tampa photography scams went up on Independent Modeling’s modeling scam board. Around Christmas, 2003, the photographer called me. He complained about the photography scam information on Independent Modeling, saying that he was afraid that models would think that it was about him. He threatened to get his lawyer to send me a letter. I laughed, and told him to do what he felt that he had to do. Realizing that threats would not work on me, he finally tried to be pleasant with me. We ended the call, and that was the last time that I spoke to him.
Well, he tried calling me up once more. I posted an ad on Florida Models for a commercial client that I had. A model responded who had a portfolio full of his pictures. The pictures were better quality than the ones that he shot a year before, but they were still flawed. I told the model to go out and get a portfolio done by a photographer who knew how to shoot a modeling portfolio, as I could not submit such flawed photographs to my client. The photographer later tried to call me, and the model sent an E-mail to Craig stating that she would never work with me and that I sucked as a photographer because I used a consumer camera. The funny thing was that she praised my work when I talked to her; it’s funny how people change their story when they are angry. Another thing was that I out shot many photographers with my 990 when I was using it in my photography work, and that my camera had no bearing when I was doing excellent work. Another thing? I bought a Canon 10D SLR in 2004, and was no longer using the 990.
The model later went on to do nude modeling on adult web sites, got into drugs, and gained a lot of weight, and that amuses me. I also never heard from the photographer again, at least not directly.
That was not, however, the end of it. War had begun between us.
The situation was both interesting and aggravating. The photographer was bad-mouthing me and spreading rumors about me. I had walked away from him before he could scam me, and it pissed him off. He also began to scam other photographers with his “photography association”, learning photography from them and stealing from them behind their backs. There were reports of him going into photographers computers and stealing their contacts (he went into the computer of a magazine publisher, stole his email contacts, and then began to spam the contacts. I found out about this after the publisher sent out a mass email telling everyone what had happened). When the other photographers brought their clients, some of them models, to the studio, he would try to steal the clients, too. Many photographers realized that they were being ripped off, and left. Other photographers, wanting a studio to work in, replaced the photographers who had been used up and discarded. There were reports that he was ripping off models, too. He’d set up TFP’s, only to bait and switch them by selling them prints. He photoshopped fake tear sheets with fashion logos on them, misrepresenting himself as being associated with big companies. He also lied about his work history and his contacts. Within a few months, learning from the photographers whom he victimized, he was shooting well enough to convince people that he was legitimate. He started booking shoots and making money through misrepresentation and bait and switch. It was working for him, and because none of the victims bothered to address his unethical and unprofessional conduct, he was getting away with it.
He ripped me off again, too, determined to scam me as much as he could. He resorted to plagiarism. He went in my web sites, and stole whatever he could. During a routine search engine check, I noticed a composite card company set up in Tampa between him and a Chicago photographer. The web site had my composite card sales pitch and information on it, and it had been stolen from my web site! From what I found out, he stole the composite card ideas off of my site, and then used it to bait the Chicago photographer into working with him. After leeching off of the Chicago photographer, he then used him up and moved onto other victims.
Oh, and does it get better.
In 2004, I began to debate with one of his studio photographers on a modeling message board (keep in mind that, by then, all of the original photographers in the "association", who I knew, were no longer there; they had been ripped off, and had left. New victims, photographers whom I did not know, took their place. Andy was the only one who was left working there). I took the photographer to task that he was who he associated with. The scam photographer then told all the photographers horrible lies about me (I’m not sure what exactly, but I’m sure that he claimed that I was a scam photographer, that I had ripped him off, and that he kicked me out of the association; all lies, of course, but none of those photographers knew that, and believed what they wanted to!). What happened next was annoying. He and the photographers ganged up on me.
At this point, my friend Andy was working in that studio, and was fed up with all of the crap. I suggested to Andy that he leave the studio, because I was going to give these people a taste of their own medicine. I was about to question their credibility, their association, and what they did in a very public way.
Andy left, and I got to work. To make a long story short, Independent Modeling got involved. I slammed the photography association, the studio, and the photographer. It got nasty, and the fight raged on for many months. I’m guessing that his photographer minions finally figured things out, because they began to distance themselves from him, although we were still fighting. It almost became a legal matter, too. The photographers were planning on suing me for libel, supposedly wrote by me and aimed at them on Independent Modeling.
In October 2004, when Tampa Bay Modeling launched, it had a mostly-experimental message board. The photographers immediately began a harassment campaign on the message board of the new modeling site, and that’s when I learned of the legal threat. That’s when I decided to end the fight between me and the photographers in that studio. It really wasn’t because they were threatening to sue me, as I believe that would have been a big waste of time and money for all parties, but because I didn’t want to give the con-artist photographer the satisfaction of knowing that he got all of us fighting. So, I called up the smartest photographer, we talked, and I met with two of them at lunch with one of my people. Our fight ended, and you know what? They weren’t bad guys. The one which I contacted actually turned out to be a cool guy, and the other one (the one who I had started fighting with on the message board), who still does not like me, was a bit of an asshole, but he was alright, too (I did have the pleasure of hearing him rant about how I offended thousands of people, etc, which amused me). This, of course, made me feel really bad. The fighting went too far, and I felt bad that the con artist photographer instigated a feud with photographers who I shouldn’t have been fighting with to begin with.
So ended the first Tampa photography war of 2004. We ended it over lunch.
Oh, and the con artist photographer continued on. He made contacts, and continued to learn from others. He faked it until he made it. Today, he actually does good work as a photographer, and makes a lot of money doing it, but his success did not come at my expense. He didn’t take any business from me, and still cannot do so.
Eventually, I’ll get around to going after his clients. I’ll take business away from him, and, if I don’t put him out of business altogether, I’ll at least put a dent in his cash flow.
The story isn’t over, either. There’s more to tell, and I’ll tell it soon.
In the end, however, I don’t hate Tampa photographers. If you are a professional photographer, we can get along, even if we are competitors. I’m all for that, and you should be, too.

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UPDATED 07/22/11

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04/20/11 - New Mosaic Class site is days away. Adjusted links on site; links to Eos MediaArts and other abandoned domain names were removed, as sites have moved.

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Refreshed 08/13/08 - Refreshed 07/03/10 (Colors updated to grey, from yellow)

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The views and the opinions shared on this blog are those of the author and are not neccessarily those of Aurora PhotoArts Tampa photography and design or any other party. Presented as-is, with no guarantees expressed or implied. Informational use only. Tampa photographer Chris Passinault is not legally liable for the content on this web site blog, and use of any content waives him from liability. Anyone using the content on this site or attempting anything described on this site assumes all legal and civil liability. Please be familiar with with your local laws before using this site. Information on the Tampa Photography Blog is not to be taken as legal advice or advice which may be covered under any licensed or regulated profession. Opinions expressed on this web site are those of the individual contributor and may not be shared by other contributors, models, photographers, or businesses who may be involved with this web site or our online community.