TAMPA PHOTOGRAPHER BLOG

Tampa Photographer Blog - The photography adventures and photography session anecdotes of top Tampa photographer Chris Passinault.

Related Blogs by Chris Passinault:

TAMPA DESIGNER BLOG - TAMPA PHOTOGRAPHY BLOG - TAMPA PHOTOGRAPHER BLOG - TAMPA DJ BLOG - TAMPA FILM BLOG - PASSINAULT BLOG - FRONTIER POP

Words and pictures by Tampa photographer Chris Passinault, lead photographer for Aurora PhotoArts Tampa photography and design

Aurora PhotoArts Tampa Photography and Design - Headshots - Model Testing - Modeling Photography - Modeling Portfolios - Swimsuit Photography - Composite Cards - Model Search - Portrait Photography - Fashion Photography - Commercial Photography - Wedding Photography - Photography Blog - Photographer Blog - Designer Blog - Photography Society

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Saturday, February 26, 2011 - 8:00 PM - Tampa Photographer Log for Photographer Chris Passinault

Last Post On Old Tampa Photographer Blog. Content Review Complete. New Site Is Imminent.

Although a mistake on February 23 restored all of the content to both the Tampa Photographer Blog and the Tampa Photography Blog, what is up now is not a mistake. I’ve reviewed all of the content on the Tampa Photographer Blog, and I can now remove that silly disclaimer. It turns out, though, that the disclaimer was never actually needed, as the site content was fine. In the end, I only had to remove three posts from late 2008 where I was ranting and venting, and that was done just because those posts were not necessary in hindsight (I expect some of the posts on the Tampa Photography Blog to be a bit more controversial, and I’m reviewing that now).
It took me nine hours to read and edit all of the content on the Tampa Photographer Blog alone. I could not believe the amount of all of the content on here; all of the hours of constant reading, and tweaking the content, was an exhausting experience. Someone asked me why I had to go through all of the content with a fine-toothed comb, and why I didn’t just skim over it and organize it for the new site, instead. Well, it’s true that the content HAS to be organized (and reformatted) for the new site, but it’s also true that I had to take out the time to read over all of the content before leaving it up. My attorney wanted me, too, as well. I have to know what’s on here. I also used the opportunity to adjust the content here and there, fix some typos, and add a little more where it was needed.
I’m glad that I took out the time to read it, too. There is some funny stuff on this blog, as well as some really interesting things. I’m certainly not boring. Although some of the content IS controversial, it’s a truth in opinion, born from experience and frustration, that must be told. One post, in particular, was a really good read, and it was the post which asked if I really hated Tampa photographers. I read that, and reflected, and realized that, yes, I really have been through a lot in the last decade. I’ve had some run-ins with some of the worst in the business, and have triumphed every time.
As I enter my next decade in business as a professional Tampa photographer, I really have to look at where I’ve been. I certainly know where I am going.
I do realize that some of the things which I wrote about over two years ago still have not been done. Well, note that, earlier in this blog, I also said that, with me, it was never a question of “if”, but rather than “when”. Well, that “when” is now. I’m finally putting together my new photography marketing and resource sites, and the next four weeks will see a lot of changes. I know that it took me a while, but it’s being done now (and, for those time lines that I posted in the past, adjust them by one to two years to correct for my slow work). It will be worth the wait.
Work on the new Venus 3 photography and design marketing web sites began in earnest last week. The design and layout of the new marketing site is now complete, and I’m now going over content (the content on these blogs taking up over two days of my time). You should see the first of these new sites launch in the next week. The first five will be for the main Aurora PhotoArts Tampa Photography and Design, the new Tampa Looks marketing and support directory site, the ultra-brand new Tampa Composite Cards web site (this, like Tampa Looks, HAS to be up and running before the others, as they all link to it, and both of them did not have a single sentence of content), Tampa Photography Blog, and this Tampa Photographer Blog (Tampa Looks and Tampa Composite Cards will launch first, Aurora third, and the blogs fourth and fifth). These sites have to be first, either because they did not have content, or, like the blogs, the hundreds of pages of content will serve to supercharge the SEO of the other sites. The main Aurora PhotoArts site, found at TampaPhotographyDesign.Com, is a no-brainer, too, because it is the main marketing site, and three of the marketing sites use that site as an online portfolio, so it has to be up before the others. The first 11 Venus 3 marketing sites, all due online by the end of March 2011, are as follows:

01. Tampa Photography Design (Main business site. Although third scheduled to launch, this is the first Venus 3 site, and has to be completed first. The first three Venus 3 sites will launch on the same day; to most visitors, they will all be up at the same time.)

02. Tampa Looks (Services directory and marketing site. First scheduled to launch.)

03. Tampa Composite Cards (Modeling composite cards. Lead-in to photography and portfolio services. Second scheduled to launch.)

04. Tampa Photographer Blog (67 pages of current content, to be archived at launch. Photographer opinion and photography session anecdotes.)

05. Tampa Photography Blog (85 pages of current content, to be archived at launch. Photography opinion and photography industry posts.)

06. Tampa Model Testing (Espy model testing program.)

07. Tampa Modeling Portfolios (Main modeling portfolio and career tools marketing.)

08. Tampa Modeling Photography (Modeling photography marketing.)

09. Tampa Model Search (Modeling resource for new models, and lead-in for testing and other modeling services.)

10. Tampa Headshots (Talent and executive headshot photography marketing site for our most popular services. This site will have a LOT of additions in 2011.)

11. Tampa Photography Society (Tampa’s prime photography association for professional photographers. This site is also a bridge between the main Aurora PhotoArts site and the Tampa Bay Photographers photography career resource site.)

Sites 1-5 will be in the first wave of launches, and will be online in the next week. Sites 6-11 should be online in the next month, with Tampa Looks being the first of those, and the Tampa Photography Society site being last. An additional 5 web sites will be online this spring, with a network of 16 Venus 3 marketing and support sites up to full speed by summer. By fall, their dominance should be indisputable. By 2012, things will get even better, as I will be launching a second photography company.
Now, regarding the new Venus 3 Venus Class marketing sites, the design work has not been easy. At first, I had wanted to use a frame-like content area on the layout, like in the old sites, as it would lock in an array of photos for people to look at. Well, it did not work, as the new sites had to be centered, and the old sites were left-aligned. With the new sites centered, the position of the new sites in various computer monitors was no longer absolute, and with the content layer being locked to fixed coordinates, the “background” web site shifted while the content stayed in the same place. This was something that I could not get around, and I certainly did not want to have the new sites left-aligned on screens.
So, I kept the locked layout as a header, and put the content below. It works, and in many ways, this is even better than the old Venus Class sites were. With the new sites, just scroll down to read the content on any page. More importantly, it’s 100% compatible with the blogs, too, unlike the original X-View Venus 3 site design.
So, the Venus 3 is now one format. No more X-View, which is now DOA.
You probably noticed that roughly half of these sites are geared to the modeling portfolio photography and comp card market. This is because the modeling portfolio business is going to continue to become a big part of my work as a photographer and as a designer, and we should control at least 90% of the Tampa modeling portfolio market in the next year. I also need a lot of models for a variety of different projects (such as the Model Dominion), and this is how we will obtain them. Modeling photography has been, and will continue to be, a very important specialized market in my career. I have enough invested in my modeling industry work, too, as I currently own the two top modeling resource sites in the world, and two more are about to join the armada. I also have a book deal for a revolutionary modeling book.
Any model who wants to have an advantage in their modeling career in the Tampa Bay market will have to go through me.
There are two photography marketing sites which are not on the list above. Tampa Boudoir Photography and Tampa Glamour Photography are NOT scheduled to be upgraded to Venus 3 sites, currently. Tampa Boudoir Photography, as a matter of fact, would be the last remaining active Huey Class site in our fleet. This could change in days, however, as Tampa Boudoir Photography will be used by another photographer shortly, and this might also be the case with Tampa Glamour Photography. These sites would serve as marketing sites for that other photographer until I have a portfolio to support these services, and this would be at least another year. Additionally, I am resistant to giving these sites a design which looks anything like the sites which Aurora PhotoArts will be using, as I wish to separate these markets. This means that, when I do end up servicing these high risk markets, that I will be doing so with a separate photography company operating under an entirely new brand. This means that I have to pay out money for an additional business license, fictitious name filing, and other hassles, but it’s worth it. I’ve stressed for years on how professional photographers need to segment their markets (just like models need to), and this makes perfect business sense. I also MUST take these markets, too, because I have to provide a professional, ethical alternative to what is available in the Tampa photography market now. In my opinion, most of the photographers doing glamour and boudoir photography now are like children waving around a loaded gun; new photographers who do not comprehend the risks of the work that they do, and who do not respect the art, and the power, of photography. In my opinion, they hurt people. Also in my opinion, some of these so-called photographers are guys with camera who are in it to make a quick buck at the expense of women, or who just want to exploit women. I get very upset whenever I see one of these guys do what they do in the name of “art”, as they are the defilers of art, in my opinion. I’m the one photographer who has the experience, and the resources, to bring integrity to those markets. I can be a major force in straightening it out, and my years of experience working with models gives me a major advantage over any other photographer working these markets.
If upgraded and relaunched as new sites, regardless if being used as online marketing platforms for my second photography company or the other photographer, both Tampa Boudoir Photography and Tampa Glamour Photography would use a new marketing web site, possibly a new Grail Class site or a cutting edge new Mosaic Class photography marketing site design.
By this summer, I will have my new photography equipment, and will be shooting a lot of glamour, boudoir, and artistic nudes to build a portfolio to support my marketing in high risk photography marketing.
Then we have the consumer market, a market which I have long neglected in my career. This market will be addressed under my Aurora PhotoArts company brand.
I’ve had wedding photographers over the years email me a lot and tell me that they are glad that I do not work in their market, as my experience working with models and talent give me an advantage when photographing people. Regarding weddings, it will make me one of the top wedding photographers.
Well, it’s going that way.
So, by this summer, even though I probably won’t have a portfolio which supports the marketing, expect the launch of at least five more marketing web sites (I’ll have my network of 16 to make up the meta marketing site a year early, to give myself a head start in those markets. Although I won’t have the portfolio to support such marketing, it doesn’t mean that I can not do that type of work). Don’t ask me what domain names that I’ll be using, because at the moment, even I don’t know; I’ll know in a few days. I’m sure that the most obvious names are already taken, anyway, because, in my opinion, what consumer photographers such as wedding photographers lack in skill, they more than make up in marketing. The consumer market is not only larger than the specialized professional talent market that I work in, but the customers are not as discerning regarding what good photography is. A professional model or actor, on the other hand, knows what good, appropriate photography work is for their career, and you have to know what you are doing in that market to make it, especially when the market is smaller, and tougher. This is another reason that wedding photographers stick to wedding photography, and are unable to book modeling portfolio photography and headshot photography shoots. It’s different, and they are not able to do it, although they dream of doing it.
That said, it is easier to go from modeling and talent photography to wedding photography than the other way around. Going from a highly specialized, high-skill, tough, smaller photography market to one which is not as specialized is not much of a stretch. The modeling photographer has the advantage in the consumer, or wedding, photography market.
Enough of that, for now.
For those photographers out there who will take a look at these new Venus 3 marketing sites, and accuse me of launching duplicate web sites under a ton of different domain names in an attempt to “spam” search engines, hold on. Yes, the sites do look the same, but this is for continuity and inter-site navigation. EACH OF THESE SITES IS A COMPLETELY NEW SITE, WITH ORIGINAL CONTENT. Other than the basic layout and format, they are not duplicates. Everything, from the meta tags, to the file names, to the web site directories, to the content itself, will be original. I don’t want to hear “duplicate sites!”, because that will not be the case. My services are segmented, and so are my sites. The search engine people who look at my sites after I’m sure that they will get complaints will also realize that the sites are individual sites with relevant content, that the sites are not search engine spam, and that they do not use black hat tactics. The sites are all legitimate! Also, NONE OF THEM are doorway sites!
It just so happens that they all connect to each other, and I’m sure that, in a few months, when some photographers are cursing me out and slamming their keyboards when they see search engine results, that they will try to “report me” for abuse. Well, whatever. Those photographers will just be mad that they don’t have the time and the money to invest in marketing resources like I do, and that it is hard for them to compete with my work as a photographer. I would like them to know, though, that what I’m about to do with my web site marketing will not be easy. All of these sites will require over 2,000 pages of unique content, and at least 1,200 pictures. Even with years of work behind me, and over a decade of professional photography work, it will take, at the earliest, at least a year to do all of this. It’s hard work, and it costs money, as well. You don’t want my Internet bills, either.
I’m sure that these photographers won’t have the resources to do what I’m doing. Most of them, in my experience, take shortcuts, anyway. I don’t do that. All of the work and time which is required of me is one reason that it took me over two years to do something about the SEO 2008 issue. Some of these photographers, who HAVE been doing black hat tactics, such as keyword spamming, on their web sites in response to my web site dominance, should be grateful that I’ve tolerated it as long as I have. The party is over, though (I expect the situation to be rectified in no more than six months from now, with the new sites being deployed in the next month, and regular updates thereafter). I hope that it was good for all of you. For me, it was rather more of an annoyance while I worked on other things.
Frankly, I deserve the search results on my work. I’ve earned it. Just keep in mind that I don’t mind the photography work of my competition to be seen, either. I’m sure that people will make the right choice when they compare the quality of the photography, as well as other criteria, including such things such as integrity, professionalism, and safety.
I only want to do photography, and to give my clients the best work that they can possibly get. Can you say the same about your photography business, and your career as a photographer? You see, I’m not all about the money. Making money should never be the goal. Making money, and being a profitable business, is a benefit of doing the best work possible, as well as running a fair, smart business. It’s about honest business, too!
I’m also a photographer who does not want to be dependent upon anyone, or anything. Dependence leads to compromise. I don’t compromise, especially when I’m in the position where I don’t have to. Instead of taking the short cuts that other photographers take, I paid my dues, and took my time, going the long way, and building something that I am proud of. It took me 17 years for me to get to where I am today, and I learn fast. Can you say the same? Do you deserve to be in the same photography market as me?
I’m sorry if some have a hard time keeping up, but you are not me. If you are professional, though, and you have your act together, I have no problem coexisting in the market with you. Some of my best friends, believe it or not, are other professional photographers.
Ahem.... At any rate, I’ve posted what I’ve been able to disclose of my plans, as well as my agenda. I will say that there is a lot more going on that most will never see; I only post here what I want other photographers to see, as I know that competitors and aspiring competitors read these blogs. If they would like more help with their photography business, well, they are in luck, as I will also be working on my photography association, the Tampa Photography Society, later this year. My photography association will become very important in 2012, for reasons that I cannot disclose here (although it’s all legal and ethical, I can assure you!). Readers of my blog only see 20% of what is going on, and I will never post trade secrets or any critical business information on my blogs. Much of my work is classified, as I have to maintain my competitive edge, and my experience is that people like to steal from me.
Well, it’s now time to read more on the Tampa Photography Blog, so I can certify that content, as well. As of now, the Tampa Photographer Blog has 67 pages of single-spaced content. The Tampa Photography Blog has 85. Once organized, the blogs will have at least 152 pages of relevant, legitimate content between them, which will serve to supercharge the other sites quite well. The time spent reading all of this content, editing it, and organizing it will be well worth it, I’m certain.
At least one other professional photographer out there agrees, too, as they launched a Tampa photography blog a year after I launched mine, with the same intent, as a result of seeing what I was doing. In their case, however, that’s fine, as they do good work, and I’m certain that they are a professional, and ethical, photographer. Emulating what I do in reaction to what I do is entirely different from the cheating and stealing that others do. Well done, competitor! As a professional photographer, I’m perfectly fine with fair, ethical competition.
At any rate, this is the last post on the old Scroll Class blog web site. The next blog post on the Tampa Photographer Blog will be on the new Venus 3 Tampa Photographer Blog site, and all of the earlier posts will be archived, and organized, under the new format (I’m even adjusting the format of the blog posts so they are more refined, and the old posts will have this new format retro-applied to them. Ah, progress!). That next post will herald in a new era for the Tampa Photographer Blog. The second post, which should help to set the tone for the new Tampa Photographer Blog, as well as define our coverage format, will be an anecdotal review of my experience at the Festivals of Speed a year ago. I’d have posted it then, but my original post, which was almost done and clocked in at over 10 pages, was lost in a computer crash. I have my notes, though, and will be posting a story about that adventure from the past soon.
I am excited, and I am looking forward to what the future holds, not just for my blogs and my web sites, but for my career as a professional photographer! New standards will be introduced to the Tampa photography market, and the industry will never be the same!

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Saturday, February 19, 2011 - 10:00 PM - Tampa Photographer Log for Photographer Chris Passinault

The Tampa Photographer Blog is offline, with all content under review.

This blog will relaunch as a new Venus 3 X-View Venus Class site in a few days, and will be interconnected with several other Aurora PhotoArts Tampa Photography and Design marketing and support web sites; the new Venus 3 sites are optimized for this interconnectivity. Components of the new Venus 3 design began the fabrication and assembly process yesterday. A prototype of the completely new site will be complete this weekend for testing. Once finalized, the new design will be mass produced and deployed sometime next week, with most of the development process already done through the six years of evaluation that was done on the original Venus Class sites. It must be noted that, although the layout of the new Venus 3 sites are based upon the original Venus Class site design, and the lessons learned from that site class applied, everything under the hood is brand new, and the general design itself is overhauled and refined; these are not old Venus Class sites at all. They may look like Venus Class sites, but they are not. The new Venus 3's are cutting-edge, front line sites with all new code and advancements, with no elements of the older sites used at all (even the meta tags will be redone, in the case of the original Aurora PhotoArts site). Eleven of these new sites will be launched over the next month, with deployment complete by April. The new Tampa Photographer Blog will be one of those new sites.
Although this blog will be completely rebooted and relaunched with a new direction emphasized, it will retain its 2008 launch legacy, officially. One of the reasons for this is some of our legacy content may be republished after it is evaluated and edited. While a good amount of our content will not be republished, some of the best content will, after it is edited and formatted for publication on our new site format and online publishing platform. The addition and publication of new content, which will be properly organized, will more than make up for this loss, and we should be back up, completely, later in 2011.
The main purpose for this blog will be for the publication of the anecdotes of Tampa photographer C. A. Passinault, who is lead photographer for his company, Aurora PhotoArts Tampa Photography and Design. Here, C. A. Passinault will publish observations and anecdotes about his adventures in his photography career. Here on the Tampa Photographer Blog, you will see exclusive behind the scenes work at one of the oldest, and best, Tampa photography and design companies, which is Aurora PhotoArts. This blog will also include coverage of the newest Tampa photography association, the Tampa Photography Society, their networking meetings, shootouts, workshops, competitions, and other events. The Tampa Photography Society is slated to launch on 2011, and will become Tampa Bay’s premier professional photography association. The Tampa Photography Society will be a 501 c (3) organization with a parliamentary organization and annual offices, with the purpose of promoting and advancing the professional photography market of the Tampa Bay area.
Please note that the opinions expressed on the Tampa Photographer Blog are those of C. A. Passinault, and are not necessarily those of Aurora PhotoArts Tampa Photography and Design, or any other party. Also note that anecdotes involving any other people will not be published without their express written permission, and approval.
This will be an entirely new era for the Tampa Photographer Blog, as will as several other blogs owned and operated by C. A. Passinault. The new Tampa Photographer Blog will be among several of the second generation of Passinault online blogs, with our experimental days now behind us. It’s time to move on, and we are moving on in an entirely new direction. As it was before, however, the rebooted Tampa Photographer Blog will tie in closely with the Tampa Photography Blog, also by C. A. Passinault.

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Tuesday, December 21, 2010 - 09:22 AM - Tampa Photographer Log for Photographer Chris Passinault

SEO 2008 Issue To Be Resolved. Venus 3 Sites About To Launch.

It’s taking a while to resolve the SEO 2008 issue. I’ve been working at it for some time this year, and I now have some good news. Although I wanted to deploy the sites in late August, it looks like this will now happen in late December (so, in the time line described in my earlier post, add the four additional months that it took. Very good!).
Actually, though, I believe that I said “in the next 12 weeks”, so I’m not that far behind. It’s just that doing good work takes time, and there is a lot of work to be done. Not only that, I am constantly working on other things, and this slows me down.
I’m about to put together and deploy nine new, state of the art Venus 3 photography and services marketing web sites for Aurora PhotoArts Tampa Photography and Design. The Venus 3 is the latest variant of my long running, effective, Venus Class site format, and not only will the new sites be upgradable to upcoming flash and databasing web site design standards, but should last for several years before being replaced by the advanced Mosaic Class photography and services marketing site design, which is now in development. I’ll be going over pictures tonight (I’d do it this morning, but I’m writing right now, and I don’t have the hard drive with all my pictures with me. I prepped that hard drive specifically for this project a few weeks ago, and it took over 24 hours for all of the files to transfer), and tomorrow, and will be finalizing the format and the graphics / picture sets on Thursday. Christmas eve, I will be actually putting together the completed sites, and they will all be deployed in the next week. Christmas day, I will be working on service agreements and marketing material. There is no holiday for me this year!
Regarding content, most of the existing sites already have enough content (especially this one), but I will have to create more content for the newer sites (although all of the ranting on the Tampa Headshots site, which is aimed at a competitor, will have to be replaced, for sure). The Tampa Photography Blog, and this Tampa Photographer Blog, will be converted to the an “X-View” version of the Venus 3, optimized for content, and all of the content will also be organized. These blogs have more than enough content to offset the lack of content on the other sites, and they will pick up the slack quite effectively until I add more content to the other sites. I’m estimating that about 80 to 100 pages of content will have to be added to each marketing site to be as effective as possible, and at nine sites, that’s about 900 pages of content. This will take a few months to write. My main Aurora PhotoArts photography and design services marketing web site, the only current Venus Class site (presently an outdated Venus 2, and soon to be replaced with a full Venus 3. The main Aurora PhotoArts Venus 3 site will be the most comprehensive of the group, too, and will also be the only one with multiple “cores”; I believe that the site has 4 SEO CSS cores, and the others will only have 1. With the original Venus Class marketing site, and the current outdated Venus 2, that main Aurora PhotoArts marketing site only used a single core, and the new one will use all 4), will have between 200 to 300 pages of content by spring 2011, bringing the total amount of content on all of the Aurora PhotoArts sites to about 1,200 pages by then. With the addition of at least three brand new Venus 3 marketing sites during 2011, expect that content count to go to 1,600 pages in the next year.
With the current count around 400 pages (and most of that not even close to being organized properly, which limits its effectiveness), you can guess that all of this work will more than resolve the SEO 2008 issue.
I have no problem revealing this now because no photographer is going to write that much, and no photographer can write like I can. If you wish to try to counter this, good luck. My guess is that photographers who try to compete with my online marketing will resort to paying for ads, instead, and I wish them luck there, too.
Oh, and I am annoyed by photographers who try to spam search engines (what I am doing is different, as I do not spam. I write relevant content, content which is easy to read, too, so it is very different), as well as photographers who are plagiarizing content from my modeling and talent resource sites on their photography sites; photographers who are trying to use my own work to compete with me with. That’s going to stop, especially after I bring it to everyone’s attention, and their target market see’s them for the unethical thieves that they are. If they rip me off, they will rip you off, too. There are also legal avenues that I am exploring at this time.
Sometimes, I miss the simple days, where I could just pick up a camera and shoot models all day. No hassle, no other photographers on my radar. Those were simpler times. These days, however, I am on the radar of every photographer, and some of them want to be me at any price. Good luck there. You can just look at my web sites and get mad, for all I care. I don’t care. I invested years of time and a lot of hard work paying my dues and getting to where I am. Did you? I deserve my market share, as far as I am concerned. It’s dominant.
The arms race in the photography services market that my associates and I predicted years ago is about to happen. I’ll kick it off, and will lead. Others will react, and try to keep up. The vicious cycle of measure/ counter measure begins, and good luck keeping up.
Oh, and regarding the blog updates, and the lack of recent ones, it’s because we have plenty of content at the moment, and I was preparing the new site format so that the current content could be organized properly. Once the blogs are organized, expect updates to resume, although they will be, at most, 50% less frequent than in the past. Why? Because a lot of that extra writing will be going to content on the other sites.
The nine Venus 3 marketing sites should be up and running in the next week or so. Those sites are as follows:

1. Aurora PhotoArts Tampa Photography and Design (TampaPhotographyDesign.Com.)
2. Tampa Headshots (Tampa-Headshots.Com.)
3. Tampa Model Testing
4. Tampa Modeling Photography
5. Tampa Modeling Portfolios
6. Tampa Model Search
7. Tampa Photography Blog (X-View Venus 3 variant, optimized for content.)
8. Tampa Photographer Blog (X-View Venus 3 variant, optimized for content.)
9. Tampa Photography Society (X-View Venus 3 variant, optimized for content.)

These nine marketing sites should be up to full capability by spring 2011, which will pave the way for the following:

Tampa Looks, which is a marketing lead-in for my main Aurora PhotoArts site, will be launched as a full Venus 3 marketing site, and will serve as a large directory for all of the Aurora PhotoArts marketing sites.
Tampa Glamour Photography and Tampa Boudoir Photography will be reformatted as Venus 3 (tentative; see below) marketing sites and launched in 2011, as soon as I have a portfolio to support those sites, and those markets.
For the glamour, boudoir, nude, and other high risk markets, I will be launching a brand new photography company brand (Sigh... A new fictitious name filing and business license, too, which is a hassle) specifically for these markets, and specifically for photography services. These markets will not be marketed under the Aurora PhotoArts brand, although supporting technologies and other resources will be shared. I am considering deploying the state of the art, next generation Mosaic Class photography services marketing web sites for this new photography company to test the new web site technologies, as well as make sure that the sites don’t look the same (all of my Venus 3 Aurora PhotoArts sites will use the same Aurora PhotoArts branding). All of the Venus Class Venus 3 sites will share the same “look”.
The Mosaic Class sites will be the most advanced photography marketing sites ever conceived, even out performing the Venus Class sites (although the large amount of content, and different markets being served, on the network of Aurora PhotoArts sites will more than compensate for any differences in performance between the current generation and the next generation of web sites). The upcoming Mosaic Class marketing sites will utilize Flash graphics, a high degree of interactivity, and be will built using PHP; they will even include features such as animation, video, animated interactive menus, and music (the Mosaic Class sites will have three different modes built in, too; a default mode, a “full presentation mode” with music and intro videos, and a backup HTML mode for content integrity). Late current generation sites such as the Venus 3, it should be noted, are designed to be upgraded to the next generation, so these sites will be current for years to come. The Super Raptor sites used by the Tampa Bay Film sites are another example of the first of the late current generation, having been deployed last year, and those sites are also upgradable.
I have plans to build, and launch, at least three more Venus 3 photography marketing sites in 2011, and that number could go up to as much as seven. That means that a year from now, in 2012, there could be a massive network of sixteen Aurora PhotoArts marketing sites, and another three marketing sites for the other photography company. That’s nineteen sites covering every facet of the Tampa photography services market, which includes wedding photography, portrait photography, and whatever other types of photography that I wish to move into.
The new Venus 3 sites will become one of the most numerous marketing sites in my arsenal, and should remain front-line photography marketing web sites until at least 2016, if not later, even long after the Mosaic Class web sites are deployed, and perhaps even after the successor of the Mosiac Class sites are done (with the next generation upgrades which will be coming). This is not bad at all, considering that the original Venus Class site was deployed on September 16, 2005, over five years ago! Of course, although the Venus 3 site design and layout looks a lot like the original, the sites are completely new from the ground up, and layout aside, are treated as entirely new sites (I will do a history of the Venus Class sites soon, as the new sites are a lot different, under the hood, compared to the original and the Venus 2. I promise!).
All of these marketing web sites, of course, does not include all of the supporting sites, such as Tampa Bay Modeling, Tampa Bay Acting, Independent Modeling, and dozens of other sites that I own. I market my services on my sites, as well as offer those services directly on most of them. Did I mention that all of these sites are popular, and they are the tops in their industries? I’d list them here, but I don’t want to make this post too long, and most of the competing photographers who read the Tampa Photographer Blog are already aware of what those sites are (which explains why they are concerned, and why they pay attention to everything that I write).
Good luck competing. Hope that the competition either has a lot of money to pay a team to work on their marketing, or years of time to work on it. Obviously, that’s not cost-effective for them to do. Likewise, all of the years that I spent working on support infrastructure no longer seems like a waste of time. It was a wise investment, and it’s about to pay off in many ways.

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Wednesday, August 4, 2010 - 8:30 AM - Tampa Photographer Log for Photographer Chris Passinault

It Begins

I’ve been aware of the SEO 2008 issue for two years now. I began working, aggressively, to rectify it a year ago. A few more weeks, and it will be addressed.
The sleeping giant is now awake, and he’s not too happy. Time to clean house. It’s time to put a lot of time, and a lot of work into this. It’s time to get aggressive, and to put some poseurs in their proper place.
It’s obvious that the perception of what I am doing is creating quite a reaction. There are, at least, four or five photographers attempting to move in on my primary photography market here in the Tampa Bay area, modeling and talent photography, and who are using some ideas which were learned from not only my photography sites, but from my modeling and talent resource sites. I guess that they thought that there was a strong market there from what I was doing, and now they are trying to copy me. Well, whatever. Good luck. People want the original, and the source, which is me, and not some third-rate counterfeits who had to learn from me, and who do not entirely comprehend the ideas that they took from me. As a result, the knock-offs don’t know how to use what they took, and are ineffective.
Also, modeling and talent photography being a “strong” market is primarily a perception. It’s a much smaller market than the consumer photography markets, and much more specialized. You can’t do into it and fake knowing it. You have to really know it. Models, talent, and actors know what good photography is, they know what types of photographs are effective for their careers, and they know exactly what they need. They know that I’m the real deal (the two Susan’s know what they are doing, too; they are also the real deal, and professional models and talent know that). I suppose that the photographers who WANT to shoot models and talent will find that out the hard way, and they will get discouraged when models and actors don’t book the crap that they are trying to sell. You can’t fake it. Most photographers are not able to work this market. Just because you try does not mean that you will do it. It took years for me, and for other legitimate talent photographers, to learn how to do what we do. I took a lot of hard work, and it’s not easy. It’s obvious that the pretenders are way out of their league.
I can see it now. The photographers look at me, and they say “Well, he’s doing it, so I can, too”. Well, you can believe what you want to. What I do is not easy, and you have to know what in the hell you are doing. It takes years to get to where I am, regardless of how good you are as a photographer.
I suppose that, even if they were able to emulate appropriate photography by copying those of us who are real, that the pretenders would be exposed when the models and talent talk to them. The professionals will then know that they don’t know what they are doing. How do I know this? Because it has already happened! On Monday, an actor told me that they had contacted a so-called headshot photographer who was a mere portrait photographer who was trying to do headshots, and the actor decided to pass them up after they realized that the photographer had no idea what they were doing, and that they were simply trying to cash in on headshots.
I’m especially dismayed, though, to see that many of these pretenders are trying to copy me! It’s pathetic!
I suppose that I should be used to being ripped off by now, as I have lost count how many times that I have caught so-called “professional” photographers stealing from me, but this is a violation which no one gets used to. It’s wrong, and I’m no longer playing around. It’s time to go into business for real, and for keeps, and to take the market. I’ll be damned if some hack photographers use my ideas to sell substandard services and take advantage of people. I’m going to maintain leadership of this market, and keep them in check.
Eight new Venus 3 Venus Class photography marketing web sites, the latest version of my proven Venus Class marketing sites, will be deployed in the next three weeks. These sites are front-line marketing sites, and have all of the latest SEO technology. The Venus 3 is my most advanced photography and design services marketing web site, joining other recent, advanced SEO emphasized sites such as the Super Raptor Class (late 2009, eight Tampa Bay Film Super Raptor Class sites now online) and the Pioneer Class (July 2010, one Pioneer Class site now being used for Frontier Pop, and two more will soon be rolled out for Advanced Model and Frontier Society) sites.
This issue will be resolved by September, by October everyone will notice results, and by the end of the year, total SEO domination of the Tampa photography and design services market will be achieved.
You know, up until now, I have merely been experimenting and testing the market with my concepts. I’ve been sitting on a ton of proven tools and other concepts since 2003, and was reluctant to use them because I knew that they would start a market war, and an arms race of sorts.
Well, whatever. It begins, now, first online, and then in the market itself. The Tampa photography and design services market will be forever changed, and transformed, by what I do now. It’s now time for a full operational roll out of Aurora PhotoArts as a full-scale business, and it’s time to finally start making some money. The days of experimentation, and testing, are over.
I no longer have the luxury of sitting back and wasting time.

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Friday, June 18, 2010 - 8:00 AM - Tampa Photographer Log for Photographer Chris Passinault

Lost Blog Post And Archiving Photography Files

Sigh. It seems that a computer crash last week has caused me (I've just now restored all of the software on my computer and loaded the files which were backed up) to lose the almost-finished blog post for my adventure at the Festivals Of Speed in Saint Petersburg; I have not been able to locate it on the backup drive. Since that was back in April, some of the details are no longer that fresh to me.... I wouldn't be able to replicate some of the details of the original file. If I don't find a backup file, I may not publish it at all. Lesson learned: Write up anecdotes as soon as they happen, so the details are fresh, and back up everything as you do them.
This said, I DO back up all of the pictures from the shoots that I do, as I do them, because contracts are involved. That's serious business. As a matter of fact, I will be working on a main backup drive just for my pictures soon. I will be using a 500 Gig hard drive, and will be going through all of my old CD-R copies and hard drive directories, putting together the most comprehensive backup of the past ten years of work possible. Once done (and my portfolios are finally updated), I'll be filing away the work from the past in archive, and will be focusing on new work. This means that any client that I've had since this all began can obtain copies of their session if needed, and also means that I can clear space on my working computers.
I'll be doing a lot of photography work this year, primarily in swimsuit modeling, bikini modeling, and modeling portfolio photography. New camera, lighting, and other tools are on the way, too, which means, by next year, I'll have the capability to routinely shoot at my current skill level, which will give me endless possibilities in art direction. My photography will go from great to incredible, and I'll be on the level of some of the best photographers in the world (trust me on this. My level of experience, creativity, and skill far exceed what you can see in my portfolio now; the limiting factor is that I do not have all of the tools that I need). By 2011, I will be making serious headway into other photography markets, such as glamour, boudoir, artistic nudes (and, no, I will not be exploiting models in any way. I can now do such work without it being easily taken out of context. I've spent years studying the issues so I could do such work with minimal risk to both myself and the client, and anyone wanting to do such work will be educated as far as the risks, especially to modeling careers, portraits, weddings, commercial photography, and much more. I especially want to address the Tampa wedding photography market, which is quite cluttered right now; I should be able to take it.
This said, modeling and talent photography will continue to be my primary focus, and my speciality. I have way too much invested in the modeling and talent industry to shift away from that market. Sure, it is limited, and, of course, it’s tough, but I’ve done better in that market than any Florida photographer that I’ve been aware of. With the Independent Talent movement now going into high gear, it’s going to be very lucrative. I will be known for my photography work with models, actors, and talent, and will become the dominant Florida photographer in that industry. Oh, and I will also do this would being affiliated with, or working with, any modeling and talent agencies. Of course, I’ve already accomplished this in the Tampa bay market. Freebie modeling photographers, workshops, other professional photographers, and associations have not been able to compete with me. I’ve been the dominant modeling and talent photographer in the Tampa Bay market since 2002, and everyone knows it (also, photography work alone doesn’t cut it. I’m talking entire package. My work is excellent, and I own the top modeling and talent resources in the country- if not the world; I check all of the time, and I’m really the only one doing what I do at the present time, which surprises me because all of my tools and concepts are superior to anything out there. Additionally, my marketing is unmatched; no one can beat me in web site marketing, and those template flash sites really can’t stand up to the might of my Internet presence. Really, regardless of how good a photographer you are, if no one sees your work, and my work is seen more than anything else, are you really in business, and, are you really competition for me? If your target market cannot see you, you're not in business. Consider this when you evaluate my claim).
Oh, yes, and another thing. Both of my photography blogs (this one, and the Tampa Photography Blog) are about to be upgraded to a full Venus Class marketing web site for compatibility with the main Aurora PhotoArts marketing web site and the other specialized photography services web sites. You’ll know it when you see it!

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Saturday, June 5, 2010 - 11:00 AM - Tampa Photographer Log for Photographer Chris Passinault

Working On The Primary Aurora PhotoArts Site, And Summer Plans

Well, now. I have a lot of great things going on with my primary Aurora PhotoArts Tampa Photography and Design marketing web site, which is a proven Venus Class services marketing site, but it has issues. The online portfolio still has placeholder templates, with no content. Some of the menu options are clunky. There seems to be a little keyword cramming here and there. Oh, and the thumbnail arrays need an overhaul (I'm working on that now). Also, a couple pictures have issues. That swimsuit picture of model Harmony Oswald looks a little too orange (this can be easily fixed, but it looks like she stole a bite from one of the candies at the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory, and paid the price for it). The site is also a little clunky, and even unfinished, in spots. Also, three of the four CSS site marketing cores are offline, as is the main portfolio core section.This has pretty much crippled the site from operating at its full potential the past few years, and enabled unethical photographers who spam search engines to get a foothold in 2008 (not that this stops people from choosing me over them.).
Besides all that, the site has been doing well in the search engines, but nowhere near as well as it should be. I won't go into, though, the old file directories and the almost-duplicate site which exists under Passinault.Com, relics from the past which make the site far less efficient than it should be. The site has problems, but, ultimately, it is an unpolished gem, a site which has not had the chance to really sing.
My work is cut out for me. One aspect of the overhaul and upgrades that are currently being done on the site are the graphics- especially the thumbnail arrays. This work is critical because much of the new graphics (or, at least, the format) will be shared on the armada of additional Venus Class sites that have been ordered for specific Aurora PhotoArts marketing sites. All of these sites will interlink with each other by the end of summer. The sites include Tampa Modeling Photography, Tampa Modeling Portfolios, Tampa Model Testing, Tampa Model Search, Tampa Headshots, the Tampa Photography Blog, and the Tampa Photographer Blog. That's seven, and counting the main site, it will make up an integrated network of eight photography marketing sites, which equals the amount of work that went into the Tampa Bay Film site network (keep in mind that there will be a ninth Venus Class site, which will be for my advertising agency, Eos MediaArts. This will mostly interlink with the main Aurora PhotoArts marketing site). That's just the beginning, though, as all of the sites will have a ton of content, and regular updates. All eight Aurora PhotoArts sites will make one huge meta marketing site, with distinctly segmented individual sites (the Tampa Bay Film sites are less segmented, going so far as to add a second main menu allowing easy navigation between the Tampa Bay Film sites). Also, since these are Venus Class sites, and not Super Raptor Class sites, there will not be a dedicated main menu allowing easy navigation between the sites, enforcing the segmenting more. For example, my blogs are opinionated, and not that appropriate for marketing services. While I want people who find the blogs to easily get onto the marketing sites, I would not want people who found the marketing sites, and who were already on them, accidentally wandering into the blogs if they were not intentionally seeking them out (rule of any business transaction: never volunteer information, especially if can talk the client out of the deal). The blogs are somewhat of a marketing minefield, but necessary for their intended purpose. This said, they are poorly suited for marketing much of anything because of their controversial content (He- he thinks that I am an idiot?!?!? Who does he think he is?! I'll show him! I'll stop reading, right now, and won't try to understand the point that he is making, or where he is coming from, and I'll just find another photographer, then. Yeah, I'll vote with my feet, and find a better deal!). Potentially offending, and pissing off, prospective clients is not smart business- although there have been no indications that being openly opinionated has hurt business. On the contrary, I've had a lot of people book my services because they read my blogs and know, because I tell it how it is, and share my opinions, that I have integrity, and that I am a professional. This said, why push it? It can be said that there are pros, and cons, to anything that you do. Not all people are as smart as those clients, and some may not comprehend what I'm trying to convey, selling themselves short by getting pissed off and leaving to find another photographer (and, good luck finding a photographer who can do what I can do, or offer anything that can top what I offer; I'm really good at using search engines and checking out the competition, and if I can't find a photographer who is a better deal, then you can't, either. I know the landscape of the market well, and I know exactly where I am at within that landscape; I know where I stand, especially when compared to other photographers. This is one of the reasons I can negotiate from a position of strength. I'm a lot more than just a photographer, too, although, as a photographer, I'm one of the best). I need to save people from themselves. If they are already here, fine, but I'm not going to make it easy by volunteering controversial content to people who we are trying to market services to. These blogs aren't really for the clients, anyway, but rather to address the photography services industry as a whole. I also do not want to give my clients the impression that they have to get involved in my fights, because that is not the case; if they want to help, that's fine, but they are not obligated to. Hell, effective immediately, my clients are no longer obligated to have my company branding on their career tools (terms and limits apply). And, yes, this is how I get to have my cake, and eat it, too. I can voice my opinions, tell it how it is, and help the professional integrity of the industry, while also effectively marketing services to clients who are looking for services. At the same time, all of the involved sites in the eight site meta site support each other. Ah, another collective of web sites is in the works.
Of those sites, you may have noticed three which are already operational; the photography blogs, and Tampa Headshots. Tampa Headshots is a Huey Class site, but it will soon be upgraded, and expanded, to a full Venus Class site (the other two Huey Class sites, Tampa Boudoir Photography, and Tampa Photography Society, are not currently scheduled to be converted, although it is conceivable that, eventually, Tampa Boudoir Photography, and Tampa Glamour Photography, would be added to the mix, as Venus Class sites interlinked with the others, when I began offering those services. That would make ten photography marketing sites, which would exceed the eight sites of Tampa Bay Film! I will not be in position to offer those type of services until early 2011 at the earliest, as they take more equipment than I currently have, and require interior studio sets. Once I have access to those resources, too, it would take time to build portfolios to support the marketing of those services. My estimate? 2012......and if I were in position to be able to offer these services in early 2011, the sites would have to be Huey Class sites, then, as my portfolios for those markets would not be large enough to support a Venus Class site, anyway). Additionally, the Tampa Photography Blog, and this Tampa Photographer Blog, will be further integrated into the main Aurora PhotoArts marketing site, sharing its Venus Class design format (For design continuity and navigation, at the very least, although the thumbnail arrays on the blogs will link back to the online portfolio, on the most relevant of the other six Aurora PhotoArts marketing sites).
I have more photography endeavors, too. Weddings, artistic nudes, consumer portraits.... these are markets that need to be addressed, as well. I have also been tinkering with a swimsuit modeling / photography concept for the past six years, and I have all of the details pretty much worked out. I just have to make sure that it does not, in any way, exploit the models. The concept has to be tasteful, and professionally viable. Additionally, there are some markets that I would never get into. Sports photography is one of them, because I do not know much about sports, and don't like sports (I have a photographer, though, who does this quite well, and I will be helping him take that market). Adult work and fetish modeling is another market which I consider to outside the scope of what I do. I will not do sleazy, tacky, or exploitive work for any price! I do not consider glamour, boudoir, and artistic nudes to be in those markets. Primarily, the main reason that I want to offer boudoir, glamour, and artistic nude photography services is to provide an ethical, professional alternative to the garbage that is littering the Tampa photography industry now. Those are high risk markets which only professionals should do. In modeling, models who do this work find that they limit their careers, so you can bet that I will be educating them on the risks well before they book such services from me. I care about professionals, and want everyone, especially models, to have effective, successful careers.
Wow. In all my years as a professional photographer, I have never shot an artistic nude; I've never felt comfortable doing high risk work which have the potential to limit the careers of my clients. I've figured out how to do this, however, with minimal risk to the model, and in a truly tasteful manner which cannot be easily taken out of context (I also stress that models who do nude work strictly control who sees the work in their portfolio, and that they keep it off of web sites; kind of like actors who do not list some of their jobs on their resumes because of potential conflicts. The model can make that part of their portfolio available for review, upon request, but only to relevant professionals who they screen, first. I see a lot of foolish models with nudes all over the Internet, and it really does limit the type of modeling work that they can do. The riskier the work, the more that it should be regulated and controlled). If the model understands that such work can limit their modeling career, they want to specialize in that type of modeling, and they want such services, I'm willing. With my experience shooting models, however, expect my work in this field to be excellent, and I will become the best, from the start, with these services in the Tampa photography market.

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Friday, June 4, 2010 - 8:02 AM - Tampa Photographer Log for Photographer Chris Passinault

Once Upon A Time, My Claims Were Proven.

Gather around boys and girls. It’s time for a story. That’s right, don’t crowd.... you, too, Tampa photographers who like to read everything that I write. This story is especially for you. I am sure that it will fill with happiness and joy. I want you to be happy and joyful, too! I care!
It’s a true story, also, and it happened in the last few days.
Once upon a time, a Tampa professional wanted pictures from a professional photographer in the Tampa Bay area. This person looked on search engines, and called a lot of different photographers; just about everyone, from what I learned. In fact, they had already booked a shoot with a studio photographer when I got back to them.
At first, they were skeptical. I was a location photographer? I usually didn’t shoot in a studio? Which photographer was I, again? Could I send them links to some of my work?
Well, I certainly did email them links to three of my photography marketing and talent resource sites (the talent resource sites with pictures that were all my work). I smiled. I expected a call back the following day.
The next day, I received an email back. They told me that they had left a voice mail on my client services line, and that they wanted to set up a shoot. So, I called them back, and left a voice mail on their line (I only got voice mail when I called them). An hour later, they called me back. I told them that I could accommodate them the next day. They told me that they had already set up a shoot with a studio photographer in Tampa, but after seeing my work, they were sold. They cancelled the shoot with the previous photographer, and disregarded all of the others, based on the strength of my portfolio (there were other aspects of this that make it even more hilarious, but I'll refrain from going into that). We scheduled a shoot.
We met up on location in south Tampa. I arrived first. I walked around, looked at the lighting, and figured out my angles (you see, Tampa photographers, composition tends to be very important in our work). They showed up. We filled out paperwork, and talked about the shoot.
And, with that, we did a pretty amazing photography session. It was fun, too.
Oh, and during the shoot, I crossed paths with a beautiful woman who was taking pictures with her camera. She told me that she was just starting photography, and that she was starting photography classes at USF next week. I told her that she didn’t need school to learn photography (and, might I remind everyone, I eat the graduates from the art school which runs all of those commercials - which claims to train professional photographers - for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and desert. I learned from models, and taught myself from experience, and reading a lot of good books; I’m not a fake photographer who learned the mistakes of other photographers in a year of “school”). I gave her a card, and she was impressed by the pictures on it. She promised to get back to me, as she wanted to get involved with some of my photography sessions. And, with that, I was even more happy about the day (I have no problem helping out photographers who deserve it).
Oh, and after that one minute break, I continued the shoot with my client. The pictures turned out incredible, too.
The client was so happy with the pictures, in fact, that they bought me dinner at the Colonnade (excellent dining and food, by the way), and told me that they wanted to work with me again soon. Some clients are both cool, and classy, and it makes doing business a great experience!
On the way home, I traveled over a bridge. I looked out over the choppy water, the lights of downtown Tampa shimmering on them. This, my friends, was what being a professional photographer is all about. It’s the satisfaction of doing a good job, and going away with some awesome photographs.
And now, boys and girls, you all know why some photographers hate me. Don’t hate me because I didn’t take short cuts, have the skills to actually do the work that I claim, that I invested in my career, don’t spam search engines and actually have lots of relevant content on my marketing web sites, have superior web sites, own the top modeling and talent resource sites in the country, become friends with many of my clients after the job is done, am friends with the top models and talent whom you dream of working with, and know how to do business.
And they all were happy, forever and ever and ever. The end, until tomorrow, when more of your prospective clients book me, instead of you.

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Friday, May 14, 2010 - 8:20 AM - Tampa Photographer Log for Photographer Chris Passinault

It's On.

I’ve been very busy the past month. I went to the Festivals of Speed event in Saint Petersburg in early April, covering it and taking a ton of pictures of some cool cars (and having a lot of fun doing so), but I have not had the time to complete my blog entry for that event, or do much with the pictures. While the blog post is pretty much close to done, I still have to go through the pictures and format them for this blog. I’ll get it published in another week or so.
Now, for other matters.
I’ve been doing a lot of research on the search engines lately, and have downloaded and archived every Tampa photography web site (the ones which turn up in search results for several dozen combinations of targeted search terms) on my hard drive for detailed analysis. I’ve even been going through their source code. Although primitive compared to my photography marketing sites, some of these photographers have become very aggressive about marketing their services. Most of these people are not very good at anything that they do, and they only obtain search engine placement by spamming keywords (a black hat technique which eventually catches up to you, and one which I do not do, especially since my sites have more content than any of the others). There are a few good photographers worth respecting, such as this German model-turned-photographer in Bradenton who is actually very good at photography and at putting together effective photography marketing web sites; I’ve been watching her “climb the charts”, per se, on the search engines. Oh, and guys, she’s legit, too, which is why she is worthy of respect. She’s good, and a part of me is happy that she’s one of the few professional photographers in this market who is able to work in my specialized markets. If all photographers in the Tampa Bay market were like her, there would be reason for concern. Fortunately, however, most of the photographers in the Tampa Bay market are hardly competition, on any level, although some of them have deluded themselves into thinking that they are. Really, I’m not at all concerned if people who are looking for a photographer compare my work with theirs. I only ask that my work is able to be seen on the first page of search results (and, currently, at least three or four of my photography marketing sites are on that first page, for all of the search terms, although I do have the ability to make my sites the top result for all search terms, in time).
Hey, I’m all about good competition, and even collaborative competition where warranted. These unethical photographers cluttering the search engines are going down, however (and don’t say that me owning over 50 web sites clutters up those same search engines. My web sites are relevant, they have worthwhile content, I don’t take shortcuts in anything, I work hard on my web sites, and I pay a lot of money for them. Would you like to have my Internet bills? I didn’t think so).
At this time, I have a confession to make.
As you all know, I have a lot going on all of the time. Besides photography, and I am also a professional writer, web designer, designer, marketer, event planner, stage producer, casting director, DJ, MC, CJ, indie filmmaker, director, reporter, host, audio engineer, foley artist, singer, actor, performer, and whatever else that I need to do. Because of this, it sometimes takes me a while to do anything in a particular occupation (expansion and delegation will take care of that, though). Relevant to photography, allow me to elaborate.
I turned pro in 2000. I became a licensed photography business in 2001. From 2001 to 2007, I did a lot of work in photography. In 2008, I was involved with a lot of projects, such as Tampa Bay Modeling and television interviews, and photography kind of took a back seat.
I only recently confessed to my photographers that I had not been returning a lot of the calls that I had been getting for photography services (although I did refer them a lot of the calls that I didn’t want to deal with). In 2008, I didn’t really do much to market, or book, photography. I did work as it came, and as much as I wanted to work.
I’ve been doing photography regularly, but it’s just not been a priority, as I had other projects to work on.
This said, things really became interesting in 2008 (among the interesting stories was my war on Craigslist, which I won, of course). I launched more web sites that year than at any other time in my history (although 2009 was a busy web site building and deploying year, too). During this time, I did not have a lot of time for photography, and for working on my photography marketing web sites. I did write a lot of blogs, though, and with both of my photography blogs, I received a LOT of interesting emails. With the continued domination of my photography marketing web sites for a five year period (2002 to 2007), a lot of so-called photographers (most of whom were under the impression that they could either compete with me, or that they were competing against me), accused me of taking their business away because my web sites were everywhere and highly visible. I shrugged, and some of these guys became very determined to do something about it.
So, a bunch of them created photography marketing web sites of their own. Although hardly a threat, some of these guys spammed the search engines, and by the summer of 2008, they began to annoy me.
I was doing everything legitimately, and these guys were taking short cuts. Some of them even stole content, and ideas, from my modeling resource sites in an effort to move in on my modeling and talent photography business. One photographer went so far as to steal one of my online ads, layout and all, and redo it for himself (my attorney had fun with some of these characters). What is this: people think that it is alright to rip off competition which is doing better than they are? That makes it right? Whatever.
In late 2008, I began marketing my photography services directly on my modeling and talent resource sites, which served to keep the dogs at bay. This was just a stop-gap move, however, and was not a permanent solution. Eventually, the photography marketing sites would have to be addressed. It’s just that I did not have time to do it at that time.
There was nothing wrong with my web sites, either. My photography marketing sites were the most advanced, and effective, photography marketing sites in Florida. The existing Venus Class Aurora PhotoArts marketing site was brought online in July 2007, and it is still way ahead of anything else out there. It’s only been operating at a 20% capacity, however, with only one of its four SEO cores operational, and most of the content limited and locked down to default templates, maintaining a duplicate content issue. With a couple of weeks of work, I will have all four cores operating, and at least 60 pages of new content added, which will bring the marketing site up to its full potential.
The Venus Class Aurora PhotoArts site is so good, as a matter of fact, other than some minor updates with colors, graphics, and navigation, I am going to use the site, which is now almost three years old in its current configuration, for, at least, the next three years (yes, there is another main marketing web site for Aurora PhotoArts in the works, and yes, it is much more advanced, and slick, than the existing one, utilizing flash graphics, a cool and effective layout, music, security, and some databasing features, although it is a ways off. Some of those features will, in time, be adapted for use on the current Venus Class site, however, which means that the transition from the current generation to the next one will be blurred, somewhat).
I know that my claims of SEO superiority and search engine superiority, as well as prediction of what my sites will be able to do on the search engines, may be questionable, and they would be, if there was not any proof to my claims. There is, though. In 2008, I began deploying some of my new Huey Class photography marketing web sites, which were derived from the Venus Class site (and were a simplified version). Tampa Photography Society, Tampa Headshots, and Tampa Boudoir Photography all use Huey Class sites, and they ALL are tops on the search engines in their relevant search categories. I can do SEO quite well, and I could very well be the best at it in the Tampa Bay market. It’s just that I need to take the time to actually work what I know, and late 2008 hardly presented an incentive to do much about my search woes (Although you have to work some lead time in SEO efforts, you have to balance it out. You don’t show your hand until you are ready to work it. Doing this work in 2008, with the economy the way that it was, was way too soon. By the time that business picked up a couple of years later, several unethical photographers would have copied me, for sure, if they had been able to study my hand before it was ready to be worked.).
In late 2008, our economic recession almost became the second great depression, and stopped short of a total economic collapse to become the great recession of 2008/ 2009. At that time, every business in America suffered, mine included.
With most people cut off from credit, and with reduced access to money, they simply were not buying anything, or even looking for photography services. So, although I did photography here and there, largely, in late 2008, I took a well-earned break from most of my photography work. With no one investing in much of anything, too, I was spending time doing a lot of things, and fixing my SEO issues would have to wait. After all, what’s the point of being at the top when no one is booking anything, and no one is looking for photographers? Why show your hand before you're ready to play? It's all about timing, too!
The photographers out there who blame me for taking away all of their business during late 2008 and 2009 (some of them going out of business), well, you can continue to think that. Please, think that. That’s exactly what happened! Yeah, that’s right.... all your business belonged to me.
Seriously, though, although it was the slowest time ever for me as a professional photographer, I did do a good number of photography shoots. Just not as many as I did before. I also seemed to have a dramatic increase of people wasting my time, which further inspired me not to call most people back, and to take a break. After all, bad economy or not, I was doing most of these people more of a favor working with them than they were doing for me. Think about it.
At any rate, it is 2010, now, and the economy seems to be improving. So, at this time, it’s time to turn my attention back to photography, and finally address those SEO issues from 2008. I should have everything fixed, and up to spec, by the end of this summer.
That’s just the beginning, too. It’s on. Photography, and my photography business, will now become of my main focuses for years to come.
This marketing web site SEO stuff is great, and all, but it isn’t the main deal. It’s the icing on my business cake. It’s only the tip of the iceberg, and is one of the few things that I will allow the market to see. There will be a whole lot going on that will be below the surface of what is visible, and a lot of photographers out there, in the next 24 to 36 months, well be exclaiming “How in the hell is he doing all of this?!?!”.
Wouldn’t you like to know.
Well, since, in my experience, aspiring photographers who yearn to compete with me, steal from me, I’m not at liberty to reveal my entire plan. Let’s just say that it is massive, and that I’ve been working on it for years. I don’t mind helping out other photographers, but I’m not about to give up the store to enable photographers who are in the business for the wrong reasons.
So, here, in a nutshell, from what I can reveal, is what I am going to do.

1. Bring all of my photography marketing web sites up to spec, which will solve the SEO 2008 issue in the next 12 weeks. The photography sites will be regularly updated, too.

2. Start returning all of my calls. Of course, I am also returning to preauthing my consultations, so no shopping allowed!

3. Switch my license to a more relevant license, and add “web design” to my design services criteria. My CPA will love this.

4. Completely overhaul my portfolio. Yes, I am sick and tired of prospective clients whining about “pictures from 2002". I simply have not had the chance to update my portfolio, and since it worked well, there was no reason to do so until I got around to it. Additionally, I shot those pictures all that time ago, and can do even better now (I am rather proud of my track record, too!). Deal with it.
That said, I do have some rather cool ideas for my 2010 portfolio. I can’t wait to work on it, and, yes, it is going to cost me time to design the layout and money to print all of those pictures. It’s worth it. I actually invest in my career, and this is a lesson that other professionals need to learn, too.

5. Adjust my booking terms (already done).

6. Overhaul all of my service agreements, contracts, and releases.

7. Add new service forms such as surveys, which will provide references to future clients from satisfied clients. I have always been serious about doing outstanding work.

8. Deploy my new Mark 3 client support packages.

9. Invest in new equipment and tools, so that, I too, can add more to my pictures, such as “pop” from fill flash (except that my compositions and photography will be good to begin with. I will not be using these things as gimmicks to cover up and camouflage poor composition, and other mistakes. I’m a very experienced pro, and I don’t make the mistakes that beginners make. Right, Bobby?).
Currently, my photography work is excellent, although I know where improvements need to be made, eventually, to work in other markets. I shoot using natural light, primarily on location, and need to expand my capabilities and flexibility (It’s kind of hard to shoot fashion on location with natural light). The investment in new equipment will primarily be necessary in order to give me the range in art direction that I will need in order to be competitive with some of the best photographers in the world. I’m not gearing up to compete with Tampa photographers, keep in mind; I’m gearing up to compete with the best photographers in the world, who are in major markets like New York. I have the potential to become one of the world’s best photographers in the next few years, and I’m not the only one who shares this opinion.
So, the idiots out there who rant and rave about how awesome a photographer is because they use gimmicks like fill flash to give their photographs “pop” will also be wowed by my upcoming work. The difference, however, is that the professionals will also be wowed, because I’ll be doing that work from a foundation of strong, excellent photography to begin with. I don't have to fake it.

10. Expand my photography work into other photography markets, such as wedding, boudoir, glamour, swimsuit (should be a normal part of my modeling portfolio photography work, anyway), portrait, artistic nudes, and other fields. The wedding photographers ought to love this; I know for a fact that a lot of them are afraid of me moving into their market. I shoot models and talent, and am very good at it. Do you suppose that this would give me an advantage in the less refined / defined consumer wedding photography market? Also, regarding the high risk fields of glamour, boudoir, and artistic nudes, I will be doing this primarily to provide an ethical, and professional, alternative to all of the crap that is out there now. Thus, chicken wing waitresses who aspire to be models will no longer have to be exploited by creepy guys with cameras; I will bring integrity, and professionalism, to those markets.

The next three years should prove to be the best in my career. With that, though, I’m done here, for now. I now have to return to work on my photography marketing sites.

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Saturday, April 10, 2010 - 8:00 AM - Tampa Photographer Log for Photographer Chris Passinault

Still Organizing The Tampa Film Blog. Cool Photography Project This Weekend.

The Tampa Film Blog is so huge, that I'm still editing it and organizing the content after three days. The work is going well, though. Ah, yes, and for those of you who are tired of me criticizing the Tampa photography scene, I actually have a cool photography project going on this weekend. I'll post pictures next week. I'm planning on covering as many of my shoots as possible on this blog, and I'll criticize the Tampa photography industry more on the Tampa photography blog. I have to go back to the Tampa Film Blog, now. I have a lot to do, still.

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Wednesday, April 7, 2010 - 8:30 AM - Tampa Photographer Log for Photographer Chris Passinault

Full Rollout Ahead, And Editing Blogs..... OMG!

I spent hours editing my blogs and working on content for my web sites this morning. The "beta", sand boxed business test days are over. I'm now prepping Aurora PhotoArts for full operational capability. Everything has been tested and developed. My investment into the photography business is pretty much finished, too. I've been doing a lot of research into different things, lately, and am now ready.
It's time to finally make some money, and get a return on the investment. It's time to make this a big business. Things that I have been working on since 2003 are now ready to be utilized.
Jeez, and as far as my two photography blogs, I'm tired from reading and editing lines (as well as adding lines here and there). Right now, this Tampa Photographer blog is 45 pages long! The Tampa Photography blog is even larger, at 88 pages! That's 133 pages of content, and if you factor in that a book is normally double spaced, it's enough content to fill a 266 page book! Think I can read that much in a few hours? I can't. There's MORE, too! My controversial Tampa Film Blog is now at 272 pages (a 544 page book, which would be a large novel). My Tampa DJ Blog is clocking in at 94 pages. My oldest blog (launched in 2004, 4 years older than my other blogs), my C. A. Passinault blog, is over 209 pages, too (I'll say over because I am too tired to count the dozens of pages on my Myspace blog which have not been factored into the figure). Over 708 pages of content, a 1,416 page book, is a bit much to go through quickly.
I need to organize these blogs. The search engines choke on them when I put over 50 pages of content into a single web page. If they are properly indexed and organized, these blogs would be a huge advantage in SEO. I think that I will spend time doing this throughout 2010, as well as keep up with proper organizational protocols as I add new posts. This said, I will not be posting as much on my blogs anymore. All of that writing will be used for content that my marketing sites need, as well as some books that I am writing. For example, my science fiction novel, Frontier 4, is a project that I have been writing since 1989. It's almost finished now (300 pages of content for a 600 page novel), but I also have a modeling book that needs to be finished. I'll be writing for the rest of my life, and I'll never be done, although these two books should be done within a year. I also have to write six or seven screenplays for some short films that I will be doing by the end of 2011.
The Aurora PhotoArts marketing site will be receiving 60 pages of new content this month, as well as an overhaul, which is nothing compared to these blogs.

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Thursday, April 1, 2010 - 8:00 AM - Tampa Photographer Log for Photographer Chris Passinault

Operation Springboard

I booked some more shoots. Some of the things that I have invested in are working well, too, and photography bookings are increasing. It's going to get interesting. I'm going to be shooting a lot this spring and summer, and even more in the fall. In the next year, I will be doing more modeling and talent photography shoots than I have done in the past five years (and this will have to happen, because everything from my event planning company / DJ career, to my indie filmmaking, will be benefiting), and I project that, in a year, my photography will be dramatically different. Just imagine what will happen if a photographer who has a lot of experience, and knows how to shoot, begins to use things like fill flash and other tools. Seven years of work and investing is about to pay off.
One thing that I really have to do now is overhaul my physical photography portfolio. I've been using pretty much the same one since 2001, and although I've added a lot of pictures over the years, I haven't had a chance to update it in a few years. I figured that if it works, don't try to fix it, and the pictures would work well today, except for one problem- I have copyrights and years on my prints. When clients see those years on the photos, they get the perception that my portfolio is outdated, and that I haven't been shooting a lot.
Except I have. I’ve been shooting regularly now for nine years, doing great work. Although my more recent work can be see on my online website portfolios, I don't add every picture that I take. In the future, however, I will be adding a lot more to both my portfolio, and my web sites. You'll be seeing a lot of my recent work all over the place, both online and offline.
That's not all, either. I'm working on getting a lot more equipment, in preparation for bringing my photography up to a level to New York and high fashion markets. I'm already an excellent photographer who is lethal with a camera. I have the potential to become one of the best photographers in the world, though, and I could achieve this distinction in a few short years if I start working on it now. I'm already one of the best photographers in the Tampa Bay market, and in the modeling and talent photography market I have no equal (especially when you factor in my modeling and talent resources sites and my modeling industry work). With more resources and equipment, not to mention lots of study, practice, and hard work, I can become one of the elite photographers of the world. I may become the best photographer in Florida, soon.
I have a lot of work to do, however. I have to finalize my new service agreements and contracts, which have been in the works since 2007. I'm also having issues with positioning my photography service marketing web sites in the search engines, as I haven't updated them much, and other photographers are spamming the search engines with their "web sites", if that is what you could call them (I especially love the "professional" photographers who have been stealing content and ideas from my modeling sites, and are trying to compete against me with my own material. I am looking into potential lawsuits now- stealing is stealing, and it's no way to try to compete. It's obvious that many of them have been all over my web sites, learning from me. Go ahead, follow the leader.....). I recognized this back in 2008, but haven't had the chance to do much to correct it... until now. It's true that the positioning of my photography marketing sites is not optimal, but I've been able to pick up the slack and keep ahead of the swarm of aspiring competitors by marketing my photography services on my modeling and talent resource sites. That's working great, and not a single one of those photographers can compete with those sites. It's not enough, though.
Although a lot of my attention will be on my modeling and talent resource sites (Tampa Bay Modeling will be updated, Independent Modeling will see a ton of updates, Florida Modeling Career will become fully operational, Advanced Model will finally launch, and my other actor and talent resource sites will also see a lot of updates), I will be working a lot on my photography marketing sites in 2010. I will be deploying three new photography marketing sites this month, and will be upgrading all of the content on my established sites. Later this year, the competition will be drowned out by my network of web sites.
I have to go through a lot of pictures to set up the three new photography sites, so I'll make the most of it and use the work to prepare my portfolio overhaul, too. I'll be printing my new portfolio pictures next week, and it will finally be updated. Additionally, I will not settle for the standard 8 X 10 portfolio prints, either. I will be utilizing some of my design expertise, and will be putting together enhanced portfolio pages which will support my traditional consultation process. Although I'm not a "fix it in photoshop" photographer, as I take pictures correctly to begin with, I do have several examples where photoshop was needed to adjust pictures. I really need to find that headshot of Kerry Hall where I took out her necklace in photoshop, and show a before and after. I also need to re-print the picture of Melissa Maxim, the one where she is laying on the back of an MR2 Spyder. She took that picture out of my portfolio years ago, so she could put it in hers, and I never got around to replacing it.
I need more equipment to tackle other photography markets, too. These markets will be served by even more photography services marketing web sites. Although modeling and talent photography will always be my main passion, and business, I will also be moving into the Tampa boudoir, glamour, portrait, commercial, and wedding photography markets (my experience shooting models, talent, and people will give me a massive advantage). I am especially going after wedding photography, and these efforts will tie into my event planning and DJ businesses. In my experience, most wedding photographers are not good enough to work in the more competitive, and limited, modeling and talent photography services market; this is especially true when most of the clientele in my market are professionals who know what they are doing. To have someone with my experience moving in to a consumer market such as wedding photography will prove to be a nightmare for many of these wedding shooters.
It's no longer the modeling and talent photography market that I'm after. I will be going after it all, and I'll have help.
That’s all that I can say for now.

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Wednesday, March 18, 2010 - 9:07 PM - Tampa Photographer Log for Photographer Chris Passinault

Hungry Photographers And Search Engines

I spent some time checking search engines today, and the results were interesting. There seem to be an awful lot of photographers out there in the Tampa Bay area now. In at least two cases, too, I found photographers emulating what I've been doing (the Tampa Boudoir photography site, which was a domain name which I passed on, instead buying Tampa Boudoir Photography, and another Tampa photography blog.... erm... whatever). I'm glad to see that my efforts have people reacting to me, and that I am not in the position to react to them (I will not even go into the content, stolen from my sites, which have been used on some of those sites. I even had a photographer steal one of my ads before.... Such nice, ethical, professional people. Just because you don't like me, or are threatened by the success of my photography, does not make it all right to steal from me! I wouldn't do that to you, even if the tables were reversed!). This said, I am better at this search engine and web work, and we all know that. My modeling sites are the top in the country, for example, and I could continue to go on.

In 2008, I set about beefing up my photography marketing sites. It's been slow going, due to my work with my modeling and talent resource sites, although I did buy two more photography marketing sites last summer. Enough of that, though. I have a lot of work ahead of me, and need to finish what I've started. Ironically, my advanced Venus Class Aurora PhotoArts main photography and design services marketing site has not been updated since early 2008. The site is still at minimal capability, and needs content added so it can sing, and dominate.

I'll let you all know, now, what my SEO focus will be on in 2010. Here you go:

1. Photography services (my modeling sites are compensating for this now...... I book a lot of modeling portfolio and talent headshot shoots, and have been for years. I need to expand into all Tampa photography services markets, especially weddings, which seem to have the most photographers. I'm one of the best shooting models, talent, and people. Those skills will work nicely in other fields, especially weddings.)

2. Modeling, Talent, and Acting Resources (Tops, but I see competition on the horizon)

3. Event planning, DJ services, and Stage Production (lacking now. I did well with this before photography)

4. Tampa Bay Film and indie film resources (coming along now, with more web sites and resources invested than in all of my other efforts. I'll have to write about this soon)

5. Frontier Society subculture (I am quite annoyed with a cybersquatter right now. His investment will become a poor one).

This is going to be fun. I look forward to the "competition". I realize that other photographers have a right to be in business, but seriously, business is war. I like competition. I will win. Good luck to all of you.

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Thursday, January 21, 2010 - 8:27 AM - Tampa Photographer Log for Photographer Chris Passinault

Dealing With Evil Tampa Boudoir Photographers

Please note that, in no way, is this a response to a recent personal communication with Dolly, who is into glamour photography. I’ve been thinking about this subject for months now (and vigorously addressed it back in 2008 with TampaBoudoirPhotography.Com and TampaGlamour Photography.Com), and it is a coincidence that I’m posting this now, just days after we corresponded on this subject. Thank you for understanding that this is not aimed at you.
I feel that boudoir photography and glamour photography is high risk work, and that it is not for amateurs or beginners; you have to understand the potential risks and pitfalls before you get into these highly specialized fields of photography. Too many guys with cameras are simply picking up cameras and aggressively pursuing these types of photography without understanding the power that photography has, and the respect that it demands. Pictures are forever, and photographs which are taken can never be undone.

It’s that time of the year again, leading up to valentines day. Last year, a local paper ran an extensive story about Tampa boudoir photography services for valentines day, and some of the photographers who they covered were not exactly at the forefront of this field in the Tampa Bay market. Had they properly done their research, and spent a few seconds on a search engine, they would have found Tampa Boudoir Photography, and it would have been included in that story; the way that it should have been (please note that I am not currently in the boudoir photography business. One of my photographer friends gets work from that site, and I do not make a dime off of it. I set it up for the integrity of the Tampa boudoir photography market!).
I read that story, and I was pissed off. Some of those photographers were questionable at best, and the work wasn’t that great. We should have been in that story! One of my photographers had the pleasure of hearing me rant about it on the phone for a good 45 minutes. What can I say? I take photography, and the Tampa photography market, very seriously.
So, what was questionable about those photographers?
Well, for one, it’s almost a cliche. Sure, you have dirtbag male photographers exploiting women doing so-called boudoir and glamour photography, but there seem to be an awful lot of female photographers offering these services lately, and what causes me to roll my eyes is that they market those services using the “be more comfortable being sexy with a woman taking your pictures”. Ok, here’s a thought. With society being so liberal these days, could it be different with a woman taking sexy pictures of other women than with a man taking the pictures? Could it be that aggressive women can exploit other women? I’m sure that what I’m bringing up is controversial, but let’s get real here. Let’s explore the angles. I am a man, and I am a photographer. I prefer to take pictures of women because I find women to be attractive. I would have issues taking “sexy” pictures of other men, because I don’t find men to be attractive. I do great shooting headshots and modeling portfolios with male clients, but it is not what I prefer to do, and I certainly would not be inspired shooting glamour, or “sexy” pictures of men (since I am not gay, I don’t find men appealing or attractive in any way. Sorry, but they don’t inspire me).
I’ll lay it out. I suspect that some of the female photographers who aggressively market boudoir and glamour photography are into women, which in itself is just as risky as if a man does it, but it’s even worse when the female photographer misleads women by marketing themselves as a “safe” alternative to the lecherous man.
Hey, I don’t have anything against lesbians, but I don’t think that lesbians are “hot”. I also don’t think that a lesbian taking boudoir pictures of unsuspecting women is “safer” than if a man takes the pictures. Exploitation is exploitation. I’ve heard horror stories of male photographers sexually harassing women during “sexy” shoots, and I’ve also heard the same types of stories regarding lesbian photographers who use photography and “sexy” shoots to meet and try to convert women to their lifestyle. Some people will justify what they do any way that they can, even to the extent of conning themselves.
It’s ok if you are a woman who likes to take pictures of other women is various stages of undress. Just don’t put down the men who do it, and portray you as a safer alternative, unless you want everyone to wonder if you have unprofessional, and unethical, motives.
Photography is a career. A professional photographer should be primarily concerned with taking great pictures which put their client in the best light. That’s art. Photography should never be used as a means to mislead people and as a means to hit on them.
I’m also annoyed about the persistence of amateurs and the misguided who constantly promote high risk photography as normal, and safe. It isn’t. Nude, glamour, and boudoir photography is high risk work which demands experienced professionals, an understanding of the risks, and the utmost respect. There are too many people out there who don’t comprehend how risky these types of photography are, or who have the idea that they are going to take advantage of others. This makes it especially risky.
As a professional photographer, I never felt comfortable doing any kind of high risk photography which could be easily taken out of context and used to exploit women. I recall a story about a Tampa photographer who used to take pictures of models in risque swimsuits, thongs, and bikinis, with the models posing is suggestive poses. There is nothing wrong with that by itself, but what made it bad was that the photographer used those pictures out of context and sold them to adult entertainment companies and 900 phone sex line companies to be used in ads. Did I say one photographer? Actually, there were several, and they laughed their way to the bank at the expense of the models.
I take pictures, primarily, of models and talent. I’m very good at what I do, and this is the field that I specialize in. It offends me when these glamour and boudoir shooters, who mainly seem to shoot exotic dancers and chicken wing waitresses, promote them as models, and then try to move into my modeling photography market without knowing anything about what makes a good modeling portfolio, or anything about modeling for that matter. Some of these guys are not bad at taking pictures, but they fail to understand why that, despite their equipment and skill, they have a difficult time making a dent in the modeling portfolio photography market. They also get frustrated when they have a hard time competing with me.
I’m established. I’m the standard in Tampa modeling portfolio photography and Tampa headshots. Deal with it. I’ve been doing this a long time, and I understand the details far more than most of the others. This said, glamour and boudoir photographers had little to fear from me because I’ve always resisted doing high risk work. I didn’t feel comfortable doing it.
Until now.
I’m at the point in my career where I feel that I can do high risk photography with minimal risks to my marketability, and the professional integrity of the model. I have also come to realize that there needs to be a professional, ethical alternative to the crap that it currently out there. It’s the only way to minimize the risks, and to establish a standard. I can do that, and my experience photographing models and talent, which few Tampa glamour and boudoir photographers have (or will ever have), gives me an advantage.
So goes my next big project. I’m going to take the Tampa boudoir photography and glamour photography markets (and also swimsuit, bikini/ lingerie photography, which can also be high risk). In the next few years, I intend to become one of the best in the world in high risk photography markets, as well as my more traditional photography markets. There will be no more free reign, and lack of opposition, with me around.
The present, however, is a bit different.
At the present time, I do not have a glamour or boudoir photography portfolio. It’s going to take some time to build. I am, however, partnered with photographers who are very good in these fields. They do excellent work, and are ethical and professional.
So, starting next week, it’s on. I’m sending out press releases, and will be talking to media contacts. Craig and Andy can handle the Tampa Boudoir Photography work. I’m not set up for that right now. I’ll handle the portrait photography, which I do a great job with.
There isn’t a single photographer who was covered in that article last year who can compete with us, and that’s the greatest thing about it. We are going to deal with the evil Tampa boudoir photographers, and we are going to take their business away this year.
In closing, I’ll be writing more about the issues that I have with people in the modeling and the photography industries promoting high risk photography as a part of “mainstream” modeling, and why their information is dangerous. Wait for it.

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Saturday, December 5, 2009 - 8:30 AM - Tampa Photographer Log for Photographer Chris Passinault

Are You Ready For What's About To Begin?

What a machine. What a magnificent machine. It's decades ahead of anything else out there. It sure took long enough to build, though. Oh, and it works. It really works.

Alrighty. I'm like a pilot going over a checklist as I prepare to launch the most powerful, advanced jet in the world. All the pieces are in place. Infrastructure has been built. Everything has been tested and proven, again, again, and again. I've been preparing for this moment since 2003. I am now ready to implement what I've been working on, and am confident in how it will perform because I've tested every component in the overall machine extensively, and I have hard data to reference. History is about to be made. The Tampa photography services market, and the business of photography itself, will be changed forever. My lead in the market is about to increase in a very obvious, pronounced way. My market leadership will be indisputable. The modeling industry, likewise, is going to be hit hard. The modeling industry is on the verge of revolution.

First, however, I really have to get these Tampa Bay Film sites up to spec. Next week, it begins, and I'll never look back. At the moment, however, admire my plane, and listen to the hum of its powerful engines. I can't wait to see what this machine can do!

Once it begins, it will take on a life of its own, and it'll be unstoppable. Many will notice it, too, especially when my photography bookings increase, at the least, over one hundred fold. For now, look at all the pretty web sites... there sure are a lot of them!

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Wednesday, November 4, 2009 - 8:12 PM - Tampa Photographer Log for Photographer Chris Passinault

The Next Level

Or, more to the point, expanding my markets as a photographer. As we all know, for the past eight years, I've done great work as a photographer specializing in talent headshots and modeling portfolios. I've also done a lot of work as a graphics designer (and a web designer.... mental note.... a webmaster blog and web sites marketing my web site services are now on the board). As we also know, I am against the exploitation of models, and of women. I respect women. Because of these, I've never felt comfortable shooting glamour, boudoir, nude, and even a lot of swimsuit photography. As of now, I don't have a single nude in my portfolio.
This is going to change.
I'm now at a point in my career where I feel comfortable shooting such genres so that they do not exploit the model, or put them in a bad light (pun intended). I'm at the point where I can do such photography work without feeling that the work can be taken out of context, or used in a way that could reflect badly on me, or on my models. Much of the exploitation being done to women today is on the fringes of the modeling industry, in the glamour modeling segment. Obviously, this is a specialized field of modeling, and demands the utmost professional responsibility. It is not for beginners, and you have to know what you are doing in your career before you even attempt it.
It's just too bad that so many amateurs clog that market. Many aspiring models destroy their modeling careers before they even begin, feeling that modeling is being "hot", or "sexy" (it CAN be, but that is only a small part of it. Modeling is a visual form of marketing, and sometimes the visual message can conflict with others, and, in that case, it limits careers), and not really understanding exactly what modeling is, and was is appropriate for certain markets. Likewise, you have these guys with cameras who take advantage of young women.
In the Tampa Bay market, I am about to run serious interference. I'm going to take the glamour, boudoir, swimsuit, nude, and fashion photography market away from the "photographers" who have been taking advantage of it for so long. For many years, I have stayed away from these genres of photography. I have left these photography markets alone. I've now realized, and concluded, that I'm going to have to take these markets. It's the only way to save them. Some of these photographers are "fake photographers", using fill flash to cover up the lack of skill in photographic composition and other shortcomings. They mostly shoot "fake models", women with self esteem issues who undergo cosmetic enhancements, and who could never make it as a model. Many of these women are in the consumer market, and not the professional market, and are not at all qualified to evaluate photography or what makes an effective photograph worthy of a portfolio. Some of the things that I have been seeing lately simply piss me off. It's time for me to do something about it.
Right now, I have marketing infrastructure in place to do work in these markets. I own the best marketing web sites for these markets. I own TampaBoudoirPhotography.Com and TampaGlamourPhotography.Com. For now, one of my photographers is using Tampa Boudoir Photography, as he does excellent work, and it was the only way to save aspiring models who wanted those types of pictures. By 2011, I will be using both of these sites, and will be working those markets. The Tampa Bay photography services market is mine, as far as I see it. I'm going to work it harder than ever before, increasing the advantages the I enjoy. You haven't seen anything yet. Once I get the Tampa Bay Film sites where they need to be, and get the modeling resource site modeling jobs boards up (which should be the end of this week), I'll be free to concentrate on photography, and the photography services market.
I didn't become a photographer to hit on models. I think that it is inappropriate. I'm about taking great pictures. I am about maintaining the integrity of the professional photography market. Some of you know who you are. Enjoy what you are doing while you can, because I am going to take your business away.

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Wednesday, September 9, 2009 - 8:30 AM - Tampa Photographer Log for Photographer Chris Passinault

The Burden Of Photography Marketing Leadership

What is the burden? Being copied- a lot. Also, there are a lot of delusional people out there who convince themselves that they can compete with me (like this nerdy photographer who does terrible work and who writes some pathetic, cheesy ad copy; copy which comes off like pick-up lines). Some of them, despite not knowing what my rates are (simply because I am not stupid enough to put them on my web site- this would be different if I marketed my photography services with low rates, but I don’t), and being ignorant of what photography rates should be for the Tampa Bay photography services market, attempt to compete with me by offering photography services as suspiciously-low rates, which backfire and destroy their professional credibility. Still, other so-called photographers post silly ads on free classifieds web sites looking for model to shoot for free, or soliciting professional models to work for free, work that is often high-risk, to boot (Tickling videos, nude modeling, teen modeling web sites, and foot modeling is often exploitive, and is often considered to be adult work. It is high risk because it can cripple, or destroy, the career of a model, as it tarnishes their marketability. Tell me, if you were a business looking to book a model, would you want a model representing your products or services in advertisements who did work that was questionable? I didn’t think so. I would not book such a “model”, either.)
The irony is that I am not the threat to their business that they, themselves, are. A lot of these photographers lose business because they do not know what they are doing.
Is it any wonder that competing against me remains an elusive dream? It’s a joke.
For a moment, forget that I am a photographer. Have me put down the camera, and forget how to work one. Forget about my portfolio, and pretend that it does not exist. Let’s pretend that I market a photography business for other photographers, and have but a handful of their pictures to market services with.
Guess what? Many Tampa photographers STILL wouldn’t be able to compete with me. Regardless of my experience as a photographer and by ability to give my clients photography services that they both want and need, I have a serious advantage. I outgun all Tampa photographers (if not the entire state of Florida) in marketing, especially on the Internet.
Time and time again, these photographers prove that they are slow. Too slow. They either do not know what they are doing as far as marketing their business, or they are simply stupid (Yes, Dig Doug, despite your claims of having an high IQ, your continued insecurity about your work as a photographer and your demonstrated inability to market what you do, makes you an idiot, too). That’s right, stupid. Mere primitives, they are, and for most of the photographers, further reduced to single cell organisms in the food chain of the photography services industry. At least 75% of Tampa photographers are simply, in my opinion, plankton.
Do any of them threaten my photography business, or my career as a professional photographer? Not at all. Even if I were insecure about the photography that I did, which is not the case, I wouldn’t have a thing to worry about. Don’t get me wrong- there are a few good photographers out there who are talented, and who do great work (the exception to the rule, and most of those photographers are my friends). Even so, there is a lot more to the equation than simply being able to take great pictures. You have to look at the entire package. Thus, even if a photographer was able to currently outshoot me, they still can’t effectively compete with me if you take into account everything that is brought to the table. Simply put, I remain unchallenged. I have yet to see a single Tampa, or Florida, photographer who can do what I can do. Since I do spend time looking for photographers who have the ability to compete, and I am very good at finding things, it is highly unlikely that anyone will be able to find someone who can do anything near what I offer.
It doesn’t stop some photographers from trying, however.
I monitor the Internet. I find things. I see everything.
Most notably, I also deeply comprehend everything that I see. Having one of the highest IQ’s in the country, and years of professional experience in a vast array of different careers, tends to give me that advantage. If I were only just a photographer, that would be one thing. But I am much more than just a photographer. I am a professional polymath. People take one look at my photography work, and they contact me. Once they talk to me, however, they realize that I am the real deal. They realize that my photography is only the beginning of what I have to offer.
Sigh. I wish that I could come off more humble on this blog, but I am simply stating facts. If anyone out there thinks that I am the most cocky and arrogant photographer in the history of the photography industry, then you may wish to look at the big picture. It just seems that way. Arrogance is defined as “unwarranted pride”, and I would be arrogant if I were simply just running my mouth (er- typing away on a word processor), and was not able to back up any of my claims. The truth is, though, that my pride is well-earned, and warranted. I do good work. I know what I am doing. I have a lot of experience. I also know what my limitations are, and what I have to do to improve what I do. Forgive me for being blunt. I’m not arrogant. Look at the facts, and get to know me, and you will find that out. Am I humble? I can be, but the fact is that if I were, I would not be honest about my abilities. To be humble would be to come off as being incapable, or deficient, and that’s not who I am. I hate fake people. I don’t respect them, and there is simply too much false modesty out there in the world today. I would much rather be up-front and honest, even if it means that I seem to be arrogant.
I’m very complex. Many seem to have misconceptions about me. Some even say that I contradict myself, but I just shrug off their lack of basic comprehension. You may say contradiction, but I say complexity. If you were able to comprehend everything that I do, only then would you understand, and understanding is impossible without all of the facts. I only provide the facts to those who I know, and trust. Trust, too, must be earned, and never given away. It’s a precious thing.
Just because you are mentally limited does not make your observations accurate. It does not make you correct.
Going back to the efforts of other photographers who try to compete with me, I am often amused by what I find.
Here is one of many examples. When I state that I am a polymath, it means a renaissance man. Ever wonder what it would be like if Newton, Einstein, or Da Vinci had to exist in today’s society? I don’t have to wonder. You see, I am one of them (and I have the test scores to prove it. With all of the recognized IQ tests that I have taken, my last one put it at 200. I also have the knowledge equivalent of several doctorate degrees, as I have been studying college-level material since I was in the third grade). One of the professions that I work in is as a writer. Most photographers cannot write, and are hardly as creative as they need to be; something which no longer surprises me. As a result, I am very good at extrapolating what people look for word-wise, and come up with excellent word combinations. Just last year, I noticed some unethical boudoir and glamor photography businesses operating in the Tampa photography market, and I decided to bring balance into those markets. I sat down looking at different options for domain names. Many of them were not taken, which is also not that much of a surprise, because many photographers don’t know what they are doing on the Internet.
I passed on some good domain names, but not the best combinations. I obtained Tampa Boudoir Photography and Tampa Glamour Photography, even though I do not do these types of photography, yet. Soon after, both of the domain names that I had passed on were taken by other photographers (photographers who had obviously studied what I was doing, and who tried to copy what I do). Ah, too little, too late. I own the best domain names. Today, I enjoy top Internet performance in a variety of different genres of photography. Most importantly, however, when prospective clients find these sites, they are often inspired to contact my company. The result is a booking.
Did anyone notice how many marketing web sites I own? I’ve built a vast funnel. All those sites funnel prospective clients who are looking for photography to me. It’s one of many reasons that my photography company leads the Tampa market.
Ah, yes, and another reason is that people talk to me.
They search. They find. They look my work. They talk to me. They book my photography services. Afterwards, too, they are very happy with their pictures.
You see, this is why I own a photography business. The main goal is not to make money. The main goal is to give my clients outstanding photography services that they cannot get anywhere else. The result, of course, is that I book clients. The bookings are well-earned, and well-deserved. I don’t have to lie, cheat, or steal to book clients, either, unlike what I see other so-called “photographers” do.
What is that saying? That talent borrows, and genius steals? Well, I suppose so, if you’re not a genius already. When you are a genius, you can pretty much do things your own way and make up your own rules, without making compromises in professionalism or in ethics. When you are a genius, you don’t have to steal, because you already have it, and you come up with some of the best ideas and work in the market. This is why I lead the market, and am known as an industry-changer in many different industries. It’s also the reason that so many photographers either try to copy what I do, or try to steal from me (I guess that they know a good thing when they see it). They are not good enough to do their own thing. Ask yourself- Do you want to settle for a generic knock-off, or would you rather go to the source for what you need? Do you want to deal with a limited, me-too follower, or with the leader who sets the trends in the market?
Some of these people don’t necessarily hate me, but they are jealous of what I do. I know that many people out there curse me out on a daily basis, before studying what I do and setting out to copy my efforts (and I smile when I imagine those pathetic aspiring photographers weeping into their pillows at night). Of course, they fall short, and it basically comes down to the fact that they did not earn what they do through experience and by paying their dues. As a result, they fail to comprehend what makes something work, and only understand that somehow, someway, it works. Just because you try to copy what I do and steal from me does not mean that you will be able to make it work. I can make my ideas work because they are my ideas, and I know all the mechanics behind my ideas. I earned the knowledge, where you did not.
Ah, such is life. Everything tends to work out the way that it is supposed to.
One of the things that really handicaps those aspiring photographers is that they take shortcuts. They don’t invest in their careers (and, trust me, this will really come back to bite them in the ass in the next year or so. I am now positioning over a dozen of my modeling and talent resource sites to address this very issue). They don’t bother to learn how to take good photographs. They don’t bother investing in professional web sites or learn how to make a professional web site on their own. They don’t bother to learn how to run a business, or how to market their business. They figure that they can pick up a camera, call themselves a photographer, and set up a “business” web site on Myspace or on a freebie portfolio networking site. Ah, yes, now that’s a professional investment into your career.
Is it any wonder why I do more business than most of these morons combined? In some cases, I do take business away from photographers. In many cases, however, they take business away from themselves.
Oh, and don’t even go into the people who claim that they are models and who do the same damn thing as the other amateurs out there. Oh, I can build a career for free! I’m entitled to a modeling career without spending a dime. I’ll just shoot with that “professional” photographer out there for free, and ignore his lewd remarks toward me and his constant air-humping as he takes my pictures. I’ll take those mediocre pictures, some of them with me in suggestive and degrading poses, and post them up on a free web site profile to market my professional modeling career! Yeah, that’s how it’s done!
And these deluded, wanna-be models wonder why I ignore them.
Reboot your career and do it right!
I respect a professional investment. I respect talent. I respect hard work. I respect professional experience, gained by hard work in a profession. This, my friends, is why I work with the top professional photographers, models, and talent. We all know what we are doing, and have our acts together. The amateurs out there can continue to do whatever it is that they think that they are doing. They don’t have any effect on our professional careers one way or another, and don’t take any business away from us. We’ll just let them continue to think that they do.
Photographers, models, and talent, there is no quick and easy way into a professional career. It takes a lot of time. It takes money. It takes hard work!
A professional career requires an investment, and I am committed to educating people regarding that they need to evaluate any professional on the investment that has been made in their career before even considering working with them, or giving them business.
Hey, I am proud of what I do as a photographer. I respect the professional photography work that I am known for, and respect my clients.
Do you?
Oh, and for those who are wondering, it took me several years and thousands of dollars spent on cameras, film, and development before I turned pro. I started my photography business in 1994, and in those days I did not market photography services to the public, as it would not have been ethical for me to do so when I did not have professional experience or skill with a camera. My photography company was first a support company for my other creative projects. In 1998, I started working with professional models and other professionals, and they taught me a lot. I did a lot of shoots. In 2000, SIX YEARS after starting my photography business, I finally turned pro. I built my portfolio, and a year later began to market my services to the public. It was time, and I finally felt right about marketing myself as a professional. My photography services booked well, too, and continue to do so.
I’m not a know-it-all, either. I still have a lot to learn. That is why I am constantly studying, learning, and adapting what I learn to my work. None of us, even the professionals, ever stops learning.
This is one reason that my photography work is well respected, and why clients book me as a photographer. It’s obvious that I put a lot of hard work, and quality, into my photography. Indeed, I have put together a photography company that I would book if I were someone looking for a professional photographer. I love what I do, and believe in what I do. How many photographers out there can say that?
In 2001, after several years of learning from professional models and talent (and studying), I also became a modeling and talent expert. I’m now one of the top modeling and talent experts in the United States, able (and willing) to debate the modeling industry with Supermodels and other big names in the modeling industry. With a national modeling book deal in the works, too, this may become a part of my future. After my book is published, I fully expect to be debating with well-known modeling industry professionals on national television (I’ve already done quite a lot on local television). I say bring it on. My modeling book is going to change the modeling industry forever. It’s not like any modeling book that you’ve ever read before, and everything in it works. My model friends have already proven it.
Alrighty. Going back to my photography business and my photography career. You haven’t seen anything yet. You see, I am only limited by my lack of equipment. I’m gearing up for some serious business now. I’m about to book a lot more business, and invest heavily into my photography career and business. I will become stronger, and more powerful, than ever.
In five years, I am looking at becoming one of the best photographers in the world. Regardless of whether I meet that goal or not (and the time frame may be more in question than my actual talent and ability), I certainly realize that I am one of the few photographers who actually has a chance of doing this, and that’s good enough for me.
By default, however, I’m going to enjoy what is going to happen to the Tampa photography market because of this, because I’m staying in Tampa. If I were some photographers, I’d quit now. Hmmmmm...... Maybe I can get some good deals on some high quality, barely used photography equipment? I can certainly use more, and I will be investing in more soon. For some of you who will soon be out of business, and rightfully so, maybe you’ll be out of business sooner than you expect.
The bottom line is that the Tampa photography market belongs to my friends and I, and we are well on our way to building a photography services superpower that few will be able to co-exist with, let alone compete with, and that's the way that it should be. It’s what everyone deserves.
Ah, to be a fly on the wall of the meetings of certain photographers. I’m told that they monitor what I do, and that they talk about me. This blog should stir the pot quite nicely. Oh, and here is another bit of news to chew on:
I just invested in two more Tampa photography marketing web sites for my modeling photography services (I already owned one which I have not had the chance to use yet, and my popular modeling sites have been marketing my photography quite nicely lately). That makes.... er, a lot. I don’t have time to audit them right now. Let’s just say that, all things taken into consideration, that I have everyone seriously outgunned on the Internet with my marketing efforts (and I’ve only really just started- I began some efforts last year, but only now have I had the chance to begin to work on it). Again, it’s how it should be. I certainly deserve all of the business that I have earned lately, and it is about to increase ten-fold, and even more-so, soon.
It’s time to get to work. I have a lot to do.
Sleep well. I certainly will!

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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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Saturday, March 28, 2009 - 8:00 AM - Tampa Photographer Log for Photographer Chris Passinault

A New Era For The Tampa Photographer Blog

Ah, progress. Some of my blogs are undergoing some overhauls, and the Tampa Photographer Blog is no exception. This is why some content (for this blog, 75% of its content) has been removed, and the blog is now leaner. There will be more adjustments, soon, too.
In all honesty, I’m not going to be able to voice my opinions here or give away details about my photography work which could undermine my position in the Tampa photography services market. I will, and can say, that I stand behind all my opinions, and am not changing my mind about anything that I have posted here in the past. My opinions, however, state the obvious, and provoke a strong reaction from others in the Tampa photography industry. I’m not here to post anything negative, or anything that could be perceived as negative. From now on, the Tampa Photography Blog will be about my passion of the photography business and my adventures as one of the top photographers in Tampa. I really do love photography, and am rightfully proud of my work as a professional photographer. Note, too, that these changes did not come about from any negative feedback or anything like that, it’s just that the blog had to be made appropriate for our new business directives.
Please keep in mind that I will not be posting stories and anecdotes here from every shoot. I need the client’s permission if a client is involved. All information about my clients is considered confidential, and I respect their privacy, as well as their rights. Of course, many of my clients do elect to have their photography sessions written about, especially my modeling and talent clients, as their careers are in the public eye. Additionally, if the client does give me permission to post their Tampa photography session story on the Tampa Photographer Blog, they are given the chance to read over the anecdote before it is published.
Public events, however, are another story. For example, I often attend events, and recently have been judging beauty pageants. Those anecdotes about public functions may be published without the permission of the participants. Not that it matters, though, because I will rarely write anything that could be perceived as negative.
Special projects, such as professional collaborations, are a different story, too. In those collaborations, publication of details may be part of the job.
So, the Tampa Photographer Blog enters a new age. The PR age.
Change is in the air. Consider this to be my spring cleaning.
It’s been busy, too. I was out conducting client consultations all day yesterday, meeting photography services clients back to back. The bookings went well. I’ve been getting a ton of consultations lately, and it’s a result of our excellent, and highly effective, Internet marketing efforts.
Change is the theme right now. I made some business changes which were long overdue, and am looking into changing my photography portfolio. I initially built my printed photography portfolio back in 2001, with the leather case and inserts. Since then, it has been updated a few times, and a lot of great photographs were added. It’s been very, very effective over the years, and has been the main tool responsible for my high book-through ratios. It’s worked well, but there were a few tweaks that I noticed over the years, and it can be even better after it is overhauled. I am about to add a lot more pictures, and will organize them better. It will cost me a few hundred for the overhaul, but it will be worth it (although my portfolio case is still in perfect condition, I may be replacing it with a high tech, custom portfolio case. I will be printing all of the pictures from scratch, and will be using the latest insert technology. Hmmm..... Maybe I should just retire the old port and keep it as a backup. Ok. It’s done, once the new 2009 portfolio is put together.)
Other changes? My business cards were obtained in October of 2005. They need to be replaced, especially since some information is outdated and the overall layout and design of the cards is a little safe and conservative. This week, I will be designing new cards and will be investing a few hundred dollars on another order (yes, my cards are not cheap, but they are worth it). I will also be designing more cards for my other endeavors, such as Tampa Bay Film and its online film festival. My design work has come a log way over the years, as you can see from the recent sample to the right. It will be a fun challenge to see how much I can push the new business cards design-wise. Hmmmmm.... perhaps a business card with a vertical layout? Then again, maybe not.... but I haven’t decided, yet. I have a lot of good ideas, and I will be spending plenty of time playing around with the design.
It looks like the “design” aspect of Aurora PhotoArts Tampa photography and design is well-earned. I’ve been working doing professional-level design work the past few years, anyway, so it’s beginning to keep pace with my photography work. Actually, I’ve found that my experience as a professional photographer has enhanced my ability as a designer. On the subject of design work, Aurora PhotoArts will be doing all of the design work for my Tampa advertising agency, Eos MediaArts. My Tampa advertising agency is already licensed, and although it has been booking work for a long time now, it officially starts business operations as a full-scale advertising agency this summer (can you see commercial photography work and modeling jobs? I can!). The Eos web site is almost done, too, and will launch in May 2009. I only have to complete the layout and write the copy.
Ah, writing. I’m doing a lot of that, and will continue. My new 2009 photography service agreements (service contracts) for Aurora PhotoArts are just about done, and I am waiting for my attorney to approve them so that we can start using them with clients. When I had all of those consultations this week, I had to use the old agreements, which were versions from 2006! The new 2009 agreements were originally started in 2007, but I’ve been booking so many photography sessions that I never got around to finishing them until now. It’s weird. Back in 2002 I started booking shoots, and had to have contracts drawn up to get the terms of the work in writing. I never did get the agreements as updated as I wanted to, because my work on the contracts were always catching up with all the shoots that I was booking. I was too busy shooting to do a lot with the service agreements (my latest service agreements, the 2007 Talent Connection Project agreements, were very slick, very advanced, and a nice prelude to what I was working on, although the new 2009 agreements are a lot more advanced, now). They worked very well, however, and my attorney liked them. The new ones, however, are exactly what I’ve been wanting, and they will be much better than their predecessors (I’ve spent years taking notes and writing down ideas for inclusion in the new agreements, such as new usage terms and other things. The new agreements are designed to be simpler for the clients, and I wanted them to be at least half the size of the old ones page-wise, but the new additions kept the size up. Ugh. I had to use the old ones this week, which was fine. Next week, I get to start using the new ones).
You know, while I’m at it with the new contracts, I’m also going to overhaul our filing system. I came up with a new way of organizing digital media files for the core computer system that we are building, and the format can be used for old-fashioned contract filing, too. I may even file the paper contracts in a paper file system and scan the pages into the computer for digital copies.
Then there are web sites. I own a lot of them. I recently merged my photography service marketing with several of my resource web sites. This has been very successful, and bookings are increasing because of it. Of course, my main Aurora PhotoArts Tampa photography and design marketing site has largely been neglected. It’s been working fine, but it needs an overhaul, especially since it has barely been updated in a year. I will be adding lots of new content and will be redoing some of the graphics. I’m in no hurry to add new pictures, however, because the current ones work quite well. I’ll refresh my online photography portfolio on my main Tampa photography site later this year, for sure.
I did launch two new Tampa photography web sites recently, now that I think of it. They both have exceeded my expectations as far as their marketing effectiveness. One of them, the Aurora PhotoArts Tampa headshots marketing site, has been sending us a lot of headshot photography leads. Headshot photography bookings have set records because of it.
I’ll post again, soon. I may even have an anecdote to share.

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Saturday, January 17, 2009 - 9:00 AM - Tampa Photographer Log for Photographer Chris Passinault

Photography Is Supposed To Be Fun

Well, photography used to be a lot more fun than it is now. Once I started doing photography professionally, it seemed to lose something. I’ve done a lot of good work, work which I am proud of, but it was never as fun as it used to be.
There’s no reason that it cannot be fun again. I think that it all comes down to my attitude. You see, my shoots are still fun, and I enjoy working with people and getting out. It’s just that I don’t embrace it like I used to.
This will change. There is no reason while I cannot have fun while I work my photography and design business. God knows that I should be happy with my work.
Take this Tampa Photographer Blog, for example. While I tend to criticize the Tampa photography services industry on my Tampa Photography Blog, the Tampa Photographer Blog will be a little more light hearted, and fun. It will deal with anecdotes.
Just remember that I shoot a lot, and it would be impossible to post stories about every shoot that I do on here (both logistically, and for the reason that I don’t want to give other Tampa photographers a clear picture of how many shoots I do, where I shoot, how I shoot, who I shoot with, and who all my clients are). I will post anecdotes about the coolest shoots. Also, I just bought some more cameras and some indie filmmaking gear which is ultra-portable, so effective immediately, I will be capturing videos of my shoots. From now on, I will carry a DVD quality DV camera with me in addition to my photography SLR cameras. This means that I will be posting online videos of some of my adventures. Hmmmmm...... I’ll also get a portable tripod, so I can get videos of me doing the shoots. There is a lot of good stuff on the way, such as this huge swimsuit modeling / bikini shoot that I have planned in the spring with at least six swimsuit models.
I’ve been going over my ancient files. I’ve looked at photographs and anecdotes from as far back as ten years ago. They all make me smile. So many memories. A lot of those people have moved on, but our memories stay real, especially with all the photographs.
It was exactly ten years ago. It was a blast of a shoot in the middle of a cow pasture. In January, 1999, two models, another photographer, and I went out shooting all day. I can’t say that the photographs came out that well, because they didn’t, but I’ll cut me some slack because I had not worked up to pro yet. It wouldn’t be until 2000, when I started dating a model by the name of Diana, where she helped bring my skills up to where they needed to be (the weekends that she spent with me were more like boot camps. She made me study fashion magazine photographs, and taught me things such as composition, which she knew because she was a top art director and designer as well as a fashion model).
Ok, going back to that shoot back in January of 1999. I have a picture of it to the right. As you can see, we had quite the set up, and why in the hell we had a tripod at this shoot, I couldn’t tell you. The tripod belonged to a photographer friend by the name of Manny, who has is standing holding his wrists in the photograph, and in reflection, in all these years of shooting modeling portfolios and actor headshots on location, I have never used a tripod! The funny thing is that I’m now coming full circle, and while I will be bringing a tripod to shoots starting this year, it will be for my DV video camera, and not my photography camera. It’s weird how things happen before, and they eventually happen again, with unique twists.
Man, I’m telling you. Give me a time machine, and allow me to take my photography gear back to this shoot. I’d tear it up. The second photograph here of model Jinelsa Rosado, taken over seven years later at the exact same spot as the 1999 shoot (notice the same crazy tree behind Jinelsa, which is in the far right background of the first picture from 1999.), shows just how far that I’ve come. Photographers always say location, location, location, but composition has a lot to do with it, too.
Ok, I just found the exact date. It was Saturday, January 30, 1999. Roughly two weeks from now, it will be ten years.
I also have the official shoot log from the web site that I had at that time. Here it is:

“The Crush”
SHOOT LOG
Saturday, 30 January, 1999

This time, a team of models and photographers traveled to the mine fields of moo moo land. “The Crush” was an apt title, as our models, Michael and Kristen W., looked a lot like the Actors in the movie of that same name. Kristen, however, resented being constantly compared to Alicia Silverstone.
The day began interestingly enough. It was a warm, clear Saturday morning. Haze from the blanket of cool fog that filled the countryside began to lift. The air would have been serene, almost perfect, if not for the overhead droning of a helicopter. A police helicopter. Passinault glanced out the window.
Police cruisers blocked the road leading to the studio. He was not amused. That was the road that his models would have to pass.
The police proved to be a trivial nuisance at the most, as they were looking for some toddler that had wandered off. Passinault picked up Kristen, and upon making their way through the thicket of officers, they relaxed and waited for Michael to arrive. They snacked on donuts, Kristen made a phone call to the Cayman Islands, and Passinault jammed on a a quick game of Time Pilot 84 on the Studio’s MAME 32 arcade emulator. Michael showed up, and Kristen called her friend Jolene, who was also slated to model with her that day. Jolene, unfortunately, canceled.
At that, Kristen and Passinault loaded up his mini truck and cruised into Brandon with Michael and his jeep following. They picked up Manny Torres, the other photographer, who rode with Michael, and headed off for breakfast.
To their dismay, it was to early to eat at their first choice, Hops. So, they settled for Steak and Shake. The food was- Bland. Kristen and Passinault had a laugh, though, drawing a “rest in peace” cartoon on the napkin and placing it over a dish of fries.
The conversation, however, sparkled in contrast as they bounced topics between the four of them.
The first stop after making a pit stop at the studio was a field off of Rhodine road. It was an abandoned pasture. Passinault, as a teenager back in 1986, had hiked through this very pasture. He observed that, other than the paved bridge crossing Bell Creek to the east of them, it had not changed. It was still quite beautiful. Even the dark land mines that the grazing cows had left behind had a certain charm.
Manny had brought a recorder with him, and he proceeded to interview the party as the shoot began. The models eased into the act, even to the point of dancing around to the dance mix of Party Zone RMX, which blared from a boom box.
They next traveled to the store for a quick lunch, and proceeded to the boardwalk in the Waterford community, where Kristen had posed for shots just two weeks prior. Passinault discovered that the gate was shut, and relished the thought of using the “Kelly Code”, which he had learned from his highschool friend Kelly Duvall ten years before. He had told Kristen the previous shoot that, in a private community of this size, it was hard to change out codes, and the ancient code probably still worked.
To his disappointment, there was a car in front of them, which opened the gate. Passinault’s pick up and Michael’s jeep followed closely behind.
He pulled into the parking slip just inside the gate. Michael’s jeep purred in beside them. “Hey, there’s some lady behind us. She doesn’t look too happy.....”.
Manny’s voice. They looked behind them. A red Cherokee, idling off on the curb. A middle aged woman glared at them from the drivers seat, her face scrunched up into a scowl. She was well dressed, and, under normal circumstances, Passinault mused, would be attractive.
“We should leave. I don’t think she wants us here.....”
Manny’s voice again. Passinault frowned. He was right, they’d have to leave or the whole shoot would be in jeopardy. The grinch in the Cherokee would have them towed while they shot back on the boardwalk.
He cursed to Kristen as they left, pointing out the beautiful shots that they would have to miss out on. A thought spilled out. “We should have taken her picture!”. Kristen laughed.
They decided to go to a large park in Valrico to finish the shoot. Upon arriving a half hour later, the had an impromptu picnic at a table, then began shooting in an area with hills. During the shoot, a young fan begged to have his picture taken with Kristen. It was the highlight of his twelve years.
The shoot wrapped with a parting shot of Passinault posing with Michael and Kristen. They parted ways, Michael taking Manny home, and Kristen going back to the studio with Passinault. After getting a bit lost, they found their way, and Kristen started to fall asleep from exhaustion.
Upon arrival, he let Kristen take a nap as he washed the truck. He then woke his star model up, and they took pictures of her pottery on the smooth, hard lid covering the bed on the back of the pick up. That done, Passinault took her to work.

Ah, memories. Too bad the pictures weren’t usable.
You know, I wrote that I had hiked through that pasture when I was 16. I used to hike a lot as a teenager. Come to think of it, I was a photographer back then, too, even though I did not know how to use a camera, I appreciated the beauty that was around me as I wandered the countryside. I remember once, when I was 16 on one of those twelve mile hikes, I saw a valley near that pasture to the south. It was lit well in the morning sun, and at that moment, I wished that I had a camera. It’s not that I could not learn about cameras. My Grandfather had tons of photography magazines laying around my parents house, and I used to thumb through them because I was interested in aerial reconnaissance photography (long story- I used to fly simple cameras thousands of feet over my community and take pictures of my neighborhood using my flying platforms- it was kind of like KAP years before people were doing KAP. I built one such platform which could stay aloft almost a mile up for days. Sometimes, weird gadgets would come crashing down on my neighbors from the sky, or other things would drift down on huge parachutes. Those were the days. It was amazing some of the things that I did as a kid with little money or technology). Anyway, I found my Grandfather's photography magazines to be boring. This is not the case with photography magazines and books these days.
Ah, that valley. I still remember how it looked. I’m sure that it’s somewhere near that pasture. You know the weird thing? Doing fashion modeling photography shoots with professional models from all over Florida in the same wilderness areas that I used to hike when I was a child.
On March 2, 2002, almost seven years ago (!), I went into a densely wooded area in Riverview with four models and another person. We did a shoot on the same trail that I had hiked on growing up. It was surreal, and what amused me the most was that we were all grouped together doing this shoot, and people walking the trail, riding horses, or jogging would stumble upon a photoshoot and freak out with all the models running around. I need to do more shoots in that area. The last time that I did a shoot back there was with Jinelsa Rosado on March 11, 2006 (I think- I do a lot of shoots). When Jinelsa and I shot back there, getting pictures that blew away the 2002 shoot, we didn’t see a single person. I guess that my wooded areas, areas which were turned into parks, were busier back in 2002.
You know, I did good work nine years ago, which was around the time that Diana and I spent our weekends together and I turned pro. Some of my marketing for Aurora PhotoArts, however, sucked (you can tell that I’ve been looking back at my archived files. Some things were brilliant, and were signs of things to come, and others were so stupid that they make me laugh). At least I am good at keeping accurate records, so when I write things like this blog, and can cite people, places, dates, and times. Expect that tradition to continue.
Augh.. Those photography rates were a joke! I guess it is because I was transitioning from film to digital, and had dual rates for both types of photography, too. Here is something from 1999, which is a year before I turned pro as a photographer:

"Agenda 2000"
Monday, 9 August, 1999

1) MODELING COMP CARD PRICING PLAN ADOPTED

A COMP CARD is a business card for the working model. It is an important tool that is used to obtain jobs in the industry. A typical Comp Card is a 5 X 7 laminated card with several photographs composited onto it and modeling stats for the model. Typically, these cards usually cost anywhere between $400.00 to $900.00 to fabricate; photo shoot costs included. Our cost to the Iris model, after all the costs are factored in, start at $140.00 .

a) Photo Shoots (72 frames, 3 looks, 3 locations) $80.00 Necessary to obtain the raw photographs needed for the Model's Comp Card. The model coordinates with the assigned photographer to do the shoot, and pays the photographer the fee. Most of Aurora PhotoArts Photographers are quite good, but it may take more than one shoot to get the "Grail" shots that can be used for the Cards. Regardless, the Model gets SLIDES of every frame shot for their trouble. These slides can be used by the model to put together a PORTFOLIO, another valuable career tool.

b) Comp card setup fee: $20-25.00

The selected pictures are digitized and edited on a computer workstation via PhotoShop 5. The edited frames are then composited into a custom Template designed by Michael for the standard Iris Comp Card. Extra pics crammed onto the card constitute a higher fee.

c) Comp cards $2.00 each, min order 20

The finished Comp Card is copied onto an Iomega Zip Disc and taken to a second party print shop with an Aurora PhotoArts business account. Here, the cards are sized, printed, laminated, and cut. Additional cards are made for Iris to be placed on the Comp Card board to be placed on a wall in Geomedia 3.

2) 1999 Photo Shoot format discontinued

As of Saturday, 7 August, 1999, the Aurora Photo Shoot as we've come to know it was discontinued. There will be sponsored Commercial, Editorial, and Promotional Photo Shoots in the future. AES sponsored shoots will be booked with all the required permits, planned, storyboarded, and shot.

Alrighty. Riiiiiiiight.... Laminated composite cards? I’m glad that this never happened.
Oh, and the use of “Grail shot” to describe a money shot in a modeling shoot; that term is still in use today. It’s interesting to see how far back the term Grail shot goes.
For those of you scratching your heads over some of what was in that email, well, I was confused, too. I still can’t figure out what I was referring to when I stated that the “Aurora Photo Shoot as we've come to know it was discontinued”. Hmmmmm..... Maybe that’s the point where my shoots started on that long road to being less fun and more work. Er... “storyboarding” a shoot? Ok, whatever. That never happened, and I’m glad it didn’t. That idea would have bogged us down and made a shoot many times the work that it needed to be.
Oh, and “Iris” models refers to my models back when I was planning to start a modeling and talent agency and didn’t quite know what one was. It took several years of experience and study before I became a modeling expert. I learn fast.
Oh, and those composite card rates are crazy! Even today, no one in their right mind would pay those kind of rates for comps. They are way too high!
Good God. Those rates..... No one could survive today with those photography rates! $80.00 for a 3 look shoot? Although within a year my work was professional in quality, no one would invest in services which were that cheap. Listen, photographers, and especially those of you who go around shooting TFP shoots for free, there is a lot of psychology in this business. If you are too cheap, or are giving it away, no one will want what you are selling, or, for that matter, respect what you do. It’s true! I had to learn it the hard way. There is something called perceived value, and if you sell yourself short, people will discount your work and not want to buy it, even if it’s awesome. If you sell at a discounted rate, you may find that your photography services are harder to sell than if you charged more. This is why low-rent photographers and TFP photographers don’t hurt my bookings. People tend to take you seriously when you are serious about your photography.
In 2000, when I turned pro, I made good money working as a banker, and spent thousands of dollars on my photography, as I was developing my photography portfolio and improving my photography skills. Jessica, a swimsuit model who I was working with at the time, came by my office at the bank one evening to pick up her pictures, pictures which she did not spend a dime on, and which cost me over $60.00 for film and development. She was over at my desk, and proceeded to nitpick the pictures and bitch me out. I stood my ground, and defended the pictures (looking back, they were quite good, even today). She smirked at me, looked at the rest of the prints, and remarked that I had “potential”. By this time, a dozen of my banking coworkers were up in arms, and wanted to lynch her (We were in my supervisor’s glass cubicle, and while they were seated nearby, they could hear the entire conversation, as well as see us.). She wrapped it up, and left with the prints. After she left the building, my coworkers told me that my work was great, and that she had no right putting it down like that. I thanked them for their support. My friend Leanne, who was the top salesperson at the bank, sat down with me and gave me “the talk”. She told me that my photography work had improved dramatically in the past year, and that they were all impressed by it. She was blunt, and told me that models pay a lot of money for the quality of portfolio photography work that I was doing. She stated that Jessica and a few other models were using me for free portfolios, and that it was obvious that they were. She told me that she was my friend, and she and the others wanted to kick Jessica’s ass for the rude way that she had treated me. “Chris”, she said, “You need to start charging for your photography work. I’d pay for it, and I’m sure others would, too. Don’t sell yourself short anymore, and charge what you are worth”.
That’s when I became serious about making photography a business. It wouldn’t happen overnight, however. I also began to put rude models in their place. The evolution of my photography services, and the improvement of my business and marketing techniques over the years, is fascinating to look at. It improved quickly, and my services grew under a working environment of booking shoots. It took on a life of its own. The difference of my marketing contracts between 2001 and 2003 is like night and day.

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Wednesday, December 10, 2008 - 5:25 PM - Tampa Photographer Log for Photographer Chris Passinault

Merging Talent Photography Operations With Talent Sites

Effective immediately, I am merging some of my assets. The merger will be apparent later this week. My top talent web sites, which include Independent Modeling, Independent Acting, Tampa Bay Modeling, Tampa Bay Acting, and Florida Modeling Career, will become dedicated marketing platforms for my modeling and talent photography services. My photography company, Aurora PhotoArts, will join forces with my talent resource sites to market photography services directly from the talent resource web sites.
There are many Tampa photographers who are now upset. Some of you are crying, because you know how popular, and how prominent, these web sites are. I feel for you. Really, I do. Now, if you excuse me, I have your business to attend to. I have to take most of your market share, and I’m really sorry about it.
Over the past few years, many Tampa photographers have expressed that this scenario would be a nightmare for their photography businesses, as it will become impossible to compete against such an array of marketing tools. Well, it’s here. Frankly, I am tired of piddling around, and from now on, will do everything in my power to further the lead that my Tampa photography enjoys in the Tampa photography services market. To put it bluntly, this is necessary to combat the increase that the Tampa Bay market has seen in modeling and talent scams (although past and present scam-fighting efforts have proven to be very successful, and it has cost Tampa talent scams a lot!). I will take business away from the modeling and talent scams by offering superior, legitimate services.
Hey, guys, if you want to have a business where you market modeling portfolio photography and development services, that is your right, and I would never get in the way of a legitimate business. Hell, I welcome the competition, as it keeps us all on our toes. When you bait and switch aspiring models with the promise of modeling jobs just to sell them overpriced modeling portfolio photography services and modeling portfolios, however, I have a problem with that. So do other professional photographers. It’s dishonest, unethical, and unprofessional! If you are in the business of offering modeling portfolio photography or talent headshot photography, just be up-front and honest about it! It would be cool if certain services were marketed like that, and it would be fair to all of us, including the models who you pitch to.
The modeling job scams must be getting desperate, because there are a ton of ads out there for modeling jobs, and none of them are the real deal. They are like vermin, and there seem to be more and more every day.
What pisses me off are all of the ads for “modeling jobs for major department store fashion shows” with “no experience necessary” on the radio and the modeling job ads in local papers such as the TBT. They are all B.S.! Why? Allow me to explain.

1. No “major department store” is going to book a model with no experience. The model would have to have experience, a full portfolio, professional composite cards, and tear sheets of modeling jobs that they have already done. Don’t believe me? First, learn about how business works, and how businesses minimize risks by investing in professionals. Then, feel free to call up these modeling job scams and have them cite exactly who these “major department stores” are. If they B.S. you and give you the names, call the department stores up. Ask them if they are affiliated with the modeling consultation company advertising the modeling jobs or if they book models from them. Don’t be surprised if they say no, or more probable, they don’t even know who they are!

2. Is the company advertising the modeling jobs a licensed modeling and talent agency? In Florida, you have to be licensed as a talent agency in order to make money by referring (booking) models and talent into jobs. Additionally, if they ARE a licensed modeling and talent agency (and I am not aware of any legitimate modeling agency advertising modeling jobs on the radio), it is ILLEGAL for them to make money by selling models and talent photography services or by splitting fees (obtaining referral fees or kickbacks) from photographers who they refer you to. So, they are a modeling consultant or model management company? Ok, how do they make their money? A modeling consultation or management company can’t make money by referring models (or talent) into those modeling jobs, so just how do they make their money? If they do modeling portfolio photography or model portfolio development, why aren’t they up-front about it? Why do they advertise modeling jobs that they can refer models to if they are not legally able to make money by doing that? Are they going to work for free, out of the goodness of their hearts? I’m sorry, but that’s not the case. If they’re not a modeling job scam, then they do really stupid business if they work for free, and they don’t. Simply because they are still in business. The modeling jobs are only bait so aspiring models can be tricked and manipulated into buying overpriced photography services.
Such deceptive marketing, also known as a deceptive trade practice, is fraud. If they lie to you and mislead you in order to get your business, can you trust them? I wouldn’t!

3. So, they claim that THEY can give you the modeling portfolio and composite cards so you can book the modeling jobs that they are advertising? Don’t believe it. How can you trust anyone who has to mislead you to get your business? Ask them if they are in business to offer models portfolio photography services and modeling portfolio development services, and, if they are, how can they make money referring models into the modeling jobs that they advertised if they are not a licensed modeling and talent agency. Believe me, it takes work to keep up with those job leads and modeling job contacts, and no one is going to do it for free.
Additionally, never pay any more than $600.00 for a six-look modeling portfolio photography session in the Tampa photography market (I’m not giving away rate information, here, either, but I will say that my rates will be lower than that). You need at least five looks to start a modeling portfolio (a normal composite card covers five looks). I’ve seen examples where these modeling consultants charge $1,200.00 and more (one was $2,800.00!) for crappy modeling portfolios, and the aspiring model was manipulated into buying it on the promise of modeling jobs which failed to materialize after it was all over! Don’t get scammed!

4. These Tampa modeling consultation and management companies make money from the stupidity and the ignorance of the people whom they market to. They advertise modeling jobs that they cannot legally make money referring models to, and are not honest with the fact that they are using modeling jobs as bait to sell models an overpriced service. Why are they overpriced? Well, because many people wise up when they realize that they are being bait and switched, and walk away. To increase their profit margins, they have to charge more to the suckers who fall for their pitch.
Oh, and there must me a lot of idiots out there, too, as it is obvious that they are making sales. When the ads keep running, you know that they are making money. This said, I know for a fact that my talent resource sites, such as Tampa Bay Modeling, are costing these con artists a lot of money. It’s now time to finish them off by taking away their business and, ultimately, putting them out of business.

5. If you must invest in a modeling portfolio, shop around. Compare the photography portfolios of different photographers. Even do it with me. Compare my photography portfolio with the photography portfolios of other Tampa photographers (Now you know why I book the most business)!
None of these modeling consultation businesses or model managers can give you what you need as a professional model, and their work has far less quality and is far more expensive.
Speaking for my own photography work as a professional Tampa photographer, not a single one of them can compete with what I have to offer. I know, because I’ve looked at their work and have heard horror stories. Their work would be amusing if it were not for the fact that they were scamming aspiring models and ripping them off!

For more about this modeling scam, check out Tampa Model Search.

Ok, I know some of you are asking what is the difference between them and me?
First of all, my photography work is much better than anything that they have to offer. I know what I am doing.
Also, I am honest about photography services and do not use deceptive marketing to get those bookings. That makes me legitimate, and it is a big difference.
Sure, I could beat them at their own game by running a modeling scam of my own, and I would be better at it than they are. I am, after all, a modeling and talent scam expert. I would never do that, however. I am honest, and I respect myself and my clients too much to do anything unethical or shady. There is a so-called photographer out there who preaches “integrity” all of the time, and his actions betray his words. He is, by far, the least professional, and the photographer with the least integrity, that I have ever known. He’s “slick”, too. He’ll network with other photographers just to learn from them, steal from them, and take their clients away. He’ll mislead his clients just to make a sale. That’s wrong. I will say that this one photographer is responsible for the most advancements in modeling scam-fighting technology. Studying his cons, and his scams, has actually benefited models with the resulting modeling scam-fighting technology and modeling scam-fighting tools on my modeling resource web sites. He is the perfect modeling scam, and these modeling jobs scams almost, almost have him beat.
You see, I practice what I preach. Unlike the slick con-artist photographer, I actually have integrity, and this has always pissed him off. Not only am I better than he is, but I don’t have to lie, cheat, and steal to book work as a Tampa photographer. He has always hated me for my integrity. I am up-front with what I do. I am a professional photographer, and I don’t mislead anyone to book a shoot. I don’t have to, as my work sells itself, and even if it didn’t, I still would not resort to such shady tactics. If I were an average photographer, or even if I were the worst photographer in the world , I still wouldn’t do anything unethical or unprofessional to do photography. That, my friends, is true integrity. Anyone can be supportive of good causes and be a good person when times are good and they have food on the table. Anyone can be charitable when they believe things are going well. It’s when they are down and out, and their back is against the wall, that their true character is revealed.
People, there are a lot of con artists out there. There are a lot of photographers and modeling scams who will trick you into buying their photography services. Educate yourself. Trust your gut instinct. Check their references. Be a smart consumer.

With my photography services being directly marketed through my talent resource sites, it’s not only legitimate, but it will serve to undermine what those modeling job scams are doing. How so? Behold.......

1. No misleading marketing or deceptions are used to promote my photography. Everyone will know that the talent resource site and my photography business are owned by the same party, so there will be no “we recommend them” misconceptions where they are led to believe that we are two separate parties (there was a time when there was more than one party involved, but this has changed. I now own everything).

2. No bait and switch! There is no obligation for anyone who uses my talent resource sites to pay for anything, or to obtain my photography services. The information on the sites, and the resources, are available free of charge, with no purchase necessary. I will not be using the promise of a modeling job or the lure of a modeling career to sell modeling portfolio photography services. I’ll be straight-up with what I am doing.

3. The modeling jobs on the modeling job boards and the talent auditions on the talent audition boards will be available free of charge. So, what is this that I said about working for free? Well, in this case, it is killing two birds with one stone. The modeling job boards don’t take a lot of work, and instead of working to give models modeling job leads, the job board is updated by default during the work done on the modeling resources sites in an effort to undermine and fight modeling scams. (Ahem. I will have to explain about the cost-effectiveness of online modeling job boards in more detail, later, but not now, and not on this blog. I’ll post about it on the new Modeling Blog which will be on the re-launched Independent Modeling web site later this week. There are always exceptions to the rule, and the modeling job scams are not the exception).
When I last checked, both Tampa Bay Modeling and Independent Modeling has top search engine results for modeling jobs. This is why I receive a lot of modeling job offers from businesses who are looking for models, and who find my sites.
Do the modeling job scams who advertise modeling jobs have the advantage of a top modeling resource site? Not at all. For them to work to find modeling job leads, it isn’t cost-effective to do so, and they would have to do too much work for free. In my case, it isn’t that way at all. Oh, and did I mention that there is no obligation to buy anything to use the job boards?
Remember my key point: I will offer legitimate, professional alternatives to what these modeling scams claim to offer. I have it all figured out, and I expect an ongoing measure / countermeasure cycle to begin and to never end, although I will always be several steps ahead of them.

WARNING: Tampa modeling job scams out there who are reading this and have the bright idea to find leads on my modeling job boards.
Don’t do it. I’m ready for it.
Besides, here is something to ponder. Think about it. You bait models with modeling jobs, as they are valuable leads and the models are led to believe that they can only find those modeling job leads by buying what you are selling. What happens to the value of something when the market is flooded by less-expensive, or in this case, free things of equal, or better, quality? Well, the value of what you are trying to sell drops and crashes. Your bait becomes less effective, or useless.
Also, what do you suppose that your models will do when they already know where you stole the modeling job lead from, and are trying to sell them information which is already available for free?
These are interesting times. For some, your business nightmare has begun.

Monday, November 17, 2008 - 3:00 AM - Tampa Photographer Log for Photographer Chris Passinault

Tampa Headshots Aurora PhotoArts Web Site Launched

Oh, yes. My latest web site, the Aurora PhotoArts Tampa Headshots web site, is finally finished, and I just uploaded it to the server. It is now online, and it has officially launched. The Tampa Headshots web site is the third Huey Class web site designed by me through my Tampa advertising agency, Eos MediaArts. It joins its sister Huey Class sites Tampa Photography Society and Tampa Boudoir Photography. I talked to my good friend, Atlanta and Orlando photographer Craig Huey last night, and he exclaimed "Yay!" when I told him that another Huey Class site was about to launch. Efficient little sites, they are proving to be very potent in Internet photography marketing, and are high-performance in SEO numbers (the latest SEO performance numbers on the last Huey Class site, Tampa Boudoir Photography, is 93%, because I used some of my latest enhanced SEO tools when I launched it back in March 2008 - it is ripping up the search engines right now. The first Huey Class site, Tampa Photography Society, is currently pulling a SEO performance of 89%, because it needs some upgrades, but it's still great; it pulls in a lot of web traffic numbers. In comparison, my main photography web site for Aurora PhotoArts pulls in a SEO performance rating of 94%, as it is an advanced Venus Class site. For their smaller size and more compact design, The "Venus-lite" Huey Class sites perform very well. The newest Huey Class site, Tampa Headshots, should pull in the best SEO numbers yet- I'm projecting at least 95% after the search engines index it- Hmmm..... I just checked, and it's already pulling 94%. My estimate wasn't off by much).

I can't wait until some of those no-talent, so-called "Tampa Headshot Photographers" see this site. They are going to freak out, as they cannot compete. I'm not finished, either. I have another Huey Class Tampa photography marketing web site set for launch later this week. This upcoming site is for me as a Tampa photographer, and will tie into all my photography marketing web sites, Tampa Bay Photographers, Tampa Photography Society, and both Tampa photography blogs. After that, I will be upgrading my main Aurora PhotoArts Venus Class web site, and then will be completing and launching my Tampa Advertising Agency web site. So far, everything is proceeding as planned. I'm ready for what's coming in January 2009. Gotta run. I have to update my Tampa Photography Blog now with a post about my Tampa Headshots site launch and the latest on my SEO efforts, and then I have to work on the studio- I have to swap out a computer monitor and rewire a sound system / DJ rig for my Tampa event planning company.

Sunday, May 4, 2008 - 3:36 AM - Tampa Photographer Log for Photographer Chris Passinault

Tampa Photographer Blog Launched

It had to happen. My Tampa Photography Blog split into two separate photography blogs which will serve as one large binary blog separated into two categories. This new blog will retain the original Tampa Photography Blog design and will focus on my photographer anecdotes and adventures. The original Tampa Photography Blog will focus on the Tampa photography services industry and my opinions regarding the photography industry. I will post more shortly, and update the header. Here, I will post as Chris Passinault. At the original Tampa Photography blog, I will post as C. A. Passinault.

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Scroll Class web site blog by Tampa Advertising Agency Eos MediaArts. Tampa Photographer Blog online 02/28/08.

Tampa Photographer Blog Web Site index refresh History

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.

03/22/11 - Meta Tags fixed in preparations for new Mosaic Class site.

08/06/10 - Disclaimer added and footer content corrected.

Refreshed 08/04/10 (adjusted content and centered the site layout). NEXT UP: A "wide screen" version of the new Venus 3 Venus Class site for this blog, optimized for content, and interconnected with my other photography sites. In the first wave, 8 new Venus 3 Venus Class photography marketing sites will be deployed, and an additional 4 are planned for later.

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.

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