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A Dot for Growth

So as the 2017 year nears its end, I am excited with anticipation for the coming days and 2018!

This year I have learned a lot about myself as an artist. In particular, I have a process in place for TF-shoots now. With this process in place, it is my hope that by early next year I will have an accurate hourly rate to offer folks who are interested in inquiring for my services. I plan to provide my services at a very limited capacity however, since I am a fine arts photographer and not so much a commercial photographer; a very important distinction in my opinion. Please keep in mind also that once my rates are posted, TFs will be very limited as well and only if the shoot benefits my portfolio / brand online.

With that said, I did a collaborated shoot over the summer with @marie.angelique33 & @theofficialaliah and this is what I learned to get me where I am now. At the time, I thought to make it a habit to compensate the models at least for their travel time and makeup. So I paid the models, but after the shoot I just could not take my edits seriously.

Now I know that because I paid the models I did not feel pressured to complete the edits right away and the images lost their value for me. A problem did not become evident for me until I shot with Marie. With her shoot, I ended up editing around 50 images within a month, and then giving her the rest of the unedited photos a few months later. Even though she did receive her images, this process was too long and inconsistent to be of any use with the new foundation that I am working to build. Additionally, I was never up-front on the number of edits to expect back either. Looking back, it was not the best Trade for Shoot (TF) experience for the model, or myself, so I changed it up after my shoot with Rezia & Joanna.

Adjustments & Changes

I am the type of person who tries to learn from bad experiences and mistakes. This is how I am able to continue to grow and mature as a person. As I've heard somewhere before in life, "everyone grows old, but not everyone matures".

When doing a TF shoot, now within 24-48 hours, I will email and share with the model all the images in low-res so that they can view and decide which ones they want edited.

I will choose and edit the top 10-20 images that I liked and the model can choose up to 20 images as well. All edits should then be done within 1-2 weeks. Once done, the images will be shared via Google Drive or Drop Box.

That's it. Simple, clean and to the point.

I no longer will provide compensation, unless it is for gas when traveling together to an out-of-the-way location. And instead, my images will be my form of payment. I have struggled with adding value and worth to my work, but this no longer is going to be an issue for me. I can confidently say that I will be pushing forward with this mindset now.

I am learning to walk after crawling for so long, that once I am able to watch me run to the finish line :)

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