We go way back before model and photographer sites. One Model Place in the 1990s had 15 million members and then made serious mistake charging photographers and not models. Besides being illegal it destroyed their company. Out of 15 million, we were 1320. One of our models who was featured on FHM was ranked top 5. Lisa lived in New York and a car that was not travel worthy. This was just as Digital camearas not $15,000 for a toy began to be released. Olympus E10. Great camera but slow.

Back in the days of film there were many professional photographers. Can’t tell you one other in 2026. So many massive mistakes and no common sense and yet models follow their friends to poor judgement.

I’m talking glamour model photographers. Most of those selling posing books on Instagram are borderline fraud. The correct way of posing is the exact opposite of what they do.

Just as Covid was kicking in, the major Model areas of New York, LA and Florida had models with many nice images, but gone were the days of a complete port for modeling. Checking last  January around the country and we did not see one single professional portfolio. Many with outright start up images for the professional model photographers since digital are few and far between. Without being mean. I knew better and had common sense to shoot correctly by 4 years old around the time I received my first camera.

I noticed when I joined Instagram there was a Boston Click that all hired the same useless photographer who shot jock rot, armpit rot, wrinkles and creases. 110 major shooting flaws I counted on their Instagrams and to this day in 2026 the models have no clue. Neither do the photographers for they see zero% of the detail we see. We have world class common sense, they don’t.  Shooting a model with a great sunset is useless if the model is posed poorly or not shot for their features, energy, tones or personality. Nice lighting doesn’t help if you have 1 or 3 useable images for professional work out of 4 hours of shooting plus travel time. We teach our models what makes for a great image so you can decide on a model career if pretty and personable.

A pro photographer WILL ALWAYS talk with you on the phone and discuss makeup, hair, rings, belly button rings, under garments to foundation and eye shadow in addition to the theme and outfits a few days prior to your scheduled shoot. Most if any Boy Scout togs on Instagram make that call because they all just wing it and shoot like a beginner even with 6 years of shooting often. Common sense is not there. Jay, the black gentleman with white hair knew his modeling inside and out because he had intelligence for ANTM.  However the host Tara could do runway and beyond useless on how to pose. Just a pretty model who did not get it. So the first two fired were Jay and the cross dresser who also was top flight for runway. They were smartly called back. They made the show possible. Noone else. Tara brought her name only.

The question we teach our models is how to answer:

What is the purpose of a model image? I know of no-one who has the answer somehow. A few years ago everyone came close. A guy name Dan shot alot of Boston Model portfolios traveling from New York. He knew what he was doing. Other tog recommended are shooting with dumpster backgrounds and the wrong outfits were the. models tell us they were told by the photographer what to buy. So sad. Won’t happen with us. We take self pride and as smart as smart gets. We know every area of print modeling and lots of Fashion to runway but that’s not where the money is at for those not famous.