Time for the Instagram model to find a professional photographer and start a model career.

Our thoughts on model success

According to Model Mayhem when they were the powerhouse of modeling below the supermodel level. They told us Leah was the top view profile. Our friend we helped on promotion Jessi was number 2 and we were the number 3 most viewed port on Model Mayhem. We had 75 to 132 models a week asking to shoot. We shot 50 shoots a week with one to multiple models with some booking multiple segments. We did some serious shooting. We shot at a massive studio with 72 photographer members at one point. When a new studio owner took over he was in shock that I was shooting 24/7 with more models in a week than most togs shot their entire shooting career.  There was a model image critique section on Model Mayhem and I had 3500 conversations with photographers asking advice and “how the hell do you know that? Who trained you?” No-one trained me. I come from generations of  genius types including my  direct family with both parents genius IQs.  Dad 198 IQ and one of the top inventors in the history of the world. I’m beyond smart from reading and understanding what I read so young. However, model photography is all about common sense and no-one taught me how to shoot. I viewed since 4 all magazines with models, glamour magazines my sister received, to Playboy and Penthouse as I told friends the Playboy togs were beginners and their models aren’t being shot effectively. I read into the models body language, confidence and if her features were being shot properly with energy and confidence, So few at Playboy had a clue how to shoot the pretty models. We studied the models body language to see if they had the beautiful gal net door and self love look for career success.

We see everything before we snap the shot. We see every flaw when we view an image. We understand the images we viewed or shot. We enjoy shooting. In today’s young models there are few who have any work ethic or want to succeed. We haven’t asked any one to shoot this past year  for the New England models tend to shot with photographers on Instagram who totally suck in Conn and Mass. Models think a photographer on Instagram must be the total pro. Many feel they score 5 to 17% of 100 at best. Crazy how fast the industry has become a total joke for no model portfolio I saw of 11,000 agency ports  in New England to New York had a port that scored above a 3 or 4 except a model with bangs and you never ever want bangs as a model as your daily hair style. The asian models you see on Vogue with bangs are wearing wigs! All our models with bangs in the past quickly grew their hair so they no longer looked like a youngster and no features of a professional woman model was possible. Bangs prevent 90% of required images to create a professional model portfolio. Hair needs to be posed in every image and every tilt of the head with bangs looks very weird and out of place to a trained professional. Bangs also put a straight line across the forehead and covers many features on a model from neck, shoulders, ears, jaw line in addition to many times creating harsh shadows on their neck and chest. Bangs destroy the possible work the model woud have otherwise. We known a beautiful older model with bangs who if she shot with even one pro to explain to her the look prevents her from having professional images could, if trained be amazing for she has all other features and beauty.

We joined Instagram around 9 years ago and shocked we didnt see our friends and togs of decades. They were gone or dead. The photographer the models deemed the best was anything but the best. I counted twenty images with over 100 major blunders. I liked some of their few wedding images I saw alot, but a start up at shooting model portfolios beyond one image or two.  95% of the photographers on Instagram rate 5 to 17 out of 100. So much fraud there and by the internet advertises for  model portfolios. Some serious fraud there folks, along with all these posing books. 50 of 50 are exactly what not to do. One woman with nearly 500,000 followers is a serious joke. She had a few images in high fashion but we know our shit forwards and sideways and she is winging much and missing even more in the poor images she shoots. There are several fashion images she has shot I do like alot. Charging for glamour that she has not even the slightest clue on professional shots is beyond belief that a major photography company advertises with this model. Great for business, but lying and cheating is not the style we like to see. There are togs offering business shoots and they are a total joke in New England. Fraud. Never seen one professional image, never mind what it takes to create a model portfolio. The two samples images clearly what only a blind tog would shoot. I and others rate this tog a 5 of 100 and that’s being nice. Shooting just to shoot is fine, but saying you are international published is that of a tog who hates to deal with reality. You suck and have no issue with your fraud business practices.

Can’t Buy Mastery

The internet is crowded with amateur photography cliques and self-proclaimed “industry insiders” who focus entirely on the wrong things. They buy a decent camera and sometimes lights, trade superficial compliments in private forums, and obsess over social media validation. They have their boy scout club of entirely underachievers and stay clear of  giving likes to local talented togs  There are several very nice models and togs who know no better or clearly shoot for fun. This is not about togs shooting because they love model photography and their image work for them and models who are also shooting just for fun, This is about the thousands of wanna be togs who truly are not even close to being professional model photographers capable of bringing models success, yet pass themselves off as professional. Not one in this boyscout club even know the purpose of a model image and we have asked hundreds of times in 9 years. No-one has answered and no-one has posted images suggesting they have a clue or common sense. They just don’t care.  When these togs are faced with the real work of managing a business, developing technical strategy, and protecting talent, they fall completely short.

To understand why these “Boy Scouts  of pretenders” struggle to find genuine success, you have to look at the psychological gap between chasing popularity and mastering a craft. We have offered to teach any beginner to experienced woman or male tog. We like people and we like shooting with other togs at any level that we did 2 x a week and one night a week monthly for years. No-one fought over likes or fake merit badges so we all got along.

1. Buying Gear to Advertisements that Hide a Lack of Skill

Amateurs believe that a better camera makes a better photographer. They invest thousands of dollars in the newest lenses and bodies, using the equipment as a shield. If a photo looks flat or uninspired, they blame the lighting gear or the setting rather than their own lack of direction. A high-end camera in the hands of an untrained photographer is just an expensive point-and-shoot. There are photographer ‘s advertising for business shoots and agency portfolios and they are truly frauds who must know they suck but care not.

2. The Obsession with Popularity

For many modern hobbyists, photography is a tool for social engineering rather than an art form. They will do anything to become popular online—buying fake followers, joining engagement circles, and manufacturing drama to get noticed. Because they tie their self-worth to likes and digital metrics, they view anyone with a real, established track record as an immediate threat. We found that out right away. We posted to a Boston Models Group page 9 years ago and had the record amount of likes over anyone else’s posts ever, only to see around 2000 of those likes disappear. Crazy but fake is what Instagram is all about. It’s a great tool, but a nothing that means nothing in model photography, except for a few who use it for promotions and make serious money from those efforts.

3. Avoiding Reality and High-Level Problem Solving

A professional photoshoot is a complex pipeline of human behavior, mechanics, angles, and technical execution. True professionals analyze a shoot strategically to solve problems before clicking the shutter.

The “boyscouts” don’t want to deal with this reality. They don’t want to study the hard mechanics of body language, posing physics, or structural business foundations. When their forced, stiff images don’t produce real-world results or earnings for their subjects, they deflect blame onto the industry rather than fixing their own foundational flaws. Photographer shoot creases, and wrinkles to crotch rot for agency images everywhere in New England. They shoot knees, elbows, long nails, white nails to baby robin blue that along with undergarments spell wanna be tog and model chasing likes versus a model carer. They shoot with the clowns because their friends who are clueless shot with the same clowns. Pics that totally GWC class have rave reviews from these models daily and the pics totally subpar and not useable for professional work.

We have not seen a single model portfolio on an agency site in New England that is even slightly useable for a model career or success. They just don’t know because we are one of the few left who know everything about model glamour photography and bringing model success, or  how to create a supermodel. We learned those skills back when you paid for film and developing and there were no joker togs or models. We train models for who they become, not who they are. We understand modeling as well as any modeling professional.

4. Co-Dependency vs. The Heart of a Lion

Amateur cliques rely entirely on mutual praise to survive. They create echo chambers where no one gives honest feedback or constructive criticism, meaning no one ever grows.

True development requires absolute discipline, work ethic, and an unyielding drive to win. A real mentor doesn’t hand out empty compliments; they treat the photoshoot as an elite partnership, teaching talent how to take setbacks, turn them into fuel, and excel past the competition.

The Blueprint for Rejection: What the Amateurs Miss

Below is the essential checklist every serious aspiring model must use to audit their portfolio. If your current photographer has missed even one of these structural details, they aren’t building a career—they are building a joke.

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