Model Mayhem - Don't fall for the hype!

[Maggie Puller {★}]

K, well I got a profile over on Model Mayhem...commonly referred to at simply "MM" on this site. It took a few days to get approved and I was excited and shocked really, because this morning I had about 17 emails for modeling jobs!!! I sat back and looked at the computer screen thinking, wow...is this really happening? Are all these phtogs (shortened form of photographer for all the newbies like me out there...) REALLY interested in ME?????? ASWEOME!

Then, to my dismay...I learned I was not quite as popular as I thought I was. Here are some things to know for girls out there. If you get an email that says any of the following:

"Are you interested in modeling in upcoming erotic lingerie calendar & pose in upcoming urban men's magazine/dvd nude? Shoot pays $2500."

OR

"I am very interested in shoot you...what a beauty face you have! I fly you to Africa and we tour Asia, Africa and Europe for the Queen! You meet my close and personal friend, Prince William and he new bride Kate!! You be most profitable and beautiful model in all the world!" (Imagine some dude really saying all that to you with a heavy Nigerian accent...scary)

THIS girls is how you wind up working in the sex slave industry. Stay away from these crazy emails. I know it is so easy to be sucked into the excitement of the model world. I am a living example, because I REALLY wanna do this!! But, all of us need to put our safety FIRST and remember to know "too good to be true" when we see it!! Thanks to all my friends on this site who helped me figure out what is real and what is fake!!

[Sway Darling]

i had a MM profile but i let it laps... i got sick of trolling thru the dirt.. as i used to do a lot of nude pinups i was constantly hassled by photographers who want to shoot nudes for "magazine" but will shoot "then maybe will get paid" when the mags buy the pix... till then the photographer owns the pix and i get nothing!! how crap is that? i meet one of the photographers w/ a friend not a good experiance... ALWAYS BRING A FRIEND!!

[Nicholl Marie]

oh yes of course! Modeling was always something i wanted to try as a kid, but wont be something ill make a career out of. I want to do this for fun, something to make me happy and feel proud about the fact that i accomplished something i wanted to do in life.
I keep it fun and stay possitive :)

The Trousseau said:

Nicoll,  I am old enough to be a mother to many of the lovely girls on this site.  Were I their mom, I would hope and suggest they stick to having fun at this rather than getting on MM.  Keep it fun, no matter what.  The irony with the fashion business is that it takes lots of experience to weather the battering one gets as a model, but the only people that tend to make money at it regularly are too young to handle the ego bashing. 

 

I sat down once, with my niece, to talk about this when we got on the subject.  She knows she is pretty enough, has the right symmetry in her features, is tall and thin and just shines in front of a camera.  She also said she wouldn't want to go into modeling because she wants to do something for others, and not go into a business filled with narcissism.  I liked what she had to say and was glad to hear it. 

 

 

[Stephanie Jay]

Snap! I've had some good shoots through MM, you just have to learn which photographers look good and worth the time. I've had one offer of a paid glamour shoot, which I declined, but none of this bank account scam stuff at all.
As Mischa said, its not the website's fault. Just like its not our email providers fault when we get spam mail.


Mischa Marie said:

If you leave your email in your biography, you will get scam emails forever. This is not MMs fault, it is from people harvesting emails off the internet. Your best bet is to be smart, learn how to spot scams, and delete them. No point in giving them another thought. If you get a scam message from another member on the site, you can report them to the moderators.

I have been on MM for over three years. I get all of my work from there, and have never had any scammer problems.

The site is what you make of it :)
Good luck.

[Cowboy Raygun]

I put my email on public sites like this: cowboyraygun at yahoo dot com. That way bot programs can't automatically pick it up. I don't usually have a lot of problems with spam from that. It's good to add an alternative contact to MM sometimes.

 

I also shoot short films, and some models act as well as model. However, for a while I had no MM account, because I had no stills, just videos. Anyone can look at an MM portfolio, but only members can contact you, so I couldn't always contact someone to do a short film if they didnt' provide an alternative contact. Just something to consider, depending on what you are doing.  

 

MM is popular, so like anything popular you get a little bit of everything, both good and bad.

 

 

Stephanie Jay said:

Snap! I've had some good shoots through MM, you just have to learn which photographers look good and worth the time. I've had one offer of a paid glamour shoot, which I declined, but none of this bank account scam stuff at all.
As Mischa said, its not the website's fault. Just like its not our email providers fault when we get spam mail.


Mischa Marie said:

If you leave your email in your biography, you will get scam emails forever. This is not MMs fault, it is from people harvesting emails off the internet. Your best bet is to be smart, learn how to spot scams, and delete them. No point in giving them another thought. If you get a scam message from another member on the site, you can report them to the moderators.

I have been on MM for over three years. I get all of my work from there, and have never had any scammer problems.

The site is what you make of it :)
Good luck.

[Rich Newnham Photography]

As a photographer on MM, I think it has it's place. I've only been shooting seriously for just over a year, and MM was great for finding good models who wanted to just shoot for fun.

 

I dislike the b*******, the fakeness and the assumption for some models that all photographers are predatory and trying to lure them into a dangerous situation. The problem is that there are people on there like that... But my advice to any model is that any serious photographer will be happy to talk through ideas, locations, costumes, whether there's a stylist/mua/etc needed on the shoot. They should be happy to meet before the shoot. If you speak to them, and things don't seem right, be polite, make your excuses and don't do the shoot!

 

I've done a fair few MM shoots and had some shots that I feel very happy with from them (Scarlet Von Harlet being a great shoot with the lady who introduced me to PL!). So don't discount it entirely, just be careful about who you work with.

[Alice Cat]

Don't worry doll, those kinda messages die down after a while! It''s horrible but true, but 'photographers' like that prey on newbies.

Stick at it, ignore the weird requests and keep your wits about you :)

I now find Model Mayhem to be my ultimate source of income, so keep going!!

[BOMBSHELL LOLA POP]

THANKS FOR THE HEADS UP LADIES! GOOD LOOKIN' OUT! :)

[Keight]

I encountered the exact same thing over on MM; lots of creeps with cameras. And that's not the only downside: all these creeps can get profiles, yet a close friend of mine (who has shot almost my entire modelling portfolio) was denied a membership not once, but twice! I eventually contacted the website and they let her in, but she hasn't had much luck (likely because all the amateur models on there are scared shitless to respond to messages)
I find it to be such a waste of a good website.

[Sapphire Romance]

I am so sorry you have had this experience. I myself have had a hard time with other photographers, but stuck it out and met a lot of great ones. I hope your luck changes on MM. Keep your guard up. Love your pics.

[Tifa DeLeone]

I've been a member since 2005 when I started modeling. And I think I maybe got 2 spam emails through MM, so I cannot really relate to what have been said earlier in this thread.

I've gotten tons of work and met some amazing people through that site, however these days it seems pretty dead... I haven't updated myself since November last year or something.

When I started out at MM it was a smaller community and was easier to find good talents.

 

Look up photographers like this:

"Hi, I really like the pictures you posted and since we live in the same area I'd love to do a TFP shoot with you! Have a look at my profile and if you are interested let me know! Let me know any ideas about clothes and styling you might have"

-This is a reasonable contact for a beginner. Take a look at their pictures. IF you like their work start a discussion about a shoot you'd like to do and look into details.

 

Ignore:

Hi, I'm a published photographer since 10 years, I need models for lingerie shoot in Hawaii, all expenses paid and you can make about $1000 for only 1 days work, please send one full body image to [e-mail].

-Delete, ignore and forget about it.

[Edson Carlos]

Tifa you never fail to deliver amazing advice to our community!

[Hellz Kittehn]

I'm on MM and have booked shoots. Not for pay, but TFP and TFCD. I've got my privacy settings where I want them to be and it's been good so far. All the best, Hellz