Originally, I was raised and brought up in the State of New Hampshire. I moved to Florida some 14 years ago. I have been fortunate to expand my photography into an art through my lifelong friends from New Hampshire and Massachusetts. I have also received some help from new friends out of Florida which some of which have moved to Charleston, SC, Nevada, Chicago, Atlanta, and California.
Florida though has another side of it. I have had considerable difficulty in finding models to work with and photographers to affiliate myself with. Florida is known as the scam capital of America and the educational system is quite inferior as compared to where I am come from. Currently, I work with four models out of Florida. One of which is Amy Vitale, another is Elina Sol and two others Alejandra Garrido (daughter of a friend of mine who is an artist) and Rosemarie Kimmelman. All of these people are exceptional to work with. Alejandra, who is only 15 years old has more on the ball than hundreds of models I have met with. Obviously, I give a lot of credit to Sabrina Fajardo, her mother, who is an exceptional artist herself. I have never seen the degree of unprofessionalism, crudeness, laziness and stupidity. Amy Vitale has heard the same from photographers outside the State of Florida, and I have heard this through photographer friends of mine out of NYC, New England, Chicago and Los Angeles. I was warned by Jean Renard, a former photographer out of Boston, incidentally the one who discovered Nikki Taylor, wishing me the best of luck before I moved here. Isobella Jade wrote about her Florida experiences in Almost 5’4”, which I recommend it. Some of the behaviors I encounter are the following:* Meeting is planned for the interview and the model does not show up.
* They are unable to determine the established background of my work.
They actually never “Google” me on the internet or actually verify that
I am a registered “Corporation” through the State of Florida.
* Models disappear after I shoot with them to never hear from them again
even when I have agreed to pay them $1,000 for the shoot.
* Typically, a model will give some lame excuse as to the reason that they
could not make it or was not able to furnish a mailing address so that I
could send them a media kit to review my work and background.
Most of the models I meet in Florida do not amount to much. They are unfamiliar with the real industry; are unfamiliar with the resource directories on the industry and are repeatedly scammed. A couple of years ago, a model friend by the name of Camie met with a photographer out of Tampa which I cautioned her to check out his background. It turns out he was a registered sex offender. I should have known before I moved here what it was like. There was a famous story of a photographer by the name of Christopher Wilder, who was a serial killer of young models. He was attempting the escape the country to Canada and unfortunately he met up with his death from my home State of New Hampshire, where heroic State Troopers gunned him down. Wilder was from South Florida.
Florida is a unique place. South Florida, according to the Palm Beach Post is ranked 2 for mortgage fraud in the country. According to 60 Minutes, Miami is ranked 1 for Medicare Fraud. Until recently, people were coming to Florida to stock up on pain killers from clinics to supply drug trafficking. Florida was the home for Deborah Lafave, Casey Anthony, Bernie Madof, the Terrorists of 9/11, Allen Stanford, Scott Rothstein, the killers of Adam Walsh and Jessica Lunsford, and where COPS looks like a National TV Show. Most of the Child Predator shows are filmed here.
I hear quite a few stories of photographers that have acted as unprofessional as the models I have met. There is so many of them, that I believe this is why the models act so skeptical and unprofessional. Luckily, I have the support services where I can fly models into the State from other places. I have heard that many photographers make crude sexual advancements to their models, and many of them have been arrested for sexual crimes. Obviously, a model should look for the following to determine whether they should work with a photographer:
* Is the photographer a member of National Professional Photographer
Organizations such as PPA (Professional Photographers of America)
* Is a member of community based organization such as Chambers of
Commerce or other Civic Groups.
* Has been published or featured in the news because of his/her great
photographic works. A photographer should have been at least published
in newspapers, magazines, and brochures for local businesses.
* This is a pretty basic one; the photographer should have a corporation
which is registered through the State of Florida and can be verified on
Why is it like this in Florida?
1. It is a transient community.
2. There is an influx of many cultures in Florida.
3. Florida does not have a strong community base and people believe they can hide in the shadows.
4. Florida is fairly new in comparison with the rest of the country and it has grown exceptionally fast.
Florida does have some exceptional people though. It is not ALL bad. I have a couple of business mentors which have developed my banking career. In the modeling world though, Florida is not high on the list for professionalism, quality, and ethics. I seek for models generally outside of Florida. The people that furnish my model’s costuming (Costume World) are out Deerfield Beach and they are second to none. Marvin Tresky has handled the majority of my printing and developing here. I have found the quality of vendors here. You may want to check out my Florida Field of Schemes collage. It is quite enlightening on what occurs here.
Marc Gagnon website pertaining to media and letters of reference
www.sunbiz.org.
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