Oh hello! Welcome back to my weekly blog post. I hope you’ve been enjoying this nice weather we’ve been having! Hello sunshine, am I right? Except today is cold and rainy, go figure.
This week's topic might be a little on the dark side and not even a thought you’ve had, but I think it’s important to talk about.I want to touch on the topic of your safety at your next photoshoot-whether that's physical safety, mental safety, or being safe from photographer spammers.
I did a mini shoot last month, my Spring Flower Petites and they were a hit! Almost everyone that inquired with me signed up which was awesome! I did this shoot at my home studio in Huson Montana, which is a pretty small town. All we have is the road and a bar, that’s it. One of my clients that came was a mom and her two sons, one was 11 and the other was 4 or 5 I believe, but it was just the 3 of them that showed up at my house, about 20 minutes out of town, for our shoot. Watching them pull up to my house, the thought totally hit me, that someone could have easily tricked this woman and abducted her and her kids.
Yes, I know that’s a really dark thought, but it’s totally possible. It’s sad to say, but our world is full of crazies that do crazy shit all the time. People get kidnapped all the time. Someone could easily pose as a photographer, get someone to sign up for a shoot at a random location outside of town, and totally use that as a way to kidnap them.
According to Google, ‘In the United States, approximately 206,371 females under 21 and 64,956 females 21 and over are reported missing annually. Additionally, about 460,000 children are reported missing each year’. That’s terrifying. It’s sad, but women unfortunately have to always be on the lookout or high alert anywhere they go, especially going somewhere alone. From watcing Criminal Minds and CSI, I’m always on high alert when I’m out and about. I hate it, it’s probably not helping my anxiety, but I want to be safe out in this crazy world. Which is why I think this topic is something good to cover.
People do pose as fake photographers. I’ve mainly seen this happen as someone posing as a phony wedding photographer. They make themselves look legit online and couples will give them their wedding deposits then the ‘photographer’ ghosts them, never to be heard from again, fucking over that couple.
I’ve also heard of photographers taking nudes or explicit photos of a client and sharing them on porn sites without their knowing. Something to think about when working with a photographer is where they’ll be sharing the photos. Unless it's been talked about with you and the photographer, and the photographer agrees to give you the rights to your photos, the photographer technically has the rights to use them however they want. If they’re a nice person they’ll at least ask you if they can share your pictures and where they’ll share them too, but some aren’t that way. Always check what it says in the contracts, and make sure you agree with it. It’s a fucked up world we’re living in folks.
Some things you can do to ensure you’re safety at your next photoshoot are:
Tell a friend or family member where you’ll be shooting and for how long you’ll be shooting. Better yet, bring a friend or family member with you!
You can share your location with a friend or family member too! My fiance and I use the app Life360 to track each other. This app is nice because it allows iPhones and Androids to track each other.
If you’re able to, do a background check on the photographer.
Stalk the shit outta them online.
Book a video call with them so you can see them in real-time.
If you’re meeting up with the photographer in a random location, either look it up online first or check it out sometime before your shoot, if you have time. There's this app called OnX that shows you who owns what property so you can even look up the owners of the land you’re shooting at if it’s not public land.
You can totally bring a knife, gun, pepper spray, or something you to your shoot.
You can check to make sure someone you know has heard of the photographer you want to work with.
Make sure you talk to your photographer about the rights of your photos and where they’ll be sharing them. Make sure you’re okay with where they want to share your photos. Most photographers have contracts that cover this type of stuff, but you can always make you’re own to send to the photographer if they don’t offer a contract.
If you don’t understand the contract your photographer sent you, Chat GPT and Grok can break it down for you, or if you have a lawyer friend they can look it over for you.
If at anytime during your shoot if you don’t feel safe, stop the shoot and let your photographer know.
I know some of this stuff might be over the top, but from watching Cops and all those Law & Order, CSI shows, you can never be too careful in today’s world. It’s better to protect yourself than to accidentally put yourself in a dangerous situation. It’s like the Boy Scouts say, safety first.
If you found this helpful or if you have any helpful tips you do with staying save at a photoshoot, please let me know!
Have a great week!
