Check references. Do it. Every single shoot. Message a couple of models and just say:

“Hi, I see you worked with photographer X. Is he OK to work with? Anything I should know about?”

And remember to add:

“This is between you and me. I won’t repeat anything you say to other photographers or models,”

And you have to mean it. DON’T go around saying ‘Well, Samantha Blogs said he was a weirdo, blah blah blah,”

It’s a private conversation. Don’t go mouthing off about who said what. That’s a slap in the face to the person that’s looked out for your safety and given you a reference. Take the comments, keep them to yourself and make your own mind up.

If you don’t check references and just use your instincts to steer clear of the weirdoes, you might be ok. But then again you might be unlucky.

And if you’re unlucky, you might have an experience like this:

One shoot that sticks in my head for all the wrong reasons, was the guy that made it clear one hour into the shoot that he had only booked me because I resembled his dead wife.

WTF? Yes, I’ll say that again. He wanted to take pictures of me sitting on the settee and looking out of the window in my pants, because I looked like his dead wife. He didn’t think to mention this beforehand.

This only became apparent because he started whining that I wasn’t tanned. And I mean really whinging, as if I’d told him I looked like Jennifer Lopez. I’m Maybelline Mousse ‘Light Porcelain’ pale.

He’d said and done several other weird things prior to this, and I was starting to get twitchy.  Or stabby.  One of the two.  I don’t like being kept in suspense about whether somebody is a nut-job or not.  I’d rather they just get on with it so I can deal with them.  He’d started taking pictures of me between poses, or when I wasn’t ready, and then looking at them and sort of chuckling to himself.  He made a point of clicking just when I was doing something, like zipping my dress up or putting something away.  Then he would insist on showing it to me and saying ‘Haha, you don’t look very glamourous on this one do you?‘ and ‘I bet you’d hate it if I published this one wouldn’t you?’ which is a really odd thing to do on a shoot, and quite rude.  He also started making personal comments like ‘What’s that thing under your eye?  Have you not put your makeup on properly?’ (it’s a big freckle.  It’s often edited out of photographs, or covered up with concealer).  I was very polite back to him, but it really did piss me off, and I started to get tense and twitchy. Now you can’t generally tell when I get tense and twitchy, but I’m one second away from whacking the person in the adam’s apple or poking them in the eyes with my nails. Basically, I felt like he was trying to wind me up.  Occasionally some amateur will do this to models.  I don’t really know why.  Probably because they’re weirdoes that don’t get to talk to girls much.

Anyway, getting back to the tanning issue.  I practically glow in the bloody dark. Apart from one photo of an Egyptian body paint, where I’m browny-gold from head to foot, none of my photographs showed me with anything resembling a tan.

Here’s a ‘behind the scenes’ pic with makeup artist Emily Rose.  No photoshop or anything.  Do I look like I’ve got a bloody tan?  I’m only two shades darker than the dressing gown.

I pointed this out to him, and he got all tearful and showed me pictures of his dead wife on his ‘phone. She looked a bit like me, with a tan.

I was really horrified by this, and told several photographers about it. They all, without exception, laughed their asses off. I bet you’re laughing your ass off right now and I don’t blame you. This was the one time in my life I wish that there was a hidden camera in the room, just to record my jaw hitting the floor.

Looking at his port I saw that all the models had a common body shape, and most had similar hair. If I’d messaged them, they could have told me not to bother. If they had messaged each other, he would have had an empty port.

Although booking a model for a shoot that looks like your dead wife and whinging at her when she turns out not to be your dead wife is very much the wrong way of dealing with these issues, I suggested we stop the shoot and he have a cup of tea and talk about it, but he wanted to carry on shooting. I ended it and he went home.

I felt really bad for him. But honestly, it’s not my problem. He should have been talking to the doctor, or his friends or a counselor. Because he’d messed me around so much and been so weird, I couldn’t even bring myself to message him and be supportive, even though I felt so sorry for him. I don’t feel guilty or bad about this, because it wasn’t my problem to begin with. If a model messaged me about him, this is what I would say:

‘I felt very uncomfortable on the shoot I had with him. In my opinion he’s harmless, but I wouldn’t recommend you shoot with him,’

That’s it. No need to give details, or to talk about people behind their back. You don’t even need to do that much. Just:

‘I do not recommend this photographer,’

Is enough. So if somebody messages you about a photographer, please give an accurate reference. You don’t need to go into detail.

I’m very blunt and I’m not worried about gossip or people getting upset with me. Here are some extracts from real life recommendations I’ve given to models:

“He’s absolutely great, I’m shooting with him again next week,”

“So glad you two are working together, can’t wait to see what you come up with,”

“Seriously don’t bother. He’s got issues. Stay away from him, he’s a weirdo,”

“Yep, the shoot went great & I was pleased with the pics. Recommended,”

“I have not shot with this person. Did he mention me to you? Maybe he’s mixing me up with someone else. He creeped me out to be honest. My advice is no, don’t shoot with him,”

“Yep, all fine, lovely guy, great studio, go for it,”

“Absolutely 100% recommended,”

“I would definitely shoot with this guy again. Have a great shoot!”

As you can see, the negative responses stick out a mile. Don’t be put off. I have shot with some amazing people, and the times I ended up working with a wobble-job were the times I didn’t bother to check references.

And models, please, please give proper references when people message you. Just “I recommend this photographer,” or “I don’t recommend this photographer,” can make all the difference. Don’t ignore it & don’t pussy out.

Check references. Do it. Check them on every shoot.

Photo by Marcello Pozzetti