May
25
Recognizing and Avoiding Modeling and Photography Client Scams

SCAMS TARGETING MODELS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS

Online scams

Not sure if an opportunity is legit. These tips will hopefully give you more information to sort out scams from real gigs.

My model and photographer friends, please be wary of people who claim to be art directors, photographers, or international modeling agents for publications such as major men’s lifestyle brands such as Maxim or Playboy. I know the excitement this can generate as we instantly get stars in our eyes and feel as if our big break is happening. Well, it’s too good to be true and may actually be a scam.

I’m writing this blog because the majority of casting scams are for modeling gigs. Although there are lots of real model casting calls as well, be extra cautious when considering modeling opportunities. The key to avoiding disappointment is recognizing how these scammers work. That’s the point of this blog…Read More

May
23
Destin: Swimsuit Model Edition

Here are some fresh edits from my shoot with the lovely Destin. She has a great eye for art, so it was easy to communicate what I wanted to her. She really is a remarkable young woman, beautiful, fit, and wicked smart.

I met her at a wedding at the Mentone Springs Hotel in the spring of 2013. She was a guest of the couple, and I was immediately struck by her beauty, physical fitness, and charisma. She had an unmistakable presence. I knew I wanted to know her better and photograph her. Luckily, she didn’t dismiss me as some old weirdo.

This was my third shoot with Destin. Our first collaboration was in June 2013 at Sylvania Lake, our second happened in September 2013 at the fairgrounds during fall carnival week.

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May
21
To My Daughter, For Her Graduation

Tonight is my only child’s high school graduation. I am so very proud of my girl.

We learned a week ago that Fort Payne High School would be having an in-person graduation commencement ceremony after all. This seemed unlikely just a week ago as we remained on lock-down to contain the community spread of COVID-19 novel coronavirus. But then Gov. Kay Ivey said “Open ‘er up” and the floodgates exploded under the accumulated pressure of thousands of people eager to leave their houses.

Tonight, I hope you’ll indulge me as I gush about my favorite person in the whole wide world: my daughter Miranda.

I’m not getting to parade her around as the best of my creations, so I am indulging myself a bit in trumpeting how wonderful she is here in this space.

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May
17
Parallels between the Titanic and the Pandemic of 2020

I’ve become an avid reader of history. It occurred to me that, from historical accountings, the tragedy of the RMS Titanic is a near-perfect metaphor for the catastrophic pandemic we are experiencing 108 years later.

When the doomed ocean liner struck an iceberg on April 15, 1912, the crew faced a difficult reality: The vessel they arrogantly deemed so safe that “even God can’t sink her” was going to fill up with water and plummet to the bottom of the ocean.

There weren’t enough lifeboats because they presumed they’d never need them. Ships that size could carry up to 48 lifeboats, but Titanic only left port carrying a total of 20. This was only enough capacity for 1,178 – about half the number of 2,224 passengers and crew on board.

Employees of the White Star Line faced the inescapable inevitability that thousands of people who had entrusted them for safe passage from Ireland to New York City were going to die horrible deaths suffocating in the icy waters of the North Atlantic.

As you might recall from watching the classic Academy Award-winning film about it, the crew feared a rush on those lifeboats if word got out about it, so they LIED to the passengers in second- and third-class while the first-class passengers leisurely made their way onto the lifeboats. Many of the lifeboats were only partially loaded, with a disproportionate number of men left aboard because of a “women and children first” protocol.

 

 

The Titanic disaster was met with worldwide shock and outrage at the huge loss of life, as well as the regulatory and operational failures that led to it. Public inquiries in Britain and the United States led to major improvements in maritime safety.

Similarly, there are sure to be Congressional hearings into the failures that have led to the unnecessary deaths of tens of thousands of Americans and the overwhelming of our health care system’s supply of Personal Protective Equipment, or PPE.

Just consider all of the parallels…
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May
13
My pandemic story

I’ve had a week I wouldn’t want to repeat.

On Thursday, a friend I’d just seen on Tuesday notified me, as part of contact tracing, that they were being tested for COVID-19 because a family member caught it.

I got both the swab test (ouch!) and the antibodies test on Friday. I was isolated in quarantine from other human beings for nearly five nerve-wracking days packed with panic attacks.

After experiencing chest pain, I had to take a tranquilizer to distinguish whether I was having a panic attack, a heart attack or COVID symptoms. I somehow managed to get work done from home despite it being nearly impossible to concentrate.

I’d been so careful, going straight home from work and sharing information with others on how to protect themselves — yet I still looking this damn monster straight in the eyeball. I was angry. I was sad. I was exhausted with all of this.

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May
02
6 Reasons to Do a Photo Shoot

If you are thinking about contacting me about doing a photo shoot, then here are 6 good reasons why you should book me right now:

It will Make you Feel Good

You are beautiful just as you are and deserve to see yourself as such – aided by posing, flattering lighting and styling to look your best, of course. Everyone should have a beautiful portrait that they love.

We tend to view ourselves as a collection of flaws, whereas the people who care for us take warmth from our greater essence. A professional photograph helps us to see ourselves the way others do, which is very powerful.
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Apr
29
A New Hope, Hopefully

Will April 29, 2020 go down as the day that we turned a corner? Or a temporary blip on a long timeline of misery?

As I write this, there is reason to feel some optimism after a couple of months of bleak headlines about death and economic collapse. Like those first rays of warm sunshine after a cold and wet winter, I crave a true, real springtime with the social component it brings.

A New Hope

There’s a drug called Remdesivir made by Gilead Sciences Inc. that has shown some effectiveness in treating the COVID-19 novel coronavirus. Gilead said Covid-19 patients taking its drug Remdesivir had a speedier recovery than patients taking placebo in a large U.S. government-funded study. The company didn’t release detailed data showing the magnitude of the benefit, saying federal researchers would do so later.

Remdesivir, by the way, is a nucleotide analog, specifically an adenosine analogue, which inserts into viral RNA chains, causing their premature termination. In 2015, the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) announced preclinical results that Remdesivir had blocked the Ebola virus in Rhesus monkeys. The drug was rapidly pushed through clinical trials due to the West African Ebola virus epidemic of 2013–2016, eventually being used in people with the disease.

Dr. Anthony Fauci from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was so impressed by the study results that he touted the effectiveness of the drug.

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Apr
25
Lessons in Political Spin from One Insane Week in America

Political spin fascinates me. In 2013, I earned my Master’s degree in strategic communications, plus I’ve always had a keen interest in politics. I’ve attempted to stay out of most discussions of politics because I end up losing friends because people don’t realize they’ve brought a knife to a gunfight when they attempt to influence me with rhetoric that doesn’t ring true.

I try to dig a little deeper and be a skeptic of all sides. The conservatives have given me a lot more digging here lately.

My purpose for writing is not to suggest who you should cast your vote for in November. I won’t insult your intelligence with any suggestion that you lack the cognitive ability to reach your own conclusions once you have all of the information. I know you are smart; you’re reading my blog, after all!

In my blogging, I merely offer insight as a professional marketer and strategic communicator. And, oh boy, this week in political rhetoric sure offered powerful and rare insights into how the machine works.

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Apr
11
How to Compliment a Woman in 2020

I was looking through a friend’s OnlyFans page and saw where one of her subscribers left a comment under a photo of her in a leotard saying, “Wow, nice vagina.”

He might have been teasing her for choosing to wear a tight outfit and posing in such a way that her covered groin was visible, but something told me that it was (at least in his mind) a legitimate compliment. I shake my head when I see that happen and just want to take those guys to the side and say, “Dude…”

 

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Mar
31
How to make money modeling on the Internet

I had hoped to continue doing photo shoots over the next several weeks as our society waits out this pandemic by self-isolating to decrease the rate of community spread. I had so many goals and things I wanted to accomplish, photography-wise, this Spring and Summer.

We would probably be fine if we observed the 6-foot rule. I imagine a lot of models and women generally are saddened by the situation but relieved that men finally have a reason to respect their personal space.

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Copyright Steven Stiefel 2018. All Rights Reserved