by Nigel Ryan

Created on: August 02, 2008

After a conversation with a model over the weekend I feel the need to address something I don't see much about on the web, Model Safety.

With the increase of internet modeling sites such as One Model Place, Net Model, Model Mayhem and similar, it has never been easier to promote yourself either as a model or a photographer and there has been an explosion of want to be talent on both sides of the camera in recent years. Nowadays anyone with an internet connection and a couple of hundred /$'s can set up an internet account, go out and buy a professional looking camera and call themselves a photographer. Like any trade there are professionals, there are great amateurs and there are sharks.

For the sake of this article I'm going to use the industry standard term; GWC (Guy With Camera), for the sharks. While I don't want to misalign anyone personally in the trade, it has been my experience that for every two professionals I've met, I've met a GWC only in it for the girls, the glamor and their own egos. Hopefully this article will help the new model to decide who is who.

Firstly, age is of prime importance. Any model under the age of 18 in most countries (including the UK and US) can only work to lingerie/swimsuit levels and then only if modeling for fashion or portfolio work unprovocatively. A model under the age of 18 can not work to topless/nude levels under any normal conditions. There are of course certain Grey areas where artists such as Sally Mann and David Hamilton have blurred the lines and produced art nudes featuring underage models but to a court of law it would be hell to define what constitutes art rather than titillation. Best just to accept that an underage model can't work nude, ever!

A model under the age of 18 must always be chaperoned by an adult with the legal right to sign a model release form for them. In an industry with so much glamor attached it is the photographers responsibility to insure that he conduct himself in a professional manner and refuse to shoot an underage model unchaperoned. He, after all is the adult and has a responsibility to all children. As a photographer, always treat children with the same respect that you'd want your own child treated.

As a model, adult or otherwise, having a chaperone attend the shoot is always a good rule of thumb, especially when working with a new photographer for the first time. If you feel something is amiss always trust your gut instincts. Even if it does feel right, It might not be. Remember that

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