MODEL BOOKING CONDITIONS :

These observations and views are based on my own personal experiences and are intended as general, well-meaning advice.

If you choose to work for free for a well-known photographer on one of their workshops, while they are charging around £2,000–£3,000 per day, I struggle to justify paying my usual professional rates to someone who has demonstrated they are willing to work without payment.

In my opinion, working for free in these circumstances does you very few favours. I believe many photographers use unpaid assistants or models because they are available at no cost, rather than because they are particularly interested in working with them. Posting any resulting images on social media rarely leads to more work or recognition. If anything, it simply advertises that you have worked for free.

Based on my own experiences, I have also encountered situations where photographers later criticised those they had worked with, sometimes appearing to use this as an explanation for images that I felt were disappointing. Others may have different experiences, but this has informed my own view.

I also don’t believe that travel or accommodation costs alone justify unpaid work. On a typical 21-day tour, a photographer charging £2,000–£3,000 per day will generate approximately £42,000–£63,000 in revenue.

Some people argue that the experience or portfolio images make it worthwhile. Personally, I have not seen convincing evidence that these opportunities consistently provide either exceptional experience or significantly better images.

I do think there is a clear distinction where no one is profiting—for example, on a genuine one-to-one collaboration or portfolio-building shoot. In those cases, unpaid work can be mutually beneficial.

For these reasons, I have decided that I will not hire anyone who chooses to work unpaid for photographers running commercially profitable workshops.

This policy applies to new bookings from 1 July 2026 onwards and does not affect any bookings already confirmed before that date.