Many photographers will work with models, stylists or makeup artists on a trade basis – providing professional photos for your portfolio instead of paying you in dollars This time for print (tfp) or time for cd (tfcd) is an effective way to gain images to add to your emerging portfolio.
In a TFP / TFCD photo session, you trade your time and talent for the photographer’s time and talent. The photographer gets images for their portfolio and the model gets images for her portfolio. It’s a win-win situation for each of you and a terrific way to add to your model portfolio.
In a TFP shoot, no money changes hands. The model doesn’t get an hourly or session fee, and the photographer doesn’t get an hourly fee, a session fee, or any pay for providing the model with prints and/or digital images (the “CD” part – usually the model gets a CD-R with her image selection burned onto it.) All participants are doing the shoot in hopes of getting good quality images for their portfolios, which they can use for self-promotion to get more, and hopefully paying, work.
What to expect from a TFP shoot:
- A professional attitude from the photographer. Even if the photographer is an amateur, or a beginner, that’s no excuse for not treating the model as a valuable contributor to their work.
- A reasonable standard of work. TFP is not “second-class” photography and it should be of good quality.
- A signed release specifying what the model is to receive as her compensation in the form of prints or digital images. This protects both the photographer and the model by making their rights and obligations clear to each other.
