Six years ago I was contacted by a “studio” owner who wanted to “work” with me to promote the studio. I was invited to the studio to tour and take some photographs then discuss running some sessions to teach lighting and studio portrait work.
In the first session, I was at the studio for nearly 8 hours and took well over 500 photographs of three different models. I truly enjoyed the time there and didn’t think much more about it. I was invited to another session, this time there were a few other photographers who I helped with lighting and poses. There wasn’t much “teaching” but rather setting up lighting and letting others shoot. I was still able to get some wonderful photographs. This was the time I should have realized things weren’t as they seemed. At the conclusion, I was asked, “Hey you have some money so I can get a beer and something to eat?”
On the final occasion, I was to “lead” a class. The meeting before didn’t go well. The “studio” owner got mad because I had agreed to do a session with one of his models. The session was to photograph her and her child in their cosplay. We were going to use the area around the “studio”. I was asked if I had set up the model for the night’s session. Well, the conversation went downhill very quickly with me explaining that I would get in my car and drive off and he could deal with the students and their refund.
This was a lesson learned for me to always be cautious of the motivations of others in the creative world, although I still find I get manipulated from time to time. It is the scourge of wanting to create art I guess.
Photographer Clay 
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