One thing that baffles me, is how many WGs have such totally awful photographs. There's an old photographers joke about dark pix: "What's that a photo of? A black cat in a coal cellar." But that does sum up the state of some images.
Publicity is a cost of doing business. All the performers I know have professional glossy pix of themselves - actors, dancers, mime artists, even street performers. They recognise it is important to get gigs with a good image. It is an ROI.
Why don't the majority of people on AW do the same? A "boudoir" session with a professional glamour photographer would cost around £300. I reckon the girl would earn that back in week or two through increased bookings. I often don't bother with a girl if her pix are so bad I can't work out what she looks like, even if she has good reviews on here.
I can think of 3 reasons:-
1. Most pro$$ies don`t believe in paying for anything that they can beg for nothing (except expensive holidays), so anything, however amateurish, is better than having to pay. I have on more than one occasion taken photos (with the girl`s own camera) during a punt for the girl to use on AW
2. Very few pro$$ies have any real business sense - most of them start out with the belief that they are God`s gift to men and all that they have to do is say "here I am" and the punters will come flocking to their doors. It is the same mentality and lack of business sense that causes them to ignore telephone calls and emails, fail to turn up for appointments, and generally piss off the customers whose business they need.
3. The brighter ones may realise that having a professional photographer can result in a breach of security. Photographic images usually belong to the photographer, not to the client, and the photographer can use them to his own advantage. I know of one girl who was caused a great deal of upset because her photographer used her pictures on the internet to advertise his own business, and nothing she could do legally to stop it.
