Shooting for the Suicide Girls: Why I wont.

image © lithiumpicnic.com

Someone emailed me just recently asking if I would shoot a set of them for the Suicide Girls - or SGs as they are sometimes abbreviated.

I get emails like that occasionally given that it's the non mainstream models I photograph most of the time. It's nice to be asked - and I know a couple of Suicide Girls and they are great people so this doesn't reflect on them or their images... As with all such requests, I declined and informed her briefly of the reasons why, but it does bare repeating to those not in the know....

I want to preface this by saying, I have no first hand experience dealing with the SGs, but anecdotally it is fairly well known that they treat their photographers and models quite poorly. Case in point is the lawsuit involving the former SG photographer Phillip Warner that goes by the name Lithium Picnic, and the former SG model Apnea.

You only need to do a quick Google of Lithium Picnic and the SGs to see some of the challenges he is having now two or so years on since he was sued by the SGs. As I understand it, essentially he did some TFP work for Apnea's personal site and that constituted a breach of contract on both their parts. If he didnt remove the images, then the SGs were going to proceed with legal action. Well he didnt and they did - and are suing for the profits made from Apnea's page arguing it is really Lithium Picnic behind the page.

His own page is dark now in protest (where the above image came from). Has been for a helluva long time. Apnea has been shot by him ( and other photographers) several times since (and man she looks pixie- incredible from reading her blog this afternoon!), but they are still raising funds for a legal defence. I think they needed something like $20000USD for this, and had only raised a bit over $3000USD to this point I beleive. You can buy teeshirts in support of the cause too.

Essentially, what all that boils down to is that the contracts the models and photographers have to sign are quite extensive and exclusive. They really restrict what either parties can do outside of the SG world. They have even been challenged legally in California.

From the perspective of being rep'd by an agency, someone who is an SG - no matter how incredible their pics are, might be looked upon as been in the soft core porn industry and not modeling. Not generally the stuff for someone wanting to transition into commercial side of things. That aside - which is a shame as there are tons of great looking alt models on the site and others like it, the whole SG experience pays crap for the work involved. $300USD (maximum) which might be paid eventually to the photographer to produce at least 60-80 postable images, doesn't even cover the investments photographers make in their gear, possible studio rentals, location costs and so on. Which right there makes it rediculous to be a SG photographer. And Staff photographers are locked into a 2year contract with them. Can you imagine? And there is talk of SGs never paying for the submitted images. It could be years before your time and effort come to anything.

While writing this, I came across this blog post from Koval Productions. He was approached by the SGs to be a staff photographer in the US Pacific North West and shares some first hand information on why he won't shoot for them...

I know I disappointed at least one model who wanted to submit a photoset we shot early last year specifically for the SGs. In the post production time I came across all the Lithium Picnic stuff and didn't want to risk getting screwed so the pics went no further. It was time, and out of pocket expense for me for makeup and lighting rental and even having a lighting assistant on location... but I didnt want to give up my copyright to the images or be trapped by the whole swirling mess that is the behind the scenes Suicide Girls. I regret that someone was quite angry at me because of this, someone I am sure won't shoot with me again, but I felt I had to protect myself first and indirectly them.

Do I like shooting models who would fit the SG/Godsgirls.com/ Gothic Beauty / Blueblood or similarly alt styled look? Absolutely. There was even a time when starting out that I wanted to be an SG photographer. Non mainstream is such a fascinating place to be. The girls are great fun, edgy, and fearless. And dollar for dollar, I wouldn't give up shooting them for mainstream models.

I also wouldn't stop anyone from modeling for them (or shooting for them either). But I would however strongly suggest to them that they do some research before signing on the dotted line. Might have no impact if that's all they want to do, but when you are 18-20yrs old, your goals might change next week or the next month and you might find yourself stuck. And when you are starting out modeling or shooting, that would be a crappy deal.

image © www.apneatic.com

PS if you are wondering where the three squares in the centre of the above image come from, they are from the wickedly simple solid ink tattoo that Apnea has on her upper right arm.

Mike

Mike Wood Photography