The devaluation of the image: Why I don’t look for content producers
Exclusivity in photography: There is a massive difference between people who stand in front of the camera to generate content and those who understand photography. My inbox is full of applications, but my interest in working with them has rarely been so low. The problem isn’t a lack of people – it’s a lack of substance. Anyone who understands photography as an art form today must radically focus on exclusivity in photography in order to stand out from the digital uniformity.
The copy-paste industry
Messages like “Hello, I am model from xxx. My styles: topless, nude, open legs, pink… Gage XY” are not artistic requests. It’s a price list for a service. It’s industrial assembly line work. Anyone who sends the same message to a hundred photographers is not looking for a creative exchange, but an operator who presses the shutter button. I delete such requests without reading them.
The Instagram problem: algorithm instead of aesthetics
Instagram has changed the way we look at things. The platform demands daily output, and this pressure kills any form of depth. Many models today act like machines:
- Always the same poses for the click rate.
- Always the same filters for recognition value.
- Zero risk, zero soul.
If you produce sets every day to feed feeds, you don’t need a photographer – you need raw material for the digital utilization chain. I don’t produce a routine. I create works that hang on the wall, not ones that can be wiped away in a tenth of a second.
The Atlantic has put it in a nutshell: To the article
Instagram has become a performance platform – and therefore largely unusable for serious photography.
The OnlyFans trap: exclusivity as a livelihood
This is where I draw the hardest line. Anyone who sees photography as a by-catch for their subscription models is in the wrong place with me. If I pay for a shoot, the agreement is clear:
- No RAW files.
- No secondary use on OnlyFans or similar portals.
- No dilution of the motif through subscription feeds.
True exclusivity in photography means preserving value. I owe my collectors this protection. An original print immediately loses value if the motif appears at the same time for a few euros in a mass subscription. This rule acts like a natural filter: those who only need material will jump ship. Those who see photography as an art form stay.
The search for character
Today, good models can be found where routine ends. They not only master poses, they have presence. While the masses try to look perfect in front of the camera, making every picture interchangeable, the few exceptions have the courage to be imperfect. A genuine moment, an uncontrolled look, an honest reaction – that’s what makes a picture valuable in the end.
A shoot works when the model doesn’t control the camera, but reacts to it. A single, truthful look weighs more than a thousand perfectly rehearsed poses from the assembly line.
Conclusion: focus on what remains
While the masses sink into the content swamp, we concentrate on what lasts. True exclusivity in photography takes time, character and the renunciation of quick confirmation by the algorithm. Those who understand this will find their way to me.
