I am posting this information as a general answer to people who post in my journal asking about shoots. Usually, I just delete posts asking about photo stuff if I am not interested for whatever reason. However, someone who talked to me as a person here beforehand just asked about shooting some fashion art photos, so I thought I would post a response.
Answer: I have boxes and boxes of film and prints covering the space where someone else would get to have a living room. I really don’t like to shoot anything unless I have an idea where it can/will be published. It takes time and dough to do a shoot. If you have an idea for something specific with a particular designer you like for a particular publication, I’m always open to suggestions, so please feel free to pitch me. I am more closed now than I used to be, but I am not entirely closed by any means.
For example, I would have been into doing a feature on the C9 fashion show, but the committee told me that altgoth in general actively did not want anything from the convention to appear in magazines as it could attract non-net people and that quite frankly the Vegas committee would not be doing it next year, so they didn’t give two hoots about coverage on my high traffic web sites either.
I’ve given a lot to my community. In some respects, I feel like I have given too much. I just got stabbed in the back pretty darn hard (and no I don’t mean C9 — that was like stepping on my toe while I was getting knife wounds) and I’m not totally in the mood right now to spend a lot of time and money doing something which is a lot more good for the other person than it is for me. I am not currently interested in shooting a band promo for free or shooting a catalog for free or helping random people build their portfolios. I’m sick to death of all the people who hit me up for favor after favor and then decide to demonize me so they do not have to say thanks.
If you or your company are interested in hiring me and Forrest Black to shoot commercial work, please email me privately at Amelia@SwagMag.com
If you are interested in being on http://www.gothicsluts.com/ please write to info@gothicsluts.com and if you are interested in being on http://www.barelyevil.com/ please write to info@barelyevil.com
If you have a really awesome artistic concept, I am particularly interested creatively right now in doing more special effects-oriented shoots, so definitely pitch me anything like that if you have the hook-up on it.
If you are interested in being in one of the non-nude magazines we shoot for, why don’t you tell the publications to stop lying, cheating, and stealing, and show some love. When you finish doing that, you can tell all the bands we’ve helped get signed to hire us instead of someone less talented when they actually have a budget. Tell the club promoters who were cagey about guest list, after I’d spent thousands getting their nights exposure, to show a little love. Tell all the designers we’ve gotten press to stop thinking they can trick us into shooting their catalogs. Hell, tell all the designers who give free swag to strangers in the street to maybe offer us something if we have hooked them up. Tell the convention organizers who recently started tugging on my bankroll that 2003 is the first time in more than a decade that I have gone to a convention where I was not either a guest or press or both and I doubt I’ll be doing it again soon.
Tell all the people who have been bizarre, controlling, and demanding WHEN WE WERE SPENDING TIME AND MONEY TO MAKE THEM BEAUTIFUL AND GLAMOUROUS AND MORE FAMOUS to show a little love.
To whoever thought this post was too long to read and just skimmed to the end, that is exactly how much I thought you cared about my feelings, so let’s not shoot until your 50% deposit check has cleared my account.
Love, Amelia G