Sounds like teenage boys to me, or creeps who will never be anything but. Even if it is a marketing gap, do you wake to put yourself in the position to fill it?

Pervs

just because I'm a young woman?

Ding, ding, ding.

Interesting question. I’d just add a line that excludes these type of shoots and you’ll know the only people that will ask are the ones worth blocking.

I don’t think it’s good to calling them all perverts just because you’re uncomfortable shooting their junk. Some, or maybe all, could just be photographic requests as you’ve not made clear those are a no-go for you.

There's a market gap. Plenty of places for a woman to go get a burlesque/ nude tastefully done shoot. Very few for men...

I would view this as one of two things 1 people just trying it one because they can so the suggestion of some pricing may help but if it’s a free shoot for your portfolio then maybe expand on what the shoot involves

2. Could be a gap in the market if your confident with it exploit that gap and make loads of bread ££€€$$

Either way you’ll look back at some of the messages and laugh

If you're starting out I'd highly recommend paying experienced models - you'll learn more and get better pictures to start building out your portfolio. You'll better value for money paying for a good model over any camera gear or studio space.

Reply that you don't have any micro lenses

Also reply as Robert or John , your studio manager.

Lots of pervs. I get emails every once in a while like this. I once had a phone call very early morning that went from boudoir for wife —> he’ll be in some shots —> couples shoot —> photos of kids on same day —> child p0rn. I hung up immediately at that request. Couldn’t get his number as it showed up as an unknown number on my phone. I was very young so I didn’t think of calling the cops. There was a local news article about a few photographers getting the same phone call later that week. I NEVER give out my phone number because of that incident. People can only have my number once they’ve already paid.

They don’t want photos. They want to make you uncomfortable. They get off on the enquiry/on messaging you.

I’m in a women photographer community in the uk and there’s a few blocked numbers for guys who call photographers up to ask for increasingly sexual photoshoots and then masturbate on the call when the photographer gets uncomfortable with the request. Unfortunately blocking the number only goes so far because they can just call on withheld.

Basically, welcome to being a woman in a public space 🙄 I hate it here

Open minds are great and when you’re starting out you hate to turn down business, but I think most or all of these guys are perverts. Dudes who ask young women to take photos of their junk are thinking about sex, whether it’s some faulty “if I get her alone with my junk she’ll want to have sex” logic or just enjoying having women look at their junk.

(Source: I’m a dude.)

You should 100% feel free to accept or decline this stuff.

“Young woman”? You’re 27!

I always get these perverts and in a non judge mental way, I just explain I do not do nudes. I only do family friendly life style and print work portraits.

Perverts by your standards, yes. Definitely not everyone’s cup of tea, but the art world is varied and wild. Asking for dick pic photos in a Xmas shoot model call is definitely out of line. A simple “do you shoot explicit content” is actually fine IMO, just be careful and vet them well if interested in taking on the job. Also 27 isn’t young, hate to break it to you.

I think there’s a fairly large chance you’re encountering creeps, but I also think there is a market gap.

There’s entire subs of women ridiculing men’s nudes as low effort and not artful. I’m inclined to believe some men feel insecure about theirs and don’t know how to take pics of their junk that women would like.

I’m not saying the consenting woman won’t like it, but a penis alone ain’t the most attractive organ. Paying a pro to take them and set them up “right” could be their answer.

There’s also a double standard with boudoir among photogs. So, you’re probably encountering a mix.

Ask for ID for explicit sessions. That'll dry em up.

There is a whole sub genre of amateur photographers and models. I hit up a couple of "workshops" that I thought were about making my photography better, and they ended up looking more like people building soft core spank bank content. Not that I would tell others that they can't have fun and do things like that...but it definitely wasn't my thing.

If you're looking for TF opportunities, be specific about what you will and won't do. Weed out the creepy stuff up front. Hopefully that gets you the right collaborators for you.

Maybe better to not post picture of yourself on your Instagram account so that you will filter out those kind of perv if they think you could be a man

Go to a legit modeling agency! Worth every dime. Cover your ass and always, always have an assistant, preferably a dude. Don't ever get caught alone with your subject! Don't forget to have a viable liability insurance package.

Start charging for photos (shoot time is free, model pays for digital photos) and/or add a disclaimer to your model calls that you do not shoot nudes, implied nudes, boudoir, etc. and you should be able to filter out most of these people.

Unless your portfolio is nudes, especially male, then they’re pervs.

If you think it's bad now, you should have been around during the film camera shop days. Most every camera shop owner was in the business for no other reason than trying to talk girls into getting their clothes off.

8 actually know a woman who shoots 'penis portraits' she says the clients often want a very explicit and close up shot for use on fetish encounter sites.

There is a market for everything ...

Welcome to photography, this is nothing new, the industry/hobby is just full of strange people

Perverts.

There are perverts out there and you should make sure you are comfortable with everything you agree to, including feeling safe and not being unwilling participant in someone's kinks.

But I'd just ask you not to assume all men are perverts. It just takes a small group of people to ruin the experience for everyone.

And it's not just men, I've dabbled in kink scene and met quite a few women with exhibitionism kink or worse. But they had no problem with finding people who were okay with that and often it was reframed as something else.

I shoot boudoir and one of the local Facebook groups they found a sex offender in the group. The mod that runs the group band this person.

I do boudoir for a few reasons one good money to be made. Two I don't have to run around like a animal like at a wedding and be out in the heat and drive around all day long.

Shoots are about a hour and a half and I still have the rest of the day to myself.

I can work year around with boudoir unlike weddings and senior portraits.

Also I have other interest other then photography so I can make good money to fund other ideas I have.

As a photographer what I hate is the hustle of always finding work. It just does not come to you and you have to learn marketing and stuff.

People are perverts

OnlyFans!

I know there are some horror stories of unprofessional floating around on the internet; however, with a chaperone/escort to make you feel safe, you should consider accepting and considering their client briefs for potential opportunities for networking and collaborations that will lead you to financial fruitfulness.

You mentioned that these guys contacted you with "artistic nudes" and/or "closeup images of their penis."

Have you considered that if someone get lucky, OnlyFans is a lucrative platform to showcase these kinds of image(s).

I don't know the full details besides what you have provided. There is a possibility that if these guys use your images you take of them on their OnlyFans, you can ask for a share of the profit or some kind of commission.

Going forward, don't be quick to dismiss. At the same time, exercise safety protocols.

You mean Christmas right?

No it’s not a market gap. They are exhibitionists who want to get naked with you

I've has female clients and female creeps.

I've had male clients and male creeps.

Both genders have been amazing at creating art with and also met both genders who are jerks who are trying to force a sexual situation out of a Photo Session.

nope. nothing new. all new photographer circles and especially pfp circles are just dudes that wanna show their dicks to women. not in an artistic nude way. have had that for years. act more professional and they’ll bugger off.

Firstly, sorry but this is Funny AF. Second, I'm curious to know your lexical choices. It is possible that the platforms see a pattern in suggestive content ergo the content is pulling in members in relevance. The best based on this vague question I can suggest is ignore that isn't of relevance and focus and engage on what is. Should be easy as that's literally what we first train our eyes as photographers. If you can shed more light on the subject (no pun intended) drop by. And also 😂share some nudes.. sorry couldn't help myself with that. Just kidding but jokes apart, I'm curious to know more about this problem. Should be fun to solve.

I’ve had moments when random people who notice I have a camera ask me to take pictures of them (suggestively). Camera is a (nasty) dick magnet.

Offer to fulfil the dick pics, but make it clear that your father is your photography assistant. If they still want the pics, at least you know they're just super obsessed with their wangs and not being pervs. Well, they're still a bit perverted, but not how you were worried about it.

90% of timeforpics is straight up fking after taking 5 pics, here in Germany at least.

1st: you’re as young as you feel! I’m 42 and feel better now than I did at 22…wife is 41 and keeps referring to herself as old.. 2nd: 100% agree that either demanding ID or a face2face in public prior to shooting (do both) is required beforehand…but,tbh I don’t think that’s going to actually STOP ppl from harassing you about it. This should just weed out the ones that are honest about doing nude/boudoir from the pervo/incel crowd. 3rd: have you tried reporting individuals to the hosting platforms? Some of them have strict guidelines for requesting products/services.

Even with changing your online persona from female to male will still get you the same harassment. Ratio change is about all you can hope for. Internet Anonymity works in favor of the creep, not you as a product/service provider.