Monday, September 4, 2006

Celebrating Five Years!

Yeah! Today Independent Modeling is celebrating five years of making a difference in the Tampa Bay market and in the rest of the modeling industry. We have been helping models change the business of modeling for half a decade now, and we have only really just started achieving what we originally set out to do.
Independent Modeling began as Tampa Bay Independent Model on September 4, 2001. The site started out slowly, but it became evident that it was impacting the market when many models were discovered using the site. In late 2002, a sister site, Tampa Bay Independent Actor (Independent Acting), launched, and more progress was made. Although the sites were successful, progress on them remained slow for the next four years, mainly due to at least three redesigns. In the second version of Tampa Bay Independent Model in late 2002, we had staff model Monica Stevens begin a mail bag feature where models could write in and get answers to their questions. Tampa Bay Independent Actor had a mail bag, too, with actor Brian Steel working there. The mail bags started out as weekly features, and then went to a monthly schedule. They were proved to be entertaining, educational, and a bit controversial at times.
In 2003, Independent Modeling officially changed its name from Tampa Bay Independent Model to Independent Modeling. The site was redesigned again, and it began the great model scam wars. Model scams were common in the Tampa Bay modeling industry, and it was time to finally do something about it. The first two scams which came under the gun were a runway modeling scam and a casting scam. The runway scam took heavy damage and the casting scam was put out of business. In the summer of 2003, another scam was discovered in the form of a Tampa photographer determined to exploit and rip off models and other photographers. This photographer was good at one thing, and it certainly was not photography. He was good at coming up with new types of model scams which we had never seen before, and the resulting countermeasures that we developed from studying this con artist were way ahead of their time and put the entire modeling industry under heavy fire in 2004. The photographer tried to get Independent Modeling to work with him and help him with his evil schemes, but when we refused he got nasty, threatened us, and started to tell people that we were a model scam. He tricked a few weak people who thought that they were models to attack Independent Modeling, and those attacks were no more than nuisances. The scam photographer, more determined than ever, fought on, and began to rope in other photographers to help him while he in turn stole their clients and other business assetts. This photographer began to damage the overall professional integrity of the Tampa Bay modeling industry, and the distrust that he has spread between photographers and models exists to the present day (he is not the only con artist photographer in the Tampa Bay area- the professional model counsel reports that there are at least seven, and all seven are being monitored).
In 2004, the Tampa model scam wars escalated, with ten model scams eliminated from the market and a massive alliance network of professional models being responsible for the arrest and conviction of three of those criminals. Independent Modeling began pushing professional accountability, launching the Professional Model Bureau, or PMB, which tracked references on professionals in the modeling industry. The wars became especially intense in the summer of 2004, as a certain photographer continues to fighter against professionals who only wanted to make him accountable for his lack of integrity and the unethical behavior that he lived on. He lied to others and manipulated them into helping him attack us and professional models everywhere. His efforts backfired, and we outmatched him on every front. By early 2005, Independent Modeling crippled a photography association and broke the back of the scam photographer's operation, forcing him to operate below the radar and by himself, making him an insignificant scam. By this time, his photography was competent, and he was able to end most of his deceptive tactics and operate somewhat legitimately, having been taught a lesson by the models.
In late 2004, Independent Modeling assisted a group of professional models with starting their own model resource site. Tampa Bay Modeling began as a simple geographic-based modeling resource for the Tampa Bay market, with no scam fighting capabilities or significant properties, although Tampa Bay Modeling did launch with some experimental Independent Modeling-developed properties such as a new reverse auction system and tools for keeping photographers and rates in check. This would change, as Independent Modeling had already begin a transition from controversy and model scam fighting to its original mission of promoting models and providing career resources. Independent Modeling, victorious from the model scam wars, began its most radical revision yet, especially since another sister site called Independent Performer came online and a new database called TALON evolved from the PMB.
In 2005, the transition was underway, and with it came the decommissioning of the mail bag and cam fighting operations. The model scam definition database and scam fighting tools were licensed to Tampa Bay Modeling, which began work on their new site. Independent Modeling brought a new type of web site that was optimized for being a resource for professionals. Independent Acting, Independent Performer, and the TALON Talent Online contact reference database were grouped together under sister formats as the Independent Site Network, or Independent Sites. The new Athena Class sites, created by Tampa Bay advertising agency EOS MediaArts, came online in the summer of 2005, and all of the sites were organized under the IndependentModeling.Com domain name. It would take over a year to get the sites to where they needed to be (in late September, 2006, all sites will be fully up to speed). In late 2005, Independent Modeling brought its Advanced Model project online, which became the official name for a national modeling magazine and book in the works. The Advanced Model web site, which is not in development for a launch in early 2007, will be the most advanced modeling resource web site ever made, and will serve as a front end for the Independent Sites and ally sites such as Tampa Bay Modeling while covering the old modeling industry as well as the new. The Advanced Model web site will be a new Frontier Class web site (designed for the Frontier Society web site, which is an official part of the Independent Site network but maintained separately), and will have an online magazine format. At the present, the Advanced Model web site is only online as a simple one page menu for other web sites and modeling resources.
In early 2006, work on the Independent Sites continued at a slow pace while ally modeling resource site Tampa Bay Modeling brought its new Raptor Class site online. The new Tampa Bay Modeling site was designed to combat model scams, and their teams took properties that were originally developed for Independent Modeling to the next level. By the summer of 2006, Tampa Bay Modeling was a powerful model scam fighting site with substantial resources, and it went on the offensive as it made model and talent agencies and model consultation scams accountable for what they were doing. Tampa Bay Modeling is about to spin off sister sites in other Florida markets, and rumors have now emerged about a version for actors and talent covering the Tampa Bay market.
In the remainder of 2006, Independent Modeling and the Independent Sites will continue to grow, and the next year will accomplish more than has been achieved in the last five years. This is a time of celebration for the past and the future!

NEXT - PREVIOUS - NEWS - CONTACT

BLOG - MODELS - RISKS - JOBS - FEATURES - TUTORIALS - SERVICES - RESOURCES - CONTACT

SITE MAP - TERMS OF USE - DISCLAIMER - PLAGIARISM STATEMENT

Photography by Aurora PhotoArts. Athena Class Web Site by Aurora PhotoArts. Events by Frontier Event Planning.

The agency way is no longer the only way of having a professional career as a model. There is no arguing against common-sense and proven business practices. Modern professional models think for themselves, network, and book work both as independent models and by using agencies as one of many sources of jobs. This is the future of the modeling industry.

This is an Athena Class modeling resource web site by Aurora PhotoArts, a Passinault.Com company. Athena Class 0001, commissioned 011213.1000 hrs.

Site layout, design, and web updates by webmaster C. A. Passinault and our team of professional independent models and industry contributors. This web site resource is dedicated to bringing balance and integrity to the modeling industry, and our mission is to help professional models, photographers, and the businesses who book them.

Web Site Design by Tampa Bay web design company Aurora PhotoArts. Webmaster and the new Athena Class web site design by C. A. Passinault. Main Tampa photography by Aurora PhotoArts Tampa Bay Photography and Design.

Athena Class 2.0 - Site Version 7.0

INDEPENDENT MODELING MAIN WEB SITE INDEX UPDATE HISTORY

Independent Modeling updated and completely refreshed on server 01/12/13

© Copyright 2001-2013 Independent Modeling. All rights reserved.