I coordinated fashion photoshoots for a Syndicate for Downtown, a supplement of The Hindu in 1999. I had to go to a clothing store, pick out outfits, arrange for models ( who would be paid) , get everyone to land up at the shoot location, coordinate with the fashion photographer who was arranged for by the Syndicate. I had to convince the shop owner that the clothes I was borrowing for the shoot would be returned safely and that the credit they got In The Hindu would be worth it. I had to pick up the clothes, drop off the clothes, and write the article. I did four such shoots for The Hindu.
It involved a lot of running around – which actually meant that my mom drove me to all these places. Sometimes, the retail shop owners were not convinced that it was worth it because their clothes may get soiled after the models wore them. At such times, I had to point out that The Hindu had a circulation of 7 lakhs circa 1999 and then convince them that it was definitely worth the publicity.
While working with the models – some of them were worried their photos would be misused so they wanted to get the negatives back from the syndicate. When I conveyed this, it did not sit well with the syndicate since the models were being paid INR 1000 for the shoot.
The Syndicate owner was not happy with some of the male models. He later asked for pictures of the models to approve before he picked them. A male model sent some unimpressive photos, and he did not get paid on time. I had to listen to some models complain to me about being paid late and also run around to make sure they had water and beverages, etc. They seemed to take their ire out on me although I’d got them the gig.
I too got paid only INR 1000 for all this work, that too after a couple of months. It became exhausting. These shoots happened four times. And then the column was stopped by the national newspaper. My experiences have taught me that a lot of work goes into what looks like a simple task. It’s always better to draw up a scope of work document and get it signed off by all the parties. Negotiate better rates for yourself at the very start.
