Zap Industries wrote:
Should I have paid her?

Yes

Mark Salo wrote:

Yes

Why? And in the future, what should I have said to avoid a cancelation fee that isn't my fault (raid and thunder)?

Zap Industries wrote:
Why? And in the future, what should I have said to avoid a cancelation fee that isn't my fault (raid and thunder)?

Do take responsibility for creating the unusual "conditions" before you'd proceed with the photoshoot with her, and that you chose to set those conditions with a traveling model for one specific date.  And how much you tried, or didn't try, to make up for that in consideration of the model's efforts.

It's always useful to consider it from her point of view and what it may have cost her, to help you.  Plus, how you act towards her, also tends to get around very quickly to other models.  I.E.  What you are legally required to do or not, still affects your reputation.  We all get credited, or tarnished, with how we act towards others.  Which is absolutely fair.

Zap Industries wrote:
Here's the situation: It's a beach photoshoot and she's traveling, and we had been talking for about three weeks about the 26th (tomorrow). In my very first post to her, I said "It also has to be a nice, sunny warm day as well" and later on "weather permitting." I used those exact words. I never wanted to cancel, it was entirely because it's going to be raining all day at the beach.

Well, on Thursday (4 days notice) I said that Monday would have torrential thunderstorms, so it looks like we can't do the shoot, unless the meteorologists get it wrong. She was upset, and said I had to pay her partially. Before anyone suggests "Well, shoot with her indoors", I only want to do beach shoots now. I know I'm limiting myself, but that's all I want to do at this time. She also can only shoot tomorrow. Besides, rain is on the forecast all week here anyway, and she has to travel back later in the week.

So what do you guys think? Should I have paid her? Or did I clear myself by saying that it has to be a nice sunny day from the start? Next time though, I will be even more clear about it being weather permitting.

You put yourself on the hook, counting on the weather to get you off that hook might seem like a good idea to you but a traveling model has to pay for travel, accommodations, pass on other paid booking to prioritize yours. You've cost her the ability to book other gigs elsewhere without any assurance that your shoot will even happen? Pay her and learn from reality.

LightDreams wrote:
There are some unknowns there, specifically as she's a traveling model.

I've done an outdoor snow shoot where we were driving up a mountain and needed a combination of snow (i.e. high elevations plus reasonably fresh "white" snow) AND sunshine.  That was easier to handle as it we both knew it was a matter of "when", not "if".  And we were both prepared to be flexible, and act on short notice when everything fell into place.

Unfortunately, you have a specific date involved with a traveling model, which GREATLY complicates things.  Was there any option for alternative dates?   You've already indicated that you weren't open to alternate shoot plans.  Did she vary her travel plans around the specific date?  Was it at the expense of other shoots?  How about her traveling model trip route / where she arranged to stay?   I.E.  The various issues around what it cost her...

I would also point out that there's a difference between what you imply your "legal" obligation is and trying to be as fair as possible under the circumstances.  But that may involve answers to various questions that we don't have.

In the future, if you really wanted to shoot with a specific traveling model on a specific date, then (at least personally) I'd only book it if I had some alternate shoot plans.  Just trying to make sure that the traveling model was covered, either way.

Tomorrow was the only day that we were both available to shoot. I was available Sunday, but she won't arrive until the night. She had Tuesday open, but I'm working all day. Turns out it didn't matter anyway, because today it's pouring out, and so too will Tuesday. All of her other days here (I believe until Friday) are booked.

At first she said she was busy all day for the 26th, but then when I said that I couldn't do the 27th, she said she could "sneak away" from her family that day for 3 hours or so. She had originally said she was booked all day, then changed it to she was going to be with her family that day anyway, so she'd just leave for a few hours.

She is traveling to Manhattan. The shoot was supposed to be in NJ. I know I'm not legally required to pay her anything, this is just about what's fair. I once paid a model because I had to cancel because of car issues. I do want it be clear though that I did stress that it had to be weather permitting. I did that in the very first post to her.

Shadow Dancer wrote:
You put yourself on the hook, counting on the weather to get you off that hook might seem like a good idea to you but a traveling model has to pay for travel, accommodations, pass on other paid booking to prioritize yours. You've cost her the ability to book other gigs elsewhere without any assurance that your shoot will even happen? Pay her and learn from reality.

I told her weather permitting from the very first message. I stressed it later on by saying that it has to be sunny. She agreed to the conditions. I gave her 4 days notice.

NakeyPiX wrote:
A few responses say you should still do the shoot indoors or another location, or pay her at least some of the fee which I totally agree with BUT...

... As long as you're going to end up paying the model, don't cancel the shoot and when it's time to do the shoot continue on as normal and confirm the place and time.  Chances are the model will respond with "Are you NUTS?  The weather is horrible!!" and will want to decline.

At that point you can both agree to cancel without penalty, or as so many MM photographers claim they do (but doubt it really happens) "charge the model for cancelling".

Well, I did write her "Do you want to risk it with it rain all day with lightning" and she never replied back.

Zap Industries wrote:
I only want to do beach shoots now.

Try to expand your skills.

Zap Industries wrote:
Well, I did write her "Do you want to risk it with it rain all day with lightning" and she never replied back.

That alone should get you off the hook, however I'd send at least one more message, preferably to more than one of the model's contact just to insure that they received the message and is ignoring you.

Mark Salo wrote:

Try to expand your skills.

I'm one dimensional when it comes to this. I've done other shoots, but beach photography is my love.

NakeyPiX wrote:

That alone should get you off the hook, however I'd send at least one more message, preferably to more than one of the model's contact just to insure that they received the message and is ignoring you.

I guess I should have told everyone from the start, there'd be less pile-up lol. Ok, I'll send her one more message. Thanks for the advice.

Zap Industries wrote:

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Yes, pay her a reasonable cancelation fee, or the entire thing or do the shoot in some way and pay her. 

You have the option to be creative and change the venue and the concept.  There are plenty of venues in New York where you could get in out of the weather.  If you were planning on going to Gunnison, then you may have trouble shooting the nudes in Grand Central Station, but you could still work- somewhere.

You picked the venue and the day, knowing full well that the weather could impact you, but you only want her to bear the brunt of the cost for the poor conditions.  Paying a cancelation fee is the risk we take.   

You could do the beach shots anyway.  You could get really cool shots on the beach, in the rain, during the storm.  The thing about thunderstorms is you can usually wait them out.  Run for the car- unless you are taking the ferry- but there is other shelter- just get straight where you will run before you get there.  She may be willing to grant you some non-shooting time to work with you to get the shoot done. 

Think of the shots you get with angry clouds in the background and lightning bolts in the distance over the ocean or behind the lighthouse.

I understand it is a lot of money to you but it is to her also.  Why burn the bridge?  Worst case, consider the cancelation fee the cost of protecting your camera.

Zap Industries wrote:
Should I have paid her?

Yes!  It is the ethical thing to do.  Not only have I done it, I have witnessed first hand other photographers pay the models when conditions were such that the photographer canceled ..  such as a foggy day at the beach.

Zap Industries wrote:
I'm one dimensional when it comes to this. I've done other shoots, but beach photography is my love.

Always have backup plans!
I love shooting at the beach too.  However it is important to have back up plans.  I plan for possible challenges such as weather.  I carry back up cameras .. three actually.  An example of why it's important to have back up equipment is that when subs go down to depths that are challenging, the vast majority of on board crews carry back up equipment to retrieve the sub in case of an accident at sea.  The Oceangate company was low budget so had no plans for a back up in case of an emergency. 

I've shot weddings.  If a wedding I was hired to shoot was canceled by the paying "party" with me being the photographer, I kept the deposit. In some case I'd get full payment.  You hired the model, it's up to you to pay her.  I did not pay one model enough as to her value, and look what happened to me on the forums.

Eric212Grapher wrote:
There is another consideration to consider here - models talk to each other. Heck, there is a model's only forum here just for that purpose. Traveling models give leads to each other, and they also give bad reviews/references. Treat one model wrong, and she tells ten of her friends, who tell ten of their friends. You might find it more difficult to book other models in the future based on this one incident. Is her cancelation fee worth that risk?

Although this website has a ratio of 75% photographers and 25% models.  The majority of models talking about us are on Facebook groups that are closed to photographers,

Znude! wrote:
Do the shoot. Beach images look much better with stormy dramatic skies. Clear sunshine skies on the beach is a bitch to shoot in. Give me a storm any day over that.

Yes, do the shoot!  One of the best photo shoots I had was on a beach on a very foggy, cold day.  This is a behind shot of her walking ahead of me and it's a favorite.  She is now a famous Asian actress and no longer on here.  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid … amp;type=3  She was a real trooper as she didn't have to go through with it .. and this was a TFP shoot!  I have entire sets with her at the beach and also studio.  Now that she is paving a career as an actress, and I never paid her, I'm not going to display.  The point being that you should never miss an opportunity regardless of the weather!

Weldphoto wrote:
You gave her fair warning the shoot was weather dependent and she accepted with that proviso. You gave her four days advance cancellation which was enough time for her to change her plans. I see no reason why you should pay her. It's business. It is not a moral issue.

Because it IS business and not a moral issue, that is exactly why he should pay the model.  If you were in my shoes as a wedding photographer and a couple canceled on you 4 days before their wedding, you would keep the deposit, wouldn't you? 

You own a business and have employees.  You've got someone on the schedule for 3 or 4 days from now.  You suddenly realize you've got too many employees on shifts for those days.  So you call them to tell them not to show up. In some States and depending on the employment, Union, etc, the employer may very well have to pay the employee.  It also depends on the work contract.  Many employers do have a clause now that they may fire at will.  While employees are often moral enough to give a 2 weeks notice. 

However I do think the example of how wedding photographers do business is a better, more clear example of why I would request money on a late cancel regardless if I was a paid model or photographer.

Patrick Walberg wrote:
Because it IS business and not a moral issue, that is exactly why he should pay the model.  If you were in my shoes as a wedding photographer and a couple canceled on you 4 days before their wedding, you would keep the deposit, wouldn't you?
.

First, he is not a professional he shoots as a hobby and therefore I suspect the model was also a non-professional. Your examples do not pertain and the second one is absurd in this context.

The model had plenty of time to change her schedule.

Weldphoto wrote:
First, he is not a professional he shoots as a hobby and therefore I suspect the model was also a non-professional. Your examples do not pertain and the second one is absurd in this context.

So what that he shoots as a hobby, he hired the model.  That you would make an assumption that because he is a hobbyist that the model he hired is not a professional because "he is a hobbyist" is completely illogical!   He hired her!  If we are discussing two hobbyists working together, then they would more likely be doing TFP.   Hobbyists often hire professional models! 

Maybe you can poke holes in my analogy of a business with hourly employees, I understand how that wont work, HOWEVER .. what I said about photographers and other PAID professional venders for events such as weddings get paid when the event is canceled is what my opinion is based on for this situation.

Yes, or no??  If you were hired as a professional to shoot a wedding, and they canceled on you 4 days before the event, you would not care about being paid?  I collect a deposit for that very reason.  I keep the deposit.  About the model having time to rebook .. I doubt that very much, but that is not the point.  She should be paid!

 

Weldphoto wrote:
The model had plenty of time to change her schedule.

That is laughable!

Patrick Walberg wrote:
Because it IS business and not a moral issue, that is exactly why he should pay the model.  If you were in my shoes as a wedding photographer and a couple canceled on you 4 days before their wedding, you would keep the deposit, wouldn't you? 

You own a business and have employees.  You've got someone on the schedule for 3 or 4 days from now.  You suddenly realize you've got too many employees on shifts for those days.  So you call them to tell them not to show up. In some States and depending on the employment, Union, etc, the employer may very well have to pay the employee.  It also depends on the work contract.  Many employers do have a clause now that they may fire at will.  While employees are often moral enough to give a 2 weeks notice. 

However I do think the example of how wedding photographers do business is a better, more clear example of why I would request money on a late cancel regardless if I was a paid model or photographer.

One huge thing that you're leaving out. It was written and agreed to that the shoot was weather dependent. I said it in my very first message to her that it had to be a nice, sunny day.I stressed it twice before the agreement. If a wedding photographer said to a client "It also has to be a nice, sunny warm day as well" and they BOTH agreed to it, they would have a right to cancel as well.

Anyway, I took advice from someone earlier and sent her a message saying I'll do there it if she's willing. If she says yes, great.

She messaged me first originally btw. Not that it matters, but throwing it out there in case anyone was confused.

Hunter  GWPB wrote:
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Yes, pay her a reasonable cancelation fee, or the entire thing or do the shoot in some way and pay her. 

You have the option to be creative and change the venue and the concept.  There are plenty of venues in New York where you could get in out of the weather.  If you were planning on going to Gunnison, then you may have trouble shooting the nudes in Grand Central Station, but you could still work- somewhere.

You picked the venue and the day, knowing full well that the weather could impact you, but you only want her to bear the brunt of the cost for the poor conditions.  Paying a cancelation fee is the risk we take.   

You could do the beach shots anyway.  You could get really cool shots on the beach, in the rain, during the storm.  The thing about thunderstorms is you can usually wait them out.  Run for the car- unless you are taking the ferry- but there is other shelter- just get straight where you will run before you get there.  She may be willing to grant you some non-shooting time to work with you to get the shoot done. 

Think of the shots you get with angry clouds in the background and lightning bolts in the distance over the ocean or behind the lighthouse.

I understand it is a lot of money to you but it is to her also.  Why burn the bridge?  Worst case, consider the cancelation fee the cost of protecting your camera.

So saying  "It also has to be a nice, sunny warm day as well" in the first message wasn't enough? I guess next time I will not say yes when traveling models message me, or make make it clearer with something like this from the start: I'll do the shoot, but it has to be sunny and warm otherwise the shoot will be mutually nullified. If it's 80+ and sunny, I guarantee 4 hours."

As for the rest of your message, thank you. You have given me some good advice. Yep, Gunnison. I messaged her a little while ago saying that I don't mind shooting in the rain on the beach. Technically, I never canceled btw, I just said that rain is likely for Monday, that's when she said I'd have to pay a fee. That's when I said "Do you want to risk it with it rain all day with lightning" and didn't get a reply.

Arizona Shoots wrote:
If it was me, I would have shot anyway and just got creative with the rain. Just think of the non-cookie cutter images you could have gotten. But to answer your question, yes. You should have paid her. A lot of preperations go into a model's travel schedule and an unpaid cancellation can really put her in a bind.

I sorta did ask to do the shoot anyway, saying "Do you want to risk it with it rain all day with lightning" right after she said that she requires a cancelation fee. I never said that was canceling to her, only "Ugh, it looks like thunderstorms for Monday."  That's when she asked me for a fee.

Zap Industries wrote:
So saying  "It also has to be a nice, sunny warm day as well" in the first message wasn't enough? I guess next time I will not say yes when traveling models message me, or make make it clearer with something like this from the start: I'll do the shoot, but it has to be sunny and warm otherwise the shoot will be mutually nullified. If it's 80+ and sunny, I guarantee 4 hours."

As for the rest of your message, thank you. You have given me some good advice. Yep, Gunnison. I messaged her a little while ago saying that I don't mind shooting in the rain on the beach. Technically, I never canceled btw, I just said that rain is likely for Monday, that's when she said I'd have to pay a fee. That's when I said "Do you want to risk it with it rain all day with lightning" and didn't get a reply.

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I get your pain.  I have had to pay a fee because I was sick.  I could have shot sick, but that wouldn't have been fair to the model- to risk making her sick and causing her to lose several days of work.  We did eventually shoot, years later.  She was a very good traveling model.  Would that shoot have happened if I didn't consider her effort and time?

I had a model cancel on a cool, rainy, October day because she didn't want to get sick.  She showed up at the meeting spot. I understood, bought her lunch (meeting spot was an Applebee's), she offered to let me pay for the entire shoot and I declined.  But, I actually regret not giving her more.  I think I covered gas and all.  For a hundred bucks or something, I would have bought some good will.

Multiple times a shoot has ended early, my reasons or hers, and I paid the full price.  As a self employed guy, I really understand the difficulties created by someone that thinks I am not entitled to the agreed upon compensation.

When you said it has to be a nice sunny day, did you say that unsatisfactory conditions would result in a cancelation without a cancelation fee?  Letting her know in advance, clearly, that she could not expect a cancelation fee?  You did say that she altered her plans to accommodate you.   Isn't that worth some compensation? 

When were you last at Gunnison?  They have always, since the first time I was there, reduced the beach area during nesting season. but when I was there last, which was still nesting season, they had moved the sign marking the southern limits way up north.  Gunnison is a tough place to shoot because of interference from the perverts and il-mannered members of the crowd and because of the harsh lighting conditions.  It is easy to blow out everything to get a good exposure on the model.  My prefered days to go there are the overcast, cold and windy days in September.  There is still the possibility of rain- hurricane weather even.  But the crowds are gone.  Even in the prime season under those weather conditions the crowds are sparse.  If the crowds are gone, the jerks sure are gone.  But it appears, and I haven't been there this year or last year after nesting season, that the best option of being able to walk an additional half mile down the beach and get away from everyone else, seems to be gone.  Of course you can still shoot down there, but no nudes.  So you may as well save the walk and go past the north boundary, if you can't shoot nudes.  (Don't mess with the rangers there.)

I concur with the posters that said, effectively, let the model cancel.  Never cancel yourself.  Never make it seem like there is any other option than shooting.  If the weather is horrible, they won't show up. 

I understand the model not responding to you now.  She doesn't want to have a fight with you. 

Working in a lightning storm on the beach is at least scary, if not dangerous.  And though I have experienced camping on a beach (Assateague) during a full blown thunderstorm, when I and the other adults were walking around in the night storm, gather up the belongings of the kids, stuffing full tents into the truck cabs and vans, while the lighting made it look like a strobe show.  (You could have set the camera on bulb and took photos with each lightning flash.)  The advantage you would have is you weren't going to be hanging out in a sea of 25 tents with aluminum poles as potential lightning rods.  We had an adult literally knocked out by a breaking horizontal tent brace in the wind!  40 plus years later, it is still one of my coolest camping stories.  The storm was the best horrible event of the week.

But, as others have said, there is still the difference between what you may legally have to do and what you may do just to be on the right side of it.  All of it is your call.

Hunter  GWPB wrote:
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I get your pain.  I have had to pay a fee because I was sick.  I could have shot sick, but that wouldn't have been fair to the model- to risk making her sick and causing her to lose several days of work.  We did eventually shoot, years later.  She was a very good traveling model.  Would that shoot have happened if I didn't consider her effort and time?

I had a model cancel on a cool, rainy, October day because she didn't want to get sick.  She showed up at the meeting spot. I understood, bought her lunch (meeting spot was an Applebee's), she offered to let me pay for the entire shoot and I declined.  But, I actually regret not giving her more.  I think I covered gas and all.  For a hundred bucks or something, I would have bought some good will.

Multiple times a shoot has ended early, my reasons or hers, and I paid the full price.  As a self employed guy, I really understand the difficulties created by someone that thinks I am not entitled to the agreed upon compensation.

When you said it has to be a nice sunny day, did you say that unsatisfactory conditions would result in a cancelation without a cancelation fee?  Letting her know in advance, clearly, that she could not expect a cancelation fee?  You did say that she altered her plans to accommodate you.   Isn't that worth some compensation? 

When were you last at Gunnison?  They have always, since the first time I was there, reduced the beach area during nesting season. but when I was there last, which was still nesting season, they had moved the sign marking the southern limits way up north.  Gunnison is a tough place to shoot because of interference from the perverts and il-mannered members of the crowd and because of the harsh lighting conditions.  It is easy to blow out everything to get a good exposure on the model.  My prefered days to go there are the overcast, cold and windy days in September.  There is still the possibility of rain- hurricane weather even.  But the crowds are gone.  Even in the prime season under those weather conditions the crowds are sparse.  If the crowds are gone, the jerks sure are gone.  But it appears, and I haven't been there this year or last year after nesting season, that the best option of being able to walk an additional half mile down the beach and get away from everyone else, seems to be gone.  Of course you can still shoot down there, but no nudes.  So you may as well save the walk and go past the north boundary, if you can't shoot nudes.  (Don't mess with the rangers there.)

I concur with the posters that said, effectively, let the model cancel.  Never cancel yourself.  Never make it seem like there is any other option than shooting.  If the weather is horrible, they won't show up. 

I understand the model not responding to you now.  She doesn't want to have a fight with you. 

Working in a lightning storm on the beach is at least scary, if not dangerous.  And though I have experienced camping on a beach (Assateague) during a full blown thunderstorm, when I and the other adults were walking around in the night storm, gather up the belongings of the kids, stuffing full tents into the truck cabs and vans, while the lighting made it look like a strobe show.  (You could have set the camera on bulb and took photos with each lightning flash.)  The advantage you would have is you weren't going to be hanging out in a sea of 25 tents with aluminum poles as potential lightning rods.  We had an adult literally knocked out by a breaking horizontal tent brace in the wind!  40 plus years later, it is still one of my coolest camping stories.

But, as others have said, there is still the difference between what you may legally have to do and what you may do just to be on the right side of it.  All of it is your call.

Great reply! I last went to Gunny in July of last year. You can see the picture in my profile, uploaded on July 31 (taken a day earlier). It was an amazing day to shoot. Sunny, very little wind, and around 85 degrees. Not sure when nesting season starts and ends, but there was plenty of remote areas to shoot near that day, away from the people. We wound up staying 4 hours that day.

Many times my shoots have ended early, even once when a snobby model said after an hour (we agreed to 3 hours) "Can we go now, how many pics do you possibly want?" I still paid her for the full 3 hours.

She was the one who approached me initially, saying she was traveling, asking me to shoot on Tuesday. I told her I am only available Monday, and only want to shoot at Gunny if it's sunny and weather permitting. That's when she said Monday was good after all. First she said she was booked all day, then said it was family time, so I'm not sure which is which, or neither.

I did get a reply back from the model a couple of hours ago, asking how the forecast looked now. I told her it still said thunderstorms, and I was cool with shooting anyway even if it pours. She replied back "How about Tuesday then?" but I told her I had to work, and asked if she was free on her last day here (I believe that's Saturday or Sunday). So far, no reply yet.

Zap Industries wrote:
One huge thing that you're leaving out. It was written and agreed to that the shoot was weather dependent. I said it in my very first message to her that it had to be a nice, sunny day.I stressed it twice before the agreement. If a wedding photographer said to a client "It also has to be a nice, sunny warm day as well" and they BOTH agreed to it, they would have a right to cancel as well.

Anyway, I took advice from someone earlier and sent her a message saying I'll do there it if she's willing. If she says yes, great.

She messaged me first originally btw. Not that it matters, but throwing it out there in case anyone was confused.

So you had a written agreement with her that the shoot was "weather dependent" on it being a "nice sunny warm day" which if she agreed to .. I understand why you are thinking the way you do.  I welcome challenges, and would prefer an overcast day myself. But that's just me. 

As for weddings I was hired for, there were many outdoor weddings that I've shot, each with it's own challenges.  For those that risked adverse weather conditions, there were plans in place as to what to do.  It certainly does not have to be a "nice sunny warm day" for me to photograph models outdoors either.  Overcast days, or a couple hours before sunset are great situations for beautiful images of people.  Now if it is super stormy with wind gusts and rain coming down by the buckets ..  then move indoors.  I've never had a wedding cancel on me because of the weather.  A cancelation with weddings means I get paid anyway.

Zap Industries wrote:

Great reply! I last went to Gunny in July of last year. You can see the picture in my profile, uploaded on July 31 (taken a day earlier). It was an amazing day to shoot. Sunny, very little wind, and around 85 degrees. Not sure when nesting season starts and ends, but there was plenty of remote areas to shoot near that day, away from the people. We wound up staying 4 hours that day.

Many times my shoots have ended early, even once when a snobby model said after an hour (we agreed to 3 hours) "Can we go now, how many pics do you possibly want?" I still paid her for the full 3 hours.

She was the one who approached me initially, saying she was traveling, asking me to shoot on Tuesday. I told her I am only available Monday, and only want to shoot at Gunny if it's sunny and weather permitting. That's when she said Monday was good after all. First she said she was booked all day, then said it was family time, so I'm not sure which is which, or neither.

I did get a reply back from the model a couple of hours ago, asking how the forecast looked now. I told her it still said thunderstorms, and I was cool with shooting anyway even if it pours. She replied back "How about Tuesday then?" but I told her I had to work, and asked if she was free on her last day here (I believe that's Saturday or Sunday). So far, no reply yet.

Alright, enough of the critical stuff regarding "sunny days" and if you should pay.  You mention the traveling models are approaching you.  Working with traveling models can be both a good and bad thing.  It might be good because you have developed a reputation with the models of being a gentleman as in conducting yourself well, and you pay.  The bad thing might be if the reputation is that you're easy money for traveling models .. some of whom have "snobby" attitudes. 

I don't know how serious you are with this "hobby" and I don't know if you've got some kind of a written agreement, which would be helpful to send before a shoot.  Sometimes models approach me, but often times I select the models I want to work with.  So be careful with your vetting.  Have you ever had a model completely "no show, no call" on you?  That seems to be a common complaint in the forums among photographers.  Do your vetting and have back up plans.  Don't make stipulations about the weather must be prefect, as that might not work.  If they are shaky about the weather, let them meet you and then see if you can get some pictures shot. If not, well call it a day. If the model does a complete "no show" .. then you don't have to pay obviously if she doesn't show up.

You're learning!  Best wishes!

JQuest wrote:
You should pay the model if you canceled the session. You're out nothing if you don't shoot, she's out the travel time to your location, the money you would have paid them, their costs for food and lodging which they could have covered with another shooter if they hadn't booked you. You should have had a contingency plan for weather related snafus especially since the model was traveling to you.

There's no rule that says you have to pay the model, but IMHO it' the right thing to do, and yes I have comped models for shoots that I had to cancel.

No, she was already traveling and contacted me. She did not travel just for this shoot.