Patrons and policy

Happy Thursday, everyone! Your support makes a world of difference and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for that. You enable me to provide these photoshoot experiences to more people, and (with my own share of sacrifices) to do this work on a full-time basis.

I recently shot with someone who’d never done any kind of shoot before, and was thrilled by how comfortable and fun it was just to be in nature without clothing, getting photographed and getting to see herself in a new light. For those who really put their heart in it, it can make such a profound world of difference. (The reason I got into this in the first place was because several people had told me my work saved them from ending their lives. So it’s you, my supporters, who help facilitate more of those efforts.)

Every so often, I connect with someone who wants to shoot but who doesn’t see things the same way as I. Perhaps he or she has been told all their life that the body is a commodity and they should be paid for showing skin, rather than seeing these shoots as an art-therapeutic experience well worth paying for. Or perhaps they have no interest in reversing certain narratives of shame. Or perhaps they wish to use me in some way. I continually pray for wisdom and discernment, as I choose whom I’ll shoot with, hoping it will be someone responsible, mindful, consistent, creative, passionate, and fair.

Even when I shoot with someone whose heart seems to be the same as mine, sometimes their professional needs change, or sometimes they become more aware of the larger battles going on, where they are uniquely poised to speak up in defense of their own choice to shoot (which also helps defend everyone else who has chosen to express their own self-respect by posing nude) and they decide not to speak up like that. I have to do my part, as best as I can without compromising my own morals, to help them walk out even the most unfortunate choice, in a way that hurts as few people as possible, as long as it doesn’t contradict their agreement with me.

Thus I have some policies in place. Those I shoot with have the freedom to compensate me for my editing/processing time, to have me remove images we created together. Most full-time photographers don’t allow anything like this, but to me it seems fair for all parties—except to my patrons… which is why the Model Agreement specifically excludes Patreon posts from removal.

(The models agree, in writing, never to force me to delete anything that you’ve paid to access, because, as a matter of integrity, I will not mistreat you all like that. I cannot give you a gift and then take it back, and the models sign their agreement to that. As it says in my bio here, all posts on this site are gifts to you, in heartfelt gratitude for your support. I reiterate this frequently, because the distinction matters so much to me.)

The models also have the freedom to ask me to switch the posts (including what’s here on Patreon) to remove their identity, or to preserve their anonymity from the start. For practical reasons, of course I always honor this request (and thus I also decline to engage with any patrons/followers in a way that would confirm the identity of someone who’s asked to remain anonymous) but it’s still important to me that everyone who views the images not do so in a voyeuristic way. Sometimes the model wants you to see him/her as a unique individual, and sometimes the model wants you to see all of humanity, when you view the images. And hopefully we can achieve both whether or not the model is named.

Also, please note: if I tag a model who then is put off by how one of you may engage with him/her privately, and they reach out to me about it, I’ll encourage them to establish clear boundaries and modes of conduct with you, first. On the whole, you all seem to have been pretty good about that, and I appreciate it sincerely.

That’s it for housekeeping right now! Have a good night.