NSFW Pod 023 - Anastasia Maye

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Good day, everyone. And welcome back to the not safe for work photography podcast. There are thousands of models and photographers, creating adult content, using modern platforms and taking control of their own creativity. Today we're interviewing Anastasia may Anastasia as a professional new traveling model based in the DMV. 

How are we doing today and stay on the podcast? I am excited to be here too. So how long have you been a model? I've been modeling since March, 2018. So about three and a half years now I was talking 1 21 at the time. So my ex's sister dabbled a bit in modeling and I saw her post some really great photos on social media. 

So I asked her to connect me with her photographer. His name is David Vickers and David runs a small agency which specializes in helping models, new to the industry, learn and develop their portfolios. So you taught me the basics of posing helped me start a professional portfolio. And I just really love shooting because it really boosted my self confidence and made me feel really empowered. 

So I just kept on shooting in other photographers, started reaching out to shoot more and more. And now here I am. That's interesting. I didn't realize there were people I've definitely seen in some companies and some people that are. And to like helping people get into pageants and stuff. But I know about the new modeling, what kind of services you mentioned, they helped you with their portfolio? 

What did they do? Did they do kind of like test shoots with local photographers? Or was it just him working with you? Or how did that work? So primarily it was portfolio building. So he gave me a lot of direction. Cause I didn't really have the knowledge at the time, how close they taught me, like posing taught me how to kind of work my expressions for the camera, how to work my angles. 

And then once I kinda developed a bigger portfolio he helped me reach out to other photographers in the area that he knew and could vouch for. And yeah, so he basically helped me like start getting jobs and modeling and photography. After I did that for a while after he helped me get in there myself, one of my big goals is definitely to get into Playboy or penthouse magazine. 

Just generally increased my social media. I think my main goals are mostly just to make money doing what I love all creating beautiful art. And I also do photography. My brand is called a looking glass visuals. And my ultimate goal for that is to eventually start my own business. Opened my own studio for that. 

Would you do in your own studio, would it be and stuff like this or would it be more traditional wedding and portrait? So I think my favorite thing to shoot is generally do war, but pretty much all genres. I do doing portrait photography a lot, but mostly like boudoir and like creative, new work. 

I like a lot. Ideally I'd like to have a studio and be able to rent it out to other people as well, to make a little extra on, you know, I've actually been looking at that myself recently. Yeah. I've actually, especially the last couple of times I've been, because one of the things that I'm having a little bit of trouble with here is finding other places to shoot. 

Like we talked about this a little bit before I moved here a while ago, but I haven't. I've been looking. I know there's some studios in the area, but there's not some of the cool studios I've heard from some other areas. I was talking with fallen angel photographer, Don brown the other week. And she was talking about this really cool studio up in Pennsylvania. 

Or they have a bunch of rooms set up as like actual rooms rather than just backdrop lights. Yeah, that'd be really interesting to run a studio like that, where you can rent out all the stuff. Very cool. Yeah, I don't mind Oliver in the background for those of you that are not watching the video. 

There's a small dog that heard something outside and now he's very upset. 

I just want to be in the podcast. All right. So at this point in time, is this your full-time job or is it supplemental? So at the moment, a cycle time job I have been applying to some part-time jobs as well though, because income can be pretty unpredictable. Yeah. I can imagine you'll have weeks where you work over and over again. 

And then other weeks where there's nothing, especially with COVID how's that been for your income? You don't have to give me numbers. So COVID hasn't impacted me too much. Actually. It was only that like the first April that everyone started realizing and everything started shutting down, that was the only month where I didn't really get any business. 

And after that, I think there were just a lot of like bored creatives who were stuck in their house and were eh, I don't care that much. So I ended up doing a lot of home studio shoots and of course keeping like a distance and like wearing masks. And we're not sure. But yeah, overall, it, it has an impact in my business too much. 

I did a lot more outdoor shoots for a while. That makes sense. Yeah. Especially after we figured out that it didn't really transmit outdoors, imagine that didn't really become an issue. Or you mentioned that your favorite genre to shoot was probably the door, but what about modeling? I think this is kind of a tough one. 

And when I feel like I can never get a proper answer for, because I really love all genres. And I like to go above and beyond to make sure my public portfolio is extremely diverse and that it contains a lot of different genres. That's often the compliment I get the most from photographers. Do you have a very diverse portfolio? 

We can shoot any. But I'm probably the one I'm most comfortable with is boudoir because that's what I get hired for most frequently. So I have the most practice with it. And I guess some of my other favorite shoots have involved really artistic elements. So things like underwater modeling, modeling with soap bombs and like rainbow, holy powder body paint, shoots modeling with animals like snakes and rules, like kind of above and beyond creative things. 

He used to have a boa constrictor, but my wife made me get rid of him. It was like 10 feet long and she was scared. Cause he could eat the cats. It was so weird. I don't understand why she wasn't comfortable. Yeah. And of course the big thing is that frankly boudoir is probably what pays. Yeah, you probably don't get much call for portrait on you. 

I am really excited though. When people want to shoot fashion, cause it, it rarely happens. And I saw the Instagram post where someone was like, oh, more people need to talk to Anastasia may about shooting fashion. Was that at your encouragement? I was telling him what people rarely hire me for fashion. 

Cause I'm like, I'm more curvy. I guess I have more stereotypical booed war, body. So yeah, so that's what I get hired for most frequently, but I do really enjoy doing that. And all in different kind Vogue view looks. Gotcha. So this is a personal one for me, since I'm in the area, where do you normally shoot in the DC area? 

Is it typically home venues? D is it hotels? Is it studios like where normally you brought in to shoot some of, all of that. So I'm just trying to know a lot of different places in DC in addition to traveling a lot of other states, but I'd say my favorite studio in the area is how the union 2 0 6 is in Alexandria. 

Virginia has three big studio rooms and it's a lot of props, a lot of like furniture. Staff was all really friendly. So I do really enjoy shooting there. I've done a lot of outdoor shoots whether in the city or in like kind of rarely visited hiking trails, I've shot in a lot of home studios. 

And other various small public studios and yeah, the occasional hotels. You, so it's really some of all that I've ever done. Airbnb. Yeah. I have a few times I know a little better because I'm there, they're more of a personal feel than just like a generic hotel room has. So I shot one that had a jacuzzi, it had a pool table just had some really cool stuff. 

Yeah. Yeah. Cause they're trying to sell something different than that. It tells, and that tells her super impersonal, super, although that works for certain types of sheets. If it calls for impersonal, especially some fetish stuff finished stuff seems to really like hotels because yeah, I I worked with this one guy and he he rents out this place to use as a, it's kind of like a fetish vibe. 

I think a lot of swingers end up using that. I'm not sure what it's called. Actually I would have to double check with him, but it has like the red room, like they had in 50 shades and it has like the chains hanging from the wall and all those kind of instruments that tortures. So I shot. Yeah, that'd be interesting. 

I saw there's like a fetish hotel in Germany that I found on Instagram where each room is devoted to a different. And you can pick and choose which one you rent to go. And it's meant more for couples, but it'd be really cool for photography too. That'd be cool. Kind of a cool thing too. I mean, I know there's the crucible in DC, which does like swinger nights on Fridays and then they've got dungeon nights, but I don't know if they rent out for photographers. 

Cause I don't, I know they've got stuff like Friday and Saturday night, but I don't know what they have the rest of the week. They might be wanting to run out to photographers the rest of the week. I'm not sure I've been wanting to get more into the better seen in DC. I know they have like big fetish, like ballroom event kind of things I've never been to, but that's been on my bucket list to go to some. 

Do you maintain a profile on FetLife as well? I do, but not much. I like, I really created it so that I could get business from photographers there. You know, finish shoots and stuff. But really it's just a bunch of more you guys reaching out to me wanting to hook up. So I haven't had much luck. I was talking this last weekend with a rigor that I was working with who shall remain nameless. 

But he was talking about, yeah, he has a lot of trouble getting, cause he just wants to tie people up and he keeps getting people that are like let's tie me up. And then let's fuck was like, that's not exactly what I'm looking for here is what is. So let's talk a little bit of business. We talked about it. 

We've got a couple of things we want to talk about here and we'll talk about screen photographers. We're gonna talk about. New models. We want to talk about some social media maybe, and then maybe some payment stuff. If we get to it. I don't know if, I don't know if we'll have time. We'll try. We'll try. 

Let's talk out as I let's actually use me as an example. So we shot right before this podcast and if you're listening, eventually those photos will hopefully be available via only fans. But I don't know when that's going to go up. That's going to go up and I've got five or six sets to put up, not just one, but keep an eye out for it. 

So how did you screen me when I reached out to you over Instagram? So this is, I guess it's the same process. Pretty much with every photographer for some look at their portfolios. If they don't have one, I ask if they can provide me with one if they don't want to, that's definitely a red flag. How often does that happen? 

Often? Do photographers tell you that they don't have a portfolio fairly frequently? Not mean not like all the time, but I get a lot of people that are like, oh, I'm brand new. I've never shot anyone before, but I want to shoot you. Okay. Often that's a lot of like guys with cameras, the term use, and it's basically just someone who wants to have a good time watching a noodly and they don't really have any photography skills. 

Yeah, occasionally I'm okay with that. If they let me bring an escort with me and if they're respectful, if they pay me, but in general, if you don't have a portfolio or are not willing to show me anything. I'm usually like, eh, maybe get some more experience for, so out of curiosity, if somebody is legitimately new and they're trying not to, I mean, frankly, a lot of us started at the guy with camera stage a and they're legitimately want to become. 

But they don't have a portfolio. How would you encourage them to go to an event or something to build that portfolio? Or would you rather, they add a portfolio of mediocre stuff that maybe they weren't real proud about showing that they had something? I don't know. I'm not sure even if they had a little something I like, I would be more okay with that. 

Especially if they tag the models, even if their photos are kind of like mediocre, but they do tag their models to somebody before. Right? Yeah. That lets me reach out to the models and ask about like how their experience was with this guy. Cause that's really my primary concern. I'm not really concerned about getting back bad photos. 

I'm concerned about my safety. So yeah, my, my thing is like you should be tagging your models if you are posting a portfolio and if you don't tag. Gimme references. And if you don't give me references, that's another big one. Yeah. Yeah. The references one is kind of weird. I know. I don't know that before I started talking with a lot of models and find out what's a super common thing. 

I don't know how comfortable I initially would have been about being like, yeah, here's the contact information of somebody. To you who am, I don't really know, but it's good to know that it's a pretty common thing and most models expect it. Do you get calls from other models for references frequently or I guess texts or Instagram? 

Usually they'll message me over Instagram and ask if I've worked with and how my experience was. Let them know that happened just like a couple days ago. So it happens pretty frequently and I will try to message like three to four of the models that someone's worked with. Just so I get like a kind of well-rounded view of how this person works. 

And yeah, so if I receive mostly positive reviews, of course I'll work with them. If not all find an excuse to decline. A few times like I've asked for references and people have been super obnoxious of that. Like really, you're going to ask me for references. Like why, like you trust me in this and that if you can't show me that some people can vouch for you, then I don't want to, I don't want to work with you, but yeah, if they say no escorts allowed that's a big red flag for me too. 

Even if I don't plan on bringing an escort, I like to know that they would be welcome. Cause if you're not letting the model bring anyone with her, you ensure her safety and that's kind of sketch. Yeah, definitely. If the shoe that they propose is close to your boundaries, how do you determine whether or not to accept the work? 

And we haven't really talked about your boundaries, but whatever they are, if. So I'm pretty clear on my boundaries already. So that decision isn't usually too difficult for me. But if I am questioning, I usually just try and picture myself during and right after the shoot and kind of imagine how pushing those boundaries would make me feel. 

And if I'm thinking it's going to make me feel kind of bad about myself, then I'm just going to say no matter if I'm getting extra money for it, like my own wellbeing is my priority. Yep. All right. Does the photographer you're working with help determine your boundaries and know? I mean, I know you've got kind of your own hard and fast boundaries, but does the boundary shift based on who you're working with? 

Once so much, I mean maybe if I'm working with someone that I've known for a long time that I really trust, like I might be willing to do a little bit more risky photos, but like my hard limit is I don't do like spread leg. I won't really do that with any anyone. It's not like a matter of trust or not. 

I mean, I mean, it wouldn't be for like new people, but I just do that for me personally. It's just not my thing. So I mean, really, they don't change that much for different people. Gotcha. That makes sense. Now, if you're, I mean, if you're, if your boundaries hard and set and you're comfortable up to that boundary, it probably wouldn't. 

What happens if you see a photographer you'd like to approach, do you do any different screening or are you kind of run through the same steps? If you're the one approaching the photographer versus they approaching you? I kind of run through this, but the same steps. I always look to see who they've worked with and yeah, I'll still contact them models, check if they're there. 

Okay. Yeah, pretty much the same steps and new models to, to ensure that. Okay. I have a lot on this. I mean, I'm going to reiterate again always get multiple references for photographers also go with your gut instinct. If something feels wrong, even if you can't put your finger on exactly what it is, your instincts are most likely. 

Right? I've learned that after a few times of being like, wow, I should have trusted my gut on that one. And I would say always try to bring an escort with you to shoots, to ensure your safety. And even if that's not feasible for you. As a photographer, whether they're okay with you bringing an escort. 

Even if you're not planning on bringing one, if they say no, I would rethink shooting with them. And if you're shooting without an escort, just make sure someone close to you knows where you're shooting. So this is what I do most frequently because normally I can't bring escorts with me to shoots given how often and frequently I shoot. 

So I always let someone know where I am when I get there, I will give them an update, like in the middle of the shoot, tell them how it's going and text them when I leave. So this ensures that if anything bad happens to you. You'll have someone who knows how to find you. And I also recommend using this app, it's called life 360, and it allows people in your group to see where you're located at any time. 

And also allows you to send an SOS, which alerts the member of your group and the police, if you're in trouble. And it's just like a one button click. So it's pretty easy lock screen, like right on. No, I think it's directly in the app. Gotcha. Do you have to do a couple of clicks, but yeah, I guess so. 

Yeah. You're right. No, it'd be bad if it was on the lock screen. Cause then you could turn it on in your pocket or something. Any others, I'm sorry. I felt like I interrupted you there. I mean, that's the main thing it's like always do your research that your photographers try bring escorts. If you can, if you can't know, let people know where you are. 

Those are really the main things for me. All right. What should new photographers do to make sure that the models feel and are, I mean, I think they should provide them with multiple references and not be all, why would I do that? Yeah. I had a lot of people be like that. 

Yeah. Just encouraging the model to bring someone, if it makes them feel safer. I mean often I don't follow this every time, but ideally if it's like the first time you were shooting, especially if you don't get references from other people that, you know, I think it's kind of beneficial. If they ask you, if you can shoot in a public space to public school. 

I mean, I'm not as big on that one, I guess like with us we're not really shooting in public, but that's because I got like several references and they were like, oh yeah, he's great. He's great. He's super cool. So I didn't even know a secret, but yeah, often that, that could be a good idea. Especially if you are feeling like maybe a little off about the guy, just make sure it's like in a public space. 

And I would say. They should give a detailed outline of what they would like to shoot, like the kinds of poses, angles, genres and just make sure you're okay with that. Speaking of that, actually, how was my description? When we started off, I felt like it was a little light, but. Yeah. I mean, I think that was pretty good. 

It was pretty clear, concise. That's three things that we were going to do. I know I threw you a couple of pictures off my mood board. It's not really a mood board and I really appreciate that too. When photographers send like pictures of ideas that they're trying to recruit. Yeah, we didn't have any ideas for the stairs. 

I don't think the only idea that I, the only picture I had for that was against a bookcase and my bookcases filled with crap. I don't have a fancy book case with like leather bound books. We still made it work. But yeah, I should actually start hitting up like a state sales and like finding like old collections of books that I'll never read. 

And it'll look really great behind me on my camera for work. It's like a backdrop of a library. A lot of new photographers tend to be very shy and have trouble articulating what they really want to shoot. And especially new photographers that want to shoot adult work. Do you have any advice for this pornographers on saying what they really want? 

And it might be helpful to give some examples of the kinds of things that you see in your DMS to show like, you know, oh, these are, I see this kind of stuff all the time. I mean, like I said, I feel like. Trouble articulating what you'd like to shoot sending models, those example images and mood boards helps a lot. 

If they're just like, oh, I want to do a new toot. Great. What kind of poses are you looking for? What kind of style? And if they have trouble explaining that, just, you know, send a few pictures that come close to the idea you're trying to capture, I guess, Yeah, I think so. Just, do you have any examples of a shoot offers you've gotten in your DMS, whether ones you've accepted or ones you haven't accepted? 

Like what kinds of shoot offers? I'm just, I guess what I'm looking for here is I'm looking for some normalization, like a new photographer when they're thinking of. Oh, I want to shoot. And I want to shoot erotic work and I want to do this and I want to do that. But then they get to the DM stage and they start to type my embracing that's off personal experience and they get to type in they're like, it's going to I don't know if I want to type that I don't know. 

And especially with the way that. Like Instagram and everything is set up where everything is censored and you can't do any adult work. It's very difficult to tell what models do and don't do sometimes. Fortunately, a lot of them are explicit in their boundaries, on their, you know, portfolio page or whatever, but a lot of them aren't, and I've talked to several people in the past that have flavored. 

The photographer has been like, oh, you know, she didn't have any of this stuff, but I just asked her and it was, she was totally open to it. So I guess that's what I'm, that's kind of a weird situation for the photographer to be in because. He has something that he wants to shoot. But on the other hand, he doesn't want to anger or burn bridges with a model by sending something where she's what the hell you like? 

Just any thoughts around that? Yeah. I mean, it's. A general message I get for most photographers is like Hey I'm interested in hiring you for this John Ruh. I'm looking to capture this and this I'm like, are you interested? And if so, can you give me your rates? Oh yeah. And normally I don't get offended if they ask me to do something that I don't do, unless they ask it in a really rude way. 

Like I don't do erotic. But if they're like, okay, I'm interested in hiring you for an erotic shoot. What are your rates? And are you interested in oh, like I don't do erotic, but if you're interested, I will do nude and I'll give him my rates for that. So yeah, normally it's just like kind of that generic. 

I want you to want to hire, stick to high level. Don't probably don't want to do at least not in the first message, explicit descriptions. Like I want a picture, you doing this? Yeah. One of the weird ones I got though was like this one guy, he was reaching out to me as the model, but he was like, I want you to come to the shoot and take pictures of me in women's clothing. 

Someone's got to finish. Yeah. Yeah. And that case, I was like, I mean, I didn't get like mad or offended. Really. I was kind of just that's a little weird. No one's ever asked me that before. Politely decline. And in most cases, unless you're like really rude to me, I'm not going to get sense. All right. 

It's I asked that I stay high level to start with at least use pictures to describe what you're not comfortable in describing in words take care of polite to clients and don't be explicit. Don't be rude. All right. Good deal. Do you keep track of the photographers that were. I do. I have a book where I keep track of all my finances, like the date I shot, who I shot it with and how much I earned. 

So I keep track of them that way. And a lot of times, some people from like way out of state will ask oh, do you ever come here? And I'll be like, I don't normally come there, but I'll keep you in mind if I ever do. And in that case, so I don't forget them. I have a section in the back of that same book where I write down anyone who's interested in shooting and paying my normal rates and like where they're located and who tried to haggle. 

Yeah. A lot of people trying to tackle. Yeah. I mean, I kind of get it being a photographer, like all this stuff's expensive and we talked about it. Like I have a budget and my budget is shooting with one model. And I'd love to shoot more, but that's I totally understand models need to get paid too. So it's. 

Yeah. Yep. So speaking on that, actually, since you talked about people and touring, so you do tour how often do you tour? So I go to New Jersey every month for a few days. And that's really just because I get a ton of business there every month. For some reason I get more business there than in other states. 

So I do make that kind of like a staple place to tour. And I also tour Ohio like Ohio and Pittsburgh, every two to three months. I used to live in Ohio, so I made a lot of connections there. I have a lot of friends like can stay with so yeah, I do tend to do that every few months. Every once in a while, I'll just throw in a new state in there. 

If I can find enough shoots to make it worth it. So I've done like Texas, North Carolina, but like usually I just do one to two big out-of-state trips a month. Interesting. For how long? Two months, two weeks out of the month for out of state or? Not even that long Jersey, it ranges anywhere from. 

Two to four days. Usually I think in Ohio is usually I would say three to five, maybe. All right. How do you say money while you're there? Do you tend to stay with photographers? Do you go with other models? Do you think some are super cheap? So in Jersey I've shot a lot with these people in this one studio so much so that they've basically become family at this point. 

So they always let me stay at the studio when I'm there, just over. So that helps out a lot with expenses. And I also have a few friends that I can stay with. If I want Ohio. I always make sure to stay with friends. Usually just friends I've made from when I was living there. Actually one of them is the photographer who like first got me started. 

So he lets me crash on his couch. And sometimes photographers will like pay for a hotel for me to do hotel shoots and then let me keep it overnight. And that helps a lot too. Cause it's about an hour or so of your hourly or so, is it usually just a straight trade in that case? Or is it that plus cash or? 

I think a few times they've been like, well, can I pay you this much less? If you can keep the room and sometimes I'll be like, yeah. Okay. That's fine. At sometimes they just offer it in addition cause they would be paying for it. You know, thinking about that. I actually have. Because. All right. 

So this is, I travel for work sometimes, and sometimes they don't hit, you know, gold or platinum status and the hotel stuff. So now I'm like, oh man, what if I got the model two nights at the hotel room, but it was in my name. And that counted towards my status. 

Yeah. I once asked a photographer since he had gotten a hotel room for us to shoot in and he wasn't planning on staying there. I was like, can I stay at it overnight? But he was like, oh, but it's in my name. And I don't know what you're going to do to the room. I kind of wonder, well, I understand that. 

If you don't know the person, you don't know whether they're a party or not, like I could see where that could be the next morning. They're like, oh, here's the damages for the crazy party you had last night, you know? Yeah, I don't know. I can definitely, I could see doing that for somebody that I knew probably would not do that for somebody I was working with the first time. 

That makes sense. All right. How do you advertise when you're going on a shoot? Do you open up like a model ma'am thing? Do you search for photographers in the area? Do you post on social media on what's up? So I guess first I'll reach back out to the people who I've worked with in that area before pay me and we'll shoot with me whenever I'm in the area. 

I guess my like touring regulars. So I'll reach back out to them first. And then I'll advertise on any post I make on Instagram and I'll advertise on my story. So I'm going to be in town on these dates DME for rates and scheduling, and I'll get some extra business that way. And yeah. 

Sometimes I do the model mayhem to where I'll put out a travel notice. But those are very successful. I've seen them. Yeah, they can be I really get more business from Instagram. The model may hem, but I do get a few gigs for model may have as well. And I have not shot with, well, I guess, I guess I met Dawn via Instagram, but she replied to one of my post asking about people that wanted to be on the photographer on the podcast. 

But, yeah, I've never shot with a model that I strictly met over Instagram. Even though I messaged you over Instagram, I still had seen your model, man, because you're a local in the area. And I actually get most of my business from Instagram truly interesting because I look up like the hashtag DMV models and stuff, and I just. 

Again, it's so impossible to tell if they do the type of work that I want to do. And there's just this long list of people that list themselves as models. And it's just, you know, random snapshots like that, their friends stuck and I'm like, yeah, it's are you really, I'm pretty wants to be, I get it. 

I got it. So search the hashtag DMD photographers and look at who they shoot with and they tag and see if they might be more, more worth your time. Yeah. All right. How about for new models that are thinking about doing a tour where they don't have friends in a place necessarily? Do you have any thoughts on how they could get started touring and start building those regular touring regulars? 

I mean, I guess they would have to kind of invest in it for the first couple of times maybe to develop those relationships. Maybe try and do a few shoots with other models in the area, because I mean, that could potentially lead to a friendship. You could potentially, you know, stay with them if you become friends. 

I mean, really the first few times you go on tour and you don't know anyone there you're probably going to be paying for some hotel rooms or you could you know, strike a deal with the photographer. If you're shooting in a hotel room, you know, discount it so you can stay there. Yeah. What kind of a social media presence do you maintain? 

So I have a big Instagram presence. I try and post most days, because that is where I get most of my business. Aside from that I have a Twitter, I've gotten a few shoots here and there from Twitter, not a ton, but let me see, that really surprises me. I actually I know Instagram was started as a photographers platform, but literally everybody I talked to is all full of, you know, vile and bitterness over what they do for, you know, new to an adult markers. 

And Twitter is so much more friendly to them, but everybody loves Instagram so much more than Twitter. I don't get it. I'm definitely getting more. They get a lot more views on Instagram whenever I post stuff, but I'm getting a lot more interaction on Twitter personally. Yeah. I like Instagram, I guess, in terms of posting my portfolio because you can see it all in one place. 

And I feel like it's a little harder with Twitter to see you, like all of your photos in one space. And I can tell like that long stream of stuff interspersed with your text. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, I also have an only fans. I guess that counts as social media right. Of the, yeah, so I mean, really Instagram's main one model mayhem is probably second. 

Twitter is probably third. Occasionally I'll find things on Facebook groups. But. I've kind of noticed more. So it's based on TFP shoots and not as many people seem to advertise. I wonder why I know I spoken with somebody else that has a private Facebook group for herself and her fans. And she's definitely saying Facebook is way harder on nudity and stuff than the other ones. 

Yeah. I mean, Facebook, I think Facebook owns Instagram too now. Right? So that's one Instagram's policy started getting even more. Strict so that they're both not super great toward nude creatives. All right. So when you rank them as Instagram as number one and mole mammas number two, was that in terms of the business you got or is that in terms of. 

That's in terms of the business I get. But I mean, also my favorite too, I do get a lot more from Instagram, but I also find Instagram to be just easier to post on bottle may have doesn't really have an app for most phones. So it's just kind of more difficult navigating the site if you're using your phone. 

And I don't think I can. Upload photos on my phone. I think I always have to do it on my computer, which just makes me want to update it a little less frequently. And I think if I remember correctly, maybe it's just me, but I was looking over a model before, when I reached out to you earlier this week, I was looking through model my M looking for people in the area, because again, it allows you to select by nude and the type of work they do. 

So it allows you to narrow it down pretty nicely, which is what. I noticed that a lot of people hadn't been checking model man regularly. There were a lot of people. There was like week, two weeks a month. Yeah. And like a lot of people, when I tell them I use model mayhem, they'll be like, oh, that's still a thing like that. 

Still people are still using that. I think it was really big several years ago. And I think it just started having some issues and people stopped using it as much. Yeah. I don't know. It's still really fills a niche though. Like it, it is the easiest way for me to find people within 25 miles that do nude work. 

Instagram again, searching those hashtags. I get people from Maryland. I get people from all. And if I search Virginia hashtags, like I get people from all over Virginia, Instagram drives me nuts, trying to find models. There's a lot of beautiful pictures on there. There's a lot of wonderful photographers and wonderful models on there. 

But telling if they're close to me very hard. Interesting. All right. How do you develop your social media following? You mentioned one, one thing posting daily the other day, or posting daily earlier. Really that's the main thing for me is just to keep up with my posts. And I tend not to post selfies. 

I don't really post casual pictures that my friends take a me out and about. I T I like. Very professional photos that I'd be proud to show in my portfolio. And I think that's kind of where maybe some new models Falter with their social media presence is like they're posting these, like some of these great professional photos interspersed with like duck face selfies. 

And people are like, are you that professional though? Yeah. And I can imagine too, again, back to the new photographer thing where all you've got a bunch of mediocre shots that you kind of hate, but you're like, these are the best things I have again, it's probably, is it better to just post those and then delete them later as you improve your stuff? 

Do you curate your Instagram or once it's there. For the most part once it's there, I'm there every once in a while I'll kind of look back and be like, oh, that photo didn't get as much along as I thought. Or I don't know if it just doesn't get as much positive feedback sometimes I'll take it down. 

But for the most part, they stay up there. So you're really just making sure what you're posting is really quality. Also just advertising on. Each of your social media platforms for your other social media platforms helps a lot. And using just the different features within those apps you know, not just posting, but also sharing stories and doing the live streams and like all those little extra features. 

Gotcha. Yeah, I haven't done any of that. They're not good. I don't want to spend the time on, as I said, we were talking about the Tisha Latisha before the pay awhile ago, she was talking about like the first hour after you posted as the most important you got. Be there ready to respond because it gets it more likes and like boosts sit and just, there's all kinds of crazy hoops to jump through for social media. 

I'm just like, I don't care. I haven't noticed if I post in the morning, it gets a lot more likes. I haven't figured that out. I've been posting like we had a PA I had a podcast come out this morning and I was debating, I haven't figured out the right time to post it. Cause I've seen the posts get, you know, anywhere from 30 to like hundreds of views and interactions. 

And I can't tell. I haven't sat down and figured out what time did I post it? So morning is better. Yeah, it's interesting. Normally when I post around eight or nine, I get a lot of likes and I think that's maybe partly because people are just waking up and what did they do when they first wake up? 

They check their phones or like right before they go into work and they'd be like, check their socials before they have to put their phone away. And I guess maybe it's the same for like evening. Maybe what I thought, that's what I thought as I posted in the evening a couple of times, but the post in the evening, I always got like 20 to 40 interactions. 

I was like the morning ones that work the best for me, for some reason. Interesting. I expected that everybody would be at work and wouldn't be checking their phone, but I guess they're bored. All right. Do you have any interesting interactions with fans from social media? Good or bad? I don't really have any super big stories to share about fans. 

I mean, I haven't had anything super interesting happened with fans, little they'll message me and say things like, I love your work, or ask for custom videos or stuff. But I mean, that's mostly the extent. I mean, I'll have like random people messaged me kind of like weird, dirty things. Like I'll have Dick pics sent to my inbox yeah. 

Yeah. That's pretty much just the internet. I did have one person messaged me and they were. I will pay you $10,000 for a sex. Just one sex. And in that case, I usually, I don't even respond. I just ignore it and block I Paris. All right. So this is, there's a website where a guy does that. 

He messages, models, and pretends to be a. Rich dude from some middle Eastern country and like in broken English, he asked for sex and he asked and he's yeah. And I'll pay to fly you first class via Qatar airways and stuff like that. And then he posts their responses on Instagram or whatever, wherever he posts it to embarrass. 

And it's, and I hope if most people hear that, like I will pay to fly you here. Especially, if you don't have that much experience to people should really recognize that as a scam. And that that was something else I wanted to talk about for like new models is there's a ton of modeling scams. 

I get them in my inbox every single day. And usually they start out by. Saying we're looking for both male and female models, no experience necessary. And at that point, that's the first red flag. Why are you like messaging me if I don't have experience or you're not looking for experience and they'll promise something like two to $3,000 for a non nude shoot, which is no one pays that kind of money. 

And what else? And there'll be like Often the, wants you to pitch in money for the shoot beforehand, and then there'll be like, we'll pay you that back. Plus extra. And that's usually their scam, but often they also are like, we'll pay to fly you here. And in those cases, like I ran into a few of those we'll fly you to New York and ends up being a human trafficking scam. 

So I'm like, I'm hoping most people are smart enough to realize that someone's asking them to come to a different country. I'll fly you here. If you can't get references on the guy. Yeah. That's not a good sign. That's interesting. Cause you know, you hear a lot of talk about human trafficking, but that's something that as far as I know, I've never seen like how do you so there was this big group. 

They keep changing their names, but when they contacted me, they were ambushed. And then they were like, something like live in the moment, New York or something like that. But yeah their thing is they always messaged models that are just starting out new to the industry who were kind of naive. 

And I'll be like well first I'll ask them to send a bunch of nude pictures so we can like, see what you really look like. No they're selling those photos to other people. And then I'll be like, okay, we'll pay to fly you out. We're going to pay you like a thousand dollars for this shoot. You're going to be modeling diamonds and rubies and like all of these Juul to keep them at the end. 

Yeah. So yeah I've gotten that scam a few times and a lot of my friends, like they contact a lot of my friends too. And that was a big one too. Cause I. People have contacted the FBI multiple times about them. And one person heard something weird from the person who initially reached out to them that made them think that she was a victim of human trafficking. 

Something like, oh they'd kill me if I found out, or if they found out the whatever. So yeah, there, there are a lot of those dangerous just scams out there. So be aware that there's other scams. So target photographers are all around money. Oh yeah. Oh, of course. Yeah, I get them in my inbox every day. 

They always start out with we are like, it's something weird. Like we are amped up for both males and male and female models, some weird starting line like that doesn't sound like it's would be said in normal English. Right? Huh. All right. Well, if I ever, if anybody wants human traffic, meaning the answer is no. 

All right. Well, no, that's good. Cause that's never come up before. So that is new and interesting. And we're going to follow that up with something a little lighter. So there's an atrial debate and modeling about single rate versus multiple rates for types of content. So I think I know where you fall on that because you charge multiple rates. 

Why, what made you decide to do that versus the single rate? I mean, really? I think it's just a matter of exposure. For me a nude model, it's exposing yourself more, making yourself more vulnerable. Plus nude work is in general, it's in higher demand. So I would say you should charge more for that. It's so like I charge more for boot war than they do fashion more for news than I would boot war and sometimes more for fetish than I would nude. 

So it's just like increasing levels of I guess explicit, I assume you're your boudoir is a boundary, right? Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. That's the way I've kind of feel about the single as well. If your time is your time, which does make sense to me, but then you have to charge a really high rate and then people that want to do like portraiture stuff are not going to pay it. 

Cause they're gonna be like, oh, you're charging $125 an hour. You're charging $150 an hour. I can't swing that for just portraits. Because you're generally speaking, you're not making money off portraits. I know broken exception sometimes if it's like, we want to hire you for a half a day or a full day. 

If they're booking me for. A long time in that case, I'll be more willing to be like, okay, well, why don't we do a flat rate of this? So they don't have to be worried about oh wait, what's at the end of the hour already. Am I starting a new one for you to go? So like in the case, we're here shooting for a really long time with someone, it could be easier to do just one rate that kind of encompasses all your genre does. 

But if it's just like two, three hours, I tend to charge that for. And also, I think it makes sense to when you reach a certain level of notoriety, like if you've been in Playboy, like then all of a sudden it's, if they really want you, they're gonna, they're gonna spend that. How did you determine your own rates? 

Did you figure out like, was there like a calculation, like how much do you want to work and what do you want your salary to be? Or was it based on kind of standard rates or? So I, first thing I did was I went to the agent I had at the time, he basically told me what are good starting rates for a new model. 

So I started with those, I think I started with 50 for fashion, 75 for boudoir and a hundred for news. And then a year or so later once I'd gotten a lot more experience, added a lot more to my portfolio. And I was in like a lot higher demand. I like increased each of those by $25. So it's like kind of a combination. 

Time experience, and just also generally kind of adhering to a general range of like what's normal for I've seen an incredible variety of models rates anywhere from 50 to 350 an hour and then 315 hours. If you can get that phenomenal, but amateurs can't afford amateur photographers cannot afford. 

I saw one model recently, it was like charging a thousand dollars an hour for a nude shoot or something. I'm like, is she getting any business with that? I can't imagine anyone wanting to pay. Yeah. I can't like, unless it comes with, I mean, what is she like a penthouse pet or something? Or is she like a super famous adult actress? 

I don't think she was. Maybe she saw those as scam emails. 

wow. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I think, and this is definitely, we talked to the guy with camera before. And what percentage of your income do you think comes from guys with camera and like really amateur photographers versus serious photographers, whether they're professional or just serious? That's a hard one. 

I mean, I definitely work with much more. Professional people rather than guys with cameras, maybe like 10 to 20% or guys with cameras. But I make sure to they're respectful, like even before, when we talk and make sure they don't call me babe or anything, they're like respectful toward me. They have ideas. 

They're just like, you know, they conduct themselves in a professional manner, even though they themselves aren't professionals. Okay. Has that changed over time when you first started, was it a higher percentage of guys with camera or was it a higher percentage of professionals because you're trying to build up your portfolio. 

Okay. Not really sure. Actually I might've worked with a few more guys with cameras cause I, might've been a little more naive wanting to shoot with anyone who paid at that point. Yeah. Kind of pay me to look pretty, but I mean, for the most part, I've worked mostly with professional people. 

What do you think is the most successful way you found to monetize your work? Do you think the direct payment by photographers locally, the touring or using sites, like only fans, it's a combination between direct payment locally and. Turing. Although it depends on like how far you consider touring to be. 

So I consider DMV to be where I'm based, but that encompasses all of DC, Virginia, and Maryland. So I'm still traveling, but I still consider that local. So I do a lot of business in those three areas. But a lot does come from touring. If I didn't travel, like I would not be able to have this as a full-time job. 

So yeah, like a good portion of my income every month comes from my Jersey trips and like another big portion when I do my Ohio trips. It's really interesting. And you've got a bunch of regulars are like, yeah. And it's usually people will jump at the chance to work with me when I'm there, because I'm not there all the time. 

So it's like a higher traffic. I can count on more shoots in one short period of time and I can just locally. Gotcha. Yeah. That's really interesting to me. Cause again as a, basically an amateur, like guy with camera plus like I can only afford to shoot like once a month. Like I just, I dream of the day when I can afford to shoot like four times a month and quit my stupid day job and just be able to just own a studio or. 

I think that'd be amazing. I just hear like people that can hire the St if you're hiring the same model every month, that implies to me, like you're also hiring other models. Like you're not just shooting the same person over and over again. We still, I still I think we're just about out of time. 

So I have one question for one last question, actually, two last questions for you. Somebody asked me I saw somebody mentioned that somebody didn't ask me directly, but a sudden you mentioned on Twitter that there's not enough discussion about mental health and being a model. So I want to try and throw this in every time I have a chance. 

What, how do you maintain your mental health as a model like you have to, like you were talking about you get Dick pics. I'm sure there's some lovely interactions with some creepy dudes on only fans and other places. Like how do you make sure? And just, you know, photographers being judgy and yeah. 

Any thoughts on how to stay? What was it like the Dick pic things I've kind of learned to just brush that off and laugh about it. Oh, this idiot. Okay, bye. So that doesn't concern me too much. I guess the, what gets to me a lot is like the travel and. Yeah. I don't know, just staying so busy all the time and driving for six hours at a time. 

I feel like I just always have to make sure that there's one part of my day where I take some time for myself to do what I like, whether it's like going to the gym or just relaxing at home, or just like talking to my friends, I have to have a part of my day. That's like just dedicated to that. Maintain my mental health, I think and say I met a lot of a lot of my friends through modeling. I met my boyfriend kind of through modeling. So they're all a huge support systems. They always helped me out when I'm feeling down as for like photographers being judgy. So I did have an eating disorder when I was younger actually, before I got into modeling. 

And that was just a big eye-opener to where I'm still getting. Self-conscious at times, but I've learned not to make, you know, that kind of thing. The center of my life. If someone, like someone wants was like, oh, cover your stomach because you have a little pooch there at this point of I've learned. 

So like kind of brush it off. Like it annoys me. But I'm like, well, I'm still in demand. Obviously. Like people do like my look, I don't have to let this ruin my entire day. So it's just kind of part of the industry, I guess, that you have to accept and just, you know, kind of try and keep a positive mindset and. 

You know, have your friends help you through it. Okay. Gotcha. All right. Well, I like to finish off with the same question for just about everybody. What is your favorite photograph in your portfolio? And by portfolio, we can use your model man portfolio. We can use your Instagram, whatever I have over 400 photos, I think posted on my public portfolios that I'm not really sure if I can pick one, but I guess some of my favorites are. 

I posted a few really cool underwater ones. And I really liked those just cause that shit was so incredibly challenging for me. It was hard like, you know, learning to, I guess, control my breathing in a way to where I could sink down. And just keep my eyes open underwater. So I like that one just because it was one of the most difficult shoots that I've done and the product like turned out really well. 

Another one that I really liked was I shot with some wolves. We did like a whole kind of fairytale scene where I had like a red sparkly, very Regal looking dress. We had a very fancy couch, just kind of like in the middle of the woods. And there was this big Wolf right next to him. I really liked that one, just cause it's different. 

Not many people have that kind of thing in their portfolio. So that's definitely one of my favorites. And I guess some of the other ones are just the really cool body paint ones. So I work with this gray body painter, Jonathan Kenny in Columbus. He just, he makes these amazing interviews. Body paint designs. 

And I don't see those often in other people's portfolios either. So I think that's something like new and different that really adds to minds. I guess some of all of those, and didn't see the body paint ones. I did see some tape ones are kind of cool. So it's all a, there's one with a where you're splashing water. 

Like it was. Angel wings or butterfly wings, almost like it was almost like a time-lapse it was pretty recent posted just the day. Yeah. Yeah. That was really cool. I like those. Cool. Like photo-shopped ones, like ones that involve super special effects. So that one I had like I made a splash and then he turned those droplets into wings through Photoshop, the guy, I think my favorite that you posted. 

Oh, yeah. I noticed that one's at studio two, a six. Yeah. Oh, it was a really fun shoot. I actually went there primarily as the photographer to shoot the other model and then. I was having this other photographer helped me kind of learn how to shoot that style. And in return, like I did a free shoot for him too. 

So I joined it. I mean, it's obviously a putting, was it like a gobo with the light? So just for people that are listening, if you wanted to go and it was posted June 25th on her port on her Instagram and it's her and another model, my Kayla Fox. And there's a, it's like depth. Light and shadow against a white background. 

I mean, obviously it's some kind of gobo, but it's probably not a grid because the lights are two separate. It wasn't like a sheet of paper or something with holes punched in it. No. So it's a projection actually. So we just had a plane think it was either like a white or gray background maybe. And he had. 

Two projectors on either side of us like projecting a patterned image onto us and onto the background. Interesting. Yeah. No, that makes sense. Cause you can definitely see on the only shadows are where you're both blocking the light on each side, like under, under your arm and then between your head and your arm. 

And it was difficult doing. John rhe with another model. Cause I've shopped projections a lot by myself. But it's so particular cause every little tiny inch you move drastically changes how the projection looks on you. So to coordinate it with someone else is it's challenging, but it's really fun. 

Yeah, I can imagine. All right, I'm gonna have to get over. All right. So we are just about done anesthesia. Where can everyone find you on as you can find me on Instagram? Username is Anastasia underscore may M a Y E underscore model can find me on only fans as just anesthesia, may one word and on Twitter, Anastasia underscore, and may Y E somebody take Anastasia may on Instagram. 

I'm not really sure. I found out how I chose that particular. I registered my Instagram name first and I went to go register on Twitter and Twitter. It was like, this is too long. And I was like, ah, all right. Do you have any ongoing projects you'd like to mention? I mean, nothing, I think in particular, really, I'm trying to do some fun Halloween shoots this month. 

I don't really know if that counts as an ongoing project. We planning on doing any touring. I mean, I'll be going to Jersey I'm sure. In November, but the main travel dates I have planned are Pittsburgh and Ohio. The 11th through 13th and then Jersey. Oh yeah. Jersey, October 22nd through 23rd. Yeah. 

Alright. And with that, we're done. Check us out@thensfwphotographypodcast.com on Twitter. As at NSFW photography. Instagram at the NSFW photography podcast and subscribe on your favorite podcast app to finish this off today, I have a quote from Twyla Tharp that really spoke to me in these COVID times. 

Spending so much time at home. Art is the only way to run away without leaving home. Everyone stays safe out there.