October 1, 2005

The Schmoes and the Rise of Schmotography in Modern-Day Bodybuilding

Main Entry: schmo
Variant(s): or schmoe \'shmo\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural schmoes
Etymology: origin unknown
slang : JERK (an annoyingly stupid or foolish person)
(Source: Merriam-Webster Online)

I was introduced to the world of schmotography by all the schmotographers who attended the 2004 Canadian Bodybuilding Championships. Schmotography is a crude form of photography conducted by what’s now known in the bodybuilding world as a "schmo" – basically, a male who has a predilection for female physique competitors that has little to do with the sport of bodybuilding and more to do with fulfilling some fetish need that I, and most likely the majority of bodybuilding enthusiasts, fail to understand. In short, a schmotographer is a fetish-monger with a camera.

When the 2005 Canadian Fitness and Figure Championships came around, though, I wasn’t just introduced to schmotography, I was blindsided by it with the onslaught of schmotographers who attended, outnumbering the legit press photographers by at least two to one. So, while the 2004 Canadian Bodybuilding Championships gave me a glimpse of the world of schmotography, the 2005 Canadian Fitness and Figure Championships gave me a front-row seat at the inner workings of what some will call a business, but I consider an illness in our sport, particularly for women. Hopefully, this article will explain what it is and how it differs from real physique photography, something that’s been the backbone of our sport for decades.

The equipment most schmotographers use is minimal – most appear to rely on a high-quality digital camera, a high-capacity memory card, and a topflight laptop computer. They may even have a video camera at their disposal too, but right now the schmotographers appear more concerned with picture taking.

The talent a schmotographer needs is even more minimal than the necessary equipment because what they shoot for is quantity not quality. The schmotographer usually gets paid per photograph, regardless of how good the photo looks. So, a few minutes to learn how to take a reasonably good picture and how to transfer those images efficiently to a computer is all the training that’s needed. The real skill comes with the selling of their supposed service – not the actual pictures themselves, mind you, but selling the idea to the would-be "model." After all, the schmotographer would just be a schmo with camera gear if he didn’t have someone to actually photograph.

What the schmotographer first offers the prospective model is money – from what I could tell, $25 to $150 for one hour’s work, depending on the athlete’s popularity, the desirability to photograph her, and the negotiating skill of each party. There are a few competitors, however, who might be able to demand more money.

The next thing the schmotographer usually offers to sweeten the deal is the promise of popularity and newfound fame. "Let me take photographs of you and you’ll be the next…," can be heard quite often. If the prospective model accepts the proposal, the next hour is usually spent shooting as many photos as the schmotographer’s camera, card, and laptop can accommodate. I remember watching one schmotographer work and being so amazed that his camera’s shutter opened and closed faster than if he was trying to shoot an Olympic sprinter in the 100m dash. Remember, quality isn’t the key with this type of photography, quantity is.

While $25 to $150 may seem like a good deal for one hour’s work – which is precisely why so many are enticed to take part – think again. Once finished, the model gets nothing more and leaves with the hope that she’ll be discovered by someone. That usually isn’t the case, though. In fact, I’ve never known it to be the case.

What really happens is this: All those photos get dumped onto some website to become part of a "Members" pay area – a few hundred more photos to join the tens of thousands that are already there. And the target audience for these sites: again, mostly more schmoes.

The photographer may own all or part of the site the pictures are going on, meaning he’ll profit directly if he has plenty of members, or he might sell the photos to a website operator for many times what he pays the model – that’s why quantity is so important, since they often get paid per photograph. Nevertheless, if new schmoes sign up to see that model’s pictures, or the photographer manages to sell those photos for even 100 times what he paid the model, the model gets nothing more. That’s because the contract that the model signed usually relinquishes all rights, control, and future earnings from those photos to the schmotographer. That means that not only does the model not receive future profits from the pictures, but control over which pictures are used is usually lost, too. So, if the model doesn’t like the photos, too bad, they’re going online anyway. If the model regrets allowing the pictures to be taken, it’s too late; the contract’s already been signed. What’s done is done and the model got a small chunk of money for an hour’s work and the owner of those photos can now profit from them at that model’s expense. Does it sound like a good deal now?

I’ve never found a person who was "discovered" through schmotography, but I’ve found plenty who have regretted taking part in these "photo shoots" after the fact. And I also know of legitimate photographers who have been turned off from certain competitors because of their involvement with schmotographers and the resulting poor-quality photos that can tarnish a competitor’s image. Who wants to spend the time creating a quality photograph of someone who will allow some schmotographer to shoot 1000 lousy pictures of them in an hour? So think about it: Is $25, $150 or even $1000 enough money to sign all your rights away and destroy your reputation?

I’m not foolish enough to think that schmotography will end because of this article, or that it will even subside. As long as there are people desperate enough for attention and others greedy enough to exploit that need, it will exist, and it will probably grow as digital technology escalates. Video, after all, is yet to be exploited to the same extent that photography has. My goal with this article is to simply expose the practice and, hopefully, educate some competitors who might consider being prospective models for the schmotographers. As a publisher, and someone who works in photography and with real photographers, I feel it my responsibility to do so. So, my advice to female competitors who might be approached by a schmotographer is to think twice and then ask yourself, "Is it really worth it?" And my advice to schmotographers everywhere is, "Get a real job."

...Doug Schneider, Publisher
das@seriousaboutmuscle.com

Doug Schneider is the publisher and chief photographer for SeriousAboutMuscle.com, BodyBuildingLive.com, and SeriousAboutFitness.com.