ModelMayhem

I am a professional commercial photographer out of New York that also specializes in portraiture, fashion and glamour photography. I am 'considered' top in my city as I work with a healthy amount of agencies as their 'go-to' photographer. I am also the owner of a popular 4 hour DVD on photography teachings, which was produced and distributed by Kelby Training Institute.

Recently I have considered expanding my studio to Dallas Texas and Los Angeles. My clients kept saying I should join Model Mayhem as it would help access a large database of potential clients as I expand my global presence.

After registering and paying their VIP account ($100Yr) and uploading about two dozen of my images from various shoots, I get an email saying my account was closed and I am now banned. Several other photographers who also work as 'Admins or Mods' chimed in saying I was not who I said I was and marked all my work as stolen, effectively saying none of it was mine.

Clearly my Credit Card name matched my Model Mayhem account name, yet when brining this issue up by their support email, there has been no response. It has been nearly three weeks.

I now have filed a dispute with my credit card company, as I've complained about their malpractice and poor business.

It was ironic how the Admins (Competitive photographers) happened to be from Los Angeles, Texas, and New York.

Sounds like they didn't want me getting in to their territories and potentially 'stealing' their clientele.

You've been warned people!

-Peter

A 100% Useless Site. Run'd by Zero Talent and You can expect Major Lies from Brian Diaz, Dean Johnson, and the IB (Internet Blunders) who Own MM. The Major Lie, that IB Internet Blunders INSIST on repeating is the number "ACTIVE MEMBERS" MM has. They will lie right to your face... saying there is over 1 million "ACTIVE MEMBERS" that is 100% a Lie. Less than 20,000 are active on MM... and 900,000 Plus Members are now flew the coup. IB (Internet Blunders) should be honest to the members and Advertisers on the actually "ACTIVE MEMBERS"

A Poorly Run Website... Get this... Internet Blunders who owns MM cannot release a new feature to MM... WITHOUT destroying an old feature. IT takes. The Crack Tech Team. Weeks, Months... to correct their mistakes... Or even own up... they destroyed MM. Internet Blunders have own MM and in that time... cannot release a new feature without slowing down, or destroying your own ability to post pictures, or even going from one page to another... without Internet Blunders Crack Tech Team preventing you to do so. Simple surfing MM... is impossible because, the Crack Dumb Cluck Team run'd by Brandi, (must be 10 years old and thin'd skinned) has no clue how to run a simplistic website. Brandi's main goal in life on MM is to LIE! If you thought Trump was a massive liar... Brandi, Dean Johnson and Brian Diaz make Trump look like Nixon. AVOID THIS WEBSITE. SAVE YOUR MONIES! Use Facebook.

I want to warn young girls and boys especially about this site and anyone who claims to be affiliated with Model Mayhem.
I was approached by a *very* off-putting man claiming to be an agent for Model Mayhem... after he approached me, and the way he was speaking to me and trying to convince me of things that common-sense should automatically tell you "back away, this person is fraud", I realized he thought I was much younger than I am (I look 17-18 but am 28 turning 29this year.), I told him my real age and began conversing with him to prove I was smarter than he was thinking... his face said it all... once he realized and felt I was onto him possibly being a fake or someone to just be cautious of, he pretty much ran from me.
I also have been notified of others who have been put in very dangerous situations, believing they are working with someone affiliated with Model Mayhem, but had turned out they aren't even agents for them.
PLEASE. YOUNG GIRLS, BOYS... WOMEN AND MEN... ESPECIALLY THOSE STRIVING TO BECOME MODELS... STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY! STAY SAFE!

Here's the thing I've been wanting to model for long time I have have been searching for the right agencies for quite some some time I have no experience in modeling I have never modeled but given the opportunity I know I have what it takes but I do have a little attitude when it comes to rejection especially when I feel it isn't fair or I was given the proper chance like I feel today with Model Mayhem. I signed up today they said is sometimes takes days for a reply after you summit your profile all in the same day they declined my profile when I was completely honest about who I was and what I was seeking and my dream to be a model. I am not some ugly girl with big dreams I know I have what it takes to model. I am the right height I am in shape and I have the motivation I won't let this company discourage me especially when I seen few members profiles who didn't even look like models I don't need to have experience to be able to tell that much. I posted my best photos they wasn't professional photos but they were my they probably disliked it because they didn't fit their Requirements called them off as selfies regardless it was disrespectful because they were good photos of my full body and face. Not to mention Finding out online modeling mayhem is no different than sexy jobs.com but just stricter while people have gone missing or raped maybe its a good thing they declined me. I won't let this site stop me from goals anywhere I go I am asked if I am a model I am always mistaken as a model so i see that site isn't a the best fit for me...

MM portfolio website is a Global portfolio modeling site, with hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Unfortunately, MM does not vet their subscribers. Anyone can join claiming to be a photographer there aren't any background checks done.
Many of MM photographers are nothing more than sexual predators preying on YOUNG and vulnerable aspiring models. These photographers are offering these young vulnerable women monetary compensation for what they call "photo shoots" These photo shoots usually takes place in hotel rooms, or an old warehouses, some of these so called photographer have been known to set up shoots at their homes, which shows the level of desperation. These pseudo photographers are doing nothing more than obtaining sexual pleasure viewing women's bodies behind a lens of a camera. These young women are risking their lives for what they see as a chance to become another "America's Top Model."Some of the MM photographers pretend to know the modeling business, and claim to be affiliated with some of our major magazine companies telling them how they could make these women famous.
There have been several young women who have disappeared, after setting out to meet photographers they hooked up with on MM. There has also been countless sexual, physical assaults and rapes which have taken place, many have not been reported, due to fear and the embarrassment of these victims.
I will say, that this doesn't describe all of the photographers on MM, there are a handful of legitimate Photographers on MM. But for the most part a great deal of them are nothing more than sexual predators, YOUNG and OLD trying to sexually exploit young women and, others are desperate men trying to hook up with vulnerable women.
Ladies, if you are aspiring to be a model go to a reputable modeling agency. Please think twice! Before risking your reputation, safety and your LIFE! With these so called photographers who are nothing short of sexual predators...

Mayhem means a life-diminishing injury like putting out an eye or severing a hand.

Despite the dark connotation of its name, Model Mayhem presents on the surface as a lighthearted, informal place for models and photographers. Scratch that surface and you find North Korea in microcosm. I know someone on the inside. With the aid of a few free drinks, I have learned many disturbing truths about this site.

Users are the subject of FBI-style dossiers written by self-appointed moderators and killer admins. None of this is disclosed to those users. The gruppenfuherer Admin is Dean Johnson, a man with a history of rudeness and disrespect for his peers. He hides in Minneapolis. Johnson and other admins remain anonymous and communicate their messages of death using a black logo that has a curious resemblance to the ISIS terror banner.

The mods often rely on outside gossip taken from Internet scandal sites to target photographers. Photos that displease the mods are noted like prior arrests under a three strikes law. Some of the site rules are unknown - one user was canned because he uploaded 4 public domain photos of animals and the mods treated that as equivalent to stealing someones copyrighted pictures.

The list never expires. When someone accumulates enough demerits, they are summarily canned without warning. Portfolios that took years of work and thousands of dollars to build are erased with a single mouse click. There is no appeal from the death sentence; any complaint is met by an insulting rebuke.

Continuing with the secret police approach to users, a skilled technical staff searches through ISP data, metadata from pictures and private messages to sniff out and eliminate persons on their significantly-sized enemies list. All in all, its just no fun at all.

This site needs to be taken down and restarted from scratch. Until it is, I would avoid it like the plague.

I was a member for a few years before they decided I was affiliated with the adult industry. I posted that I was looking for models and I gave an idea of what I was looking for lingerie, implied, nude and more adult. They assumed since I posted more adult that I was shooting porn for some site... more adult is not code for porn. Maybe I should have put "playboy style" or "penthouse style" but that too could be construed as me shooting porn. I had no intension on shooting porn or am I affiliated with the porn industry. Before all this I was posting regular and not causing any problems.
When they first kicked me off they said it was because of a photo I posted. The photo? It was model in a diaper and pigtails biting on a teething ring. It was cute and she wasn't doing anything sexual. When I told them this they quickly told me that it was because I was affiliated with lingerienights.tv and they had a couple of complaints about recruiting for porn. They couldn't give me any examples of this and I have been out with lingerienights.tv in clubs shooting lingerie in crowded areas. The admins certainly didn't ban everyone on lingerienights friends list because I know a few people still on there that were friends with them... I quickly told them that also and that is when they quoted my post. To me this shows that they had nothing on me and they interpreted my post as how they wanted to see it.
In the mean time there are reports of models being lured by rapists and 1 is even missing but yet the last individuals to deal with these models were photographer and they still have profiles and actively using them.
I honestly don't know why this bothers me so much but it does. It like high school again. They were bullies in high school and when they grew up they realized the real world wasn't going to put up with their bullying so they became admins to continue their bully mentality.
If I had the ability to do so, I would create a similar site and change things up a bit.

I used Model Mayhem for approximately 3 years. I had quite a bit of success arranging shoots during the first 2 years of my use of the service. Over time, less actual models joined the site, instead I would see more selfies, and "instagram models" that just wanted to pay their rent and had profiles saying the bring an entourage of their mom/boyfriend/best friends/ect to ever shoot. The professionalism went down the tubes in a big way.

During the last year, I stopped relying on MM as much as I had in the past for finding talent as I now have a large network of models, makeup artists, and friend in the industry that I can call on when ever. One day however, I decided to post a casting call for a project I was shooting in the near future, and it of course wouldn't hurt to attract as many options as possible. A few days later I received an email informing me that my account had been closed. Permanently.

No reason given as to why, no warnings, ect. 3 years using the service, and luckily never paying for it, and one day everything is just gone. Kind of a bummer, and it upset me, but they have the right to do as they please... it is their site. What upsets me greatly though, is that my data is STILL everywhere on the site. Images show up, my profile is still accessible (but not to me). I still get messages, but can't reply. My posts on the forum are still there in their entirety with my photos display next to my name.

I attempted to do the only thing that you can, "contact a mod." They don't even write out moderator. I emailed the "mod" a very professional, simple, but detailed message inquiring as to why my account was permanently closed, and if there was no possibility of reversing the closure, that I would like to have my data removed from the site. The response, verbatim, was "We close accounts as we see fit. Network elsewhere." Who runs this site? Angst filled teenagers? My advice is to stay away from this unprofessional site, and most definitely NEVER pay for the service... that's for total suckers.

Model Mayhem is a site that doesn't work half of the time, now filled with rent-queens, selfie models and perverts trying to lure girls into their apartments for porn, run by people that hate life, and a company that steals your data.