Frequently Asked Questions

New!Are you selling your pictures on eBay under the name "thecandidstore", "jaxhavok", "julian777", etc?

No, I'm not selling them at all (see more detailed answer below). In fact, without further negotiation with the models pictured, I can't, not legally. Anyone selling my stuff on eBay is just downloading them and printing them out, and usually falsely claiming they're "real prints from the negative".

New!Does Nikon really suck?

My LS-2000 film scanner is now on its sixth trip to the repair facility, and after completely failing to fix the problem I sent it in for twice, they're promising to completely replace it (as they did the first time). Two of the trips lasted a full six weeks. Some people have had good luck with this model, many others have not, and Nikon has tried to blame most of the problems on "rough handling" and failure to remove the shipping screws before use. Considering that not only do they insist that you not ship it in its original packaging, but that they don't even follow their own packing guidelines when they send it back to you, it looks like they just don't want to admit that the product is incredibly fragile and flaky.

Gee, can I grab some of your pictures, print them out, make them into keychains and stuff, and sell them on eBay?

No. I can sue you for that. I probably won't, but if we're ever in the same room, I'm willing to consider beating the crap out of you. You're not hurting me financially, but you are hurting the models, and possibly damaging my reputation with them if they think that I'm involved in your little scam.

Where do I send comments, complaints, and requests?

feedback@jgreely.com.

Do you have any pictures of my favorite model?

I'll be adding a comprehensive index soon, but for now, if you go through the index pages for each Glamourcon and don't find her, the answer is no.

Do you have any more pictures of my favorite model that you haven't posted yet?

Maybe, but it's unlikely that I'll ever post them. On average, roughly a third of the pictures I take at a show end up online; the others are either very minor variations or mistakes (out-of-focus, poor composition, unflattering expression, etc). The major exception is a few older outdoor shoots that I just haven't gotten back to (such as Ulrika Ericsson at Glamourcon 10).

Can I buy prints/slides/negatives from you?

Not unless you're the model in the picture. If you are, send me mail, call me, or catch me at a show and I'll be happy to make arrangements. In general, I'm willing to supply dupe slides, internegs, or high-quality scans at or below cost.

Aw, why not? Pretty please?

Nope, sorry. There are three kinds of model pictures on my site:

• official Glamourcon show photos, covered by the contract each model signs as a condition of attending the show;
• personal snapshots at Glamourcon and other public events, published as a "review in pictures" of the event;
• private shoots covered by a limited release negotiated with the model for non-commercial Internet publication.

None of these permit me to sell prints to third parties.

Name your price!

(Yes, I've actually gotten this one, and he eventually stopped whining about it and took "no" for an answer.)

Can I use your pictures on my web site?

If it's completely non-commercial (no banner ads, etc) and you give appropriate credit, go ahead. If you're making money off of it, even indirectly, no. I'm not sure why so many people want to do this, since my site rarely goes down, I almost never delete pictures, and hosting this stuff on your own site gets expensive quickly.

Can you get me in touch with my favorite model?

If I have a web site for her, all of her pictures are linked to it. I will be adding links to fan-mail PO boxes Real Soon Now.

When will you update your site?

Um, next week, yeah, that's it! No, really! Hey, why are you laughing?

What kind of camera gear do you use?

I use Minolta auto-focus SLRs. My full show rig is a Maxxum 9 with 85mm/f1.4 lens and a Tiffen Warm Soft/FX #1 filter, Quantum Qflash T2 with Turbo battery mounted on a Newton bracket, loaded with Fuji Astia slide film. Outdoors I switch to a Minolta 80-200mm/f2.8 lens with the same filter, and a Minolta 5400HS flash set to -1 stop fill. When that's too much to carry (such as at the June Playboy Expo), my compact rig is a Maxxum XTsi with either the 85mm/f1.4 lens or the 28-70mm/f2.8, the 5400HS flash with optional Shell diffuser, and either Fuji Astia slide film or Fuji Superia 400 print film, depending on the conditions. Latest toy: I finally picked up the Minolta 135mm/f2.8[T4.5] Smooth Trans Focus lens; I plan to give it some exercise this weekend in LA.

How do you scan your pictures in?

I use a Nikon LS-2000 film scanner with the optional SF-200 bulk slide feeder. It's a fragile and finicky beast, but once you get it working, you can drop in fifty slides at once and walk away. Once I have a batch scanned, I use Adobe Photoshop to trim off the borders, rotate the images, adjust the image with the Levels and Curves tools, and generate multiple sizes and apply an appropriate Unsharp Mask for each size. Most of this is automated, but the LS-2000 has a habit of giving me a fairly high percentage of dull scans of correctly-exposed images, so I spend about a minute fixing each picture. The new Auto-Contrast feature in Photoshop 5.5 helps a lot (more or less equivalent to Auto-Levels without the color shifts), but it's still not perfect. Someday I'll stop using the clumsy Nikon software that comes with the scanner and switch to something more predictable.

Do models charge a lot for taking pictures?

Some yes, some no, some not at all; there's a lot of variation. I'd say that the typical model either charges $5 for taking a picture or allows you to take a few pictures if you've purchased an autograph or other merchandise from her. I get a lot of freebies and cut a lot of deals for multiple pictures, but if I don't like the price, I just move on. If a model charges $10 or more per picture, I might take one or two shots and that's all the money she'll ever get from me, but I won't make a big fuss about it; I'll just take my business elsewhere. My outdoor shoots are a different arrangement, and rely a great deal on my being a familiar face and having good references.

What are these women like in person?

Just like anyone else, except they're usually prettier. I've run into a few who didn't seem to like fans and were only in it for the money, but they tend to make very little money and never return, so the average model at a Glamourcon is quite friendly, in and out of the show.

Do you ever, y'know, get any?

Sigh.