put half-naked or bikini pictures in your portfolio, with you butt sticking out postures that say 'hump me'; well, unless you want to get a job in Hooters or a strip club. Before I continue with my ramble, let me give you some feedback. I'm a European photographer who moved to Memphis in June 2013. I was a freelance photographer in Belgium and I occasionally used ModelMayhem to network and find models and make-up artists. I started using the website much more often when I moved to the US, and I was really surprised with what type of pictures female models put in their portfolios.

At first I thought that it might be a culturally artistic difference and that I simply didn't understand the US photography and the American-style of ModelMayhem. Maybe I was right, maybe I don't understand it and my photography style and believes don't fit in the US. But hear me out…

I spent hours, hell, days and weeks on searching for aspiring and/or interesting models with potential for producing interesting photographs but I all kept finding were nasty looking portfolios. You ask: What are 'nasty looking portfolios'? I'm not sure how to explain it without swearing. Just try to imagine (for obvious reasons I can't publish here examples) a portfolio full of half-naked or biking pictures in stripper shoes (if you don't know what these are, don't worry, I just learned it myself - click here); where a model bends in unnatural way, sticking her bust and butt out. Do you get the picture?

If you ask me, these are not pictures suitable for a modelling website and I'm rather repelled than attracted as a photographer by such pictures. However, these pictures are perfect for applying to Hooters or a strip club. But again, I might be wrong. You know, these culturally artistic differences…

To clarify, not all aspiring models have these type of pictures in their portfolios; but from what I've seen so far, most of them do in Tennessee and the neighboring states. In my personal and humble opinion, it's just sad.