What is TFP?

Today is January 1, 2022, and I recently just turned 55 years old. This year I watched way more TikTok videos than I should have. The lady my wife and I met at the bar at Nana’s Irish Bar in Newport this past week told me that no one over the age of 29 should be watching TikTok. But she bought my wife and me a birthday drink so why argue. It is her opinion. 

So, what I am going to do with all those opinions I have this year about photography? I think I know but here I am writing, well typing, this out to start me off. For many years I was a constant TFP photographer. Most people have no idea what TFP is so that is my first thing to talk about. 

TFP is a pretty old-school term that means “Trade for Prints”. This has been a thing in Hollywood and Fashion under various terms. Check out this video about Chris Pratt and his headshots back in the day. 

Chris Pratt's Most BEAUTIFUL Picture - The Graham Norton Show

Photographers offer or are asked to photograph a person, business, house and give the subject, owner, or realtor the photos to use in their promotions. This has been standard practice for decades but with the advent of the cell phone camera, the demand has decreased. My experience with TFP was mostly models and people who just wanted professional free photos. When Instagram became a thing, those were your photography advocates. 

Now TFP refers to more as Trade for Photos and is mostly digital. TFP serves a purpose in a photographer’s lifespan in my opinion. But it can be relied on as a crutch or even a roadblock from excelling as a photographer and a model. TFP subjects and working with a photographer who offers TFP should be thought about. TFP photographers own the rights to those photos. In my experience, they should not make money by selling those photos. Once a photographer starts selling them or a model starts selling them on their social media the rules should be different. Now using these TFP photos to book paying gigs and self-promotion is what TFP is, creating content to use in that role, self-promotion, be that advertising, social media, or job interviews.