A important wake-up call - and reminder to all models to be vigilant
This page is the aftermath, resulting in the discovery that a popular Model Agency, operated in Ottawa Canada for almost 6 years without anyone questioning its authenticity.
In late 2019 we were amazed to find out "Ottawa Model Management" was an empty shell. It only existed as a few free pages on the web. (Instagram, Facebook, Pixieset). All correspondence was done via personal e-mails and messages, no banking infrastructure apparently existed to financially compensate models for their work, no contracts or agreements were in place.
What we offer here are collective perspectives, insights and experience dealing with the original Ottawa Model Management and its principals. These individuals did not to our knowledge do anything illegal, nor do I think the model's personal safety were in question.
Yet there are important lessons here which deserve to be shared. Young ladies, eager to be seen as legitimate models, are seen latching onto a self-proclaimed agency. The models thought they were fortunate to be "agency signed" BUT the so called agency offered no full time staff, no formal infrastructure, no legal agreements. The models found themselves with few real prospects. Instead, most found themselves exploited; used as sexy eye-candy to draw photographers to Garry Black's for-profit photo workshops.
Alerted to the sketchy nature of OMM, the models themselves started connecting the dots and even started questioning the authenticity agency director Barb Swan. It seems no one had ever really seen or spoken to her aside from social media chats or gmail. Once confronted, Barb disappeared. Garry Black, the founder of OMM, was then pressured to present proof she ever existed. He never publicly replied. Instead, all evidence of OMM was removed from Instagram, Facebook and the web.
While it now seems like OMM is history, this page remains as a reminder of how easy it is for someone to claim to have an agency and easily lure ladies with dreams of making it big as a model.
BACKGROUND
"Ottawa Model Management" was initially founded by Garry Black, an Ottawa photographer. Observations suggest that the main purpose of the self-proclaimed agency was likely to provide a steady stream of ladies to be the subjects at his for-profit workshops. Given the limited paid opportunities for models in Ottawa, this should have been a blessing. Anyone helping to grow the eco-system and offer meaningful work to local models would be great. Unfortunately, the benefits were apparently one sided. Workshops were often populated with numerous models, far too many to be properly compensated by the revenues generated via the workshop fees.
After a few years, for reasons of his own, Garry found someone else to deal with these models and seemed to distance himself, from the whole affair. This seemed to open the door for "Ottawa Model Management" to operate as a independent agency. A lady by the name of Barbra Swan, apparently in Halifax, was now being put forth as the Director. As with Garry, dealings with Barbara, were professional in nature but it was clear that OMM (as it became called) still had the same mandate. OMM models could be seen populating Garry's workshops, and it was apparently TF (trade for). At the same time, OMM Models were apparently discouraged from doing TF work with other photographers besides Garry. One might argue that was a strategy to add value to the workshops (Why pay Garry to shoot a model at his workshop, when the same model is available TF any other day). At the same time, if enforced, it did put a value on the model's time. Yet if paid models was the real goal then what should have been equally valued was other workshops like the Ottawa Photography Meetup group, where the models would actually get paid for their assignments. But was this was discouraged. Were other workshops deemed competition?
Some models, despite their apparent OMM affiliation, did schedule photoshoots and attended Meetup events. In this manner we discovered none had an agreement with OMM and many were uncertain of their responsibilities, or the exact role of OMM. On other occasions models, with no apparent affiliation on their Facebook profile, were requesting shoots or work, only to announce later "perhaps I should check with my agency". When that turned out to be OMM the shoot was generally cancelled by OMM. When independent photographers questioned OMM Models, many said they found their own work and operated independently of OMM much of the time.
This behavior and feedback was not in line with that of a professional agency seeking to find quality assignments for their models. For sure some ladies were apparently happy be legitimatized as a "model" and be "agency represented". But there were too many other irregularities and complaints, which lead to curiosity and research. Mike Giovinazzo, a local photographer and longtime business entrepreneur went to BBB and found that "Ottawa Model Management" had no history. Digging deeper, there was no "Ottawa Model Management" business registration anywhere. Models were thinking they'd "signed" with a real agency. But it didn't legally exist. No wonder they said they had no contracts, no one had OMM signing authority. No wonder models claimed they were unpaid. Without a formal company, OMM could not open a corporate bank account. This also explained why there was no company domain name, and the corporate e-mail was "barb0723@gmail.com".
One's 1st reaction was to blow the whistle, accuse, finger-point... This was indeed very misleading, unprofessional, perhaps even illegal. But before jumping to action, Mike Giovinazzo wanted proof. So he did a formal name search and registered the company name himself.
The next step was to try and make a real agency, that would truly benefit the many models who saw themselves as part of OMM. IE: Eliminate the deception, make OMM legitimate, give the models meaningful paid work, create modeling agreements, build a proper infrastructure with a polished website, professional e-mail using a real domain name and so on. Mike had years of business and entrepreneurial experience, this was therefore all quite easy. There were just had a few minor obstacles...
1- Mike was retired and had no desire in running an agency.
2- the company domain Ottawamodelmanagement.ca was already taken.
The 2nd issue was easier to tackle. Mike acquired the hyphenated version ottawa-model-managment.ca
While this all unfolded, Mike and others maintained the usual contact with OMM, whenever OMM models asked us to shoot etc. While chats were professional there was clearly a cautionary overtone. With models who had longstanding relationships with various photographers, or models who insisted they wanted to do a shoot with a given photographer, OMM reluctantly stepped aside. The OMM director, Barb Swan, often probed the nature of the shoot, asked about safety factors like ticks in high grass, and the model's compensation. It seemed to this lady genuinely cared for the OMM models. While many OMM Models felt they were not getting much value from OMM, they had nothing bad to say about Barb the director, so Mike started wonder if she might carry on as the director.
Barb was a member of Mike's meetup groups and had access to all his activities. It was clear Mike's Meetups could provide a nice revenue stream for the agency models. Barb however seemed to have some special historic relationship with OMM founder Garry Black and was still sending him unpaid models. So Barb was asked about this philosophical difference. In short, why would OMM models supplied to Garry's for-profit workshop not see any part of that profit. The reply was swift and decisive. Apparently, a few photos from Garry were worth hundreds of dollars and ample compensation. Hmmm.. OK
Mike was then questioned about his own Meetup compensation strategy. He explained he used a break-even strategy and used the published December 2019 shoot agenda as an example. He provided a detailed reply outlining how much models were paid, and how one of her own OMM models was being paid via for a Meetup event. Mike offered more steady PAID work for OMM models, yet Barb seemed unconvinced anyone would run workshops without taking profits. Mike documented the exchange here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dgrH7_hqODGk-vzgc5sEolDLafv-yncy-4nFRM5y5iM/
When Barb, stopped replying, Mike suspected that the relationship with OMM founder Garry Black was perhaps tying her hands. He needed to show her proof he was serious and capable of delivering. This was not just some vague promise behind closed doors, it had to be real.
Mike drafted a letter-of-intent outlining the plan to make OMM real and legal, have Barb continue as director, added a compensation package and to have her own 100% the company over time (since Mike didn't want it). Mike even included a $500 deposit towards said services, and stated publicly the company would be hers for a nominal fee of $1.
What should have been a simple business offer was instead deemed to be a bully tactic or a kind of take-over. No formal reply was ever provided.
What happened next is a series of screen shots (provided by friends and supporters) on a closed website where OMM questioned Mike's intentions and denounced his actions - Claiming he was trying to 'take over OMM'.
Mike saw an injustice. Models being asked to join a group, masquerading as a legitimate agency. Its main purpose: to be to fulfill the workshop requirements of its founder. In an effort to maximize bottom line profits, the models are generally provided no real compensation, and was in most circles would be seen as pure exploitation. So while OMM has no full-time sales staff seeking work for models, occasionally a referral was made between an OMM model and a photographer or someone looking to hire a model. Do those few exceptions make OMM a real agency? We'll leave that question unanswered.
At this point, Mike had spend under $100 and just a few evenings doing what he felt needed to be done: Try and right a wrong.
While he was not successful in making OMM into a real agency, models could be proud to belong to. He was able to bring to light the current realities as he saw them.
A few months after all this drama, some of the OMM models contacted Mike to ask if he'd ever seen Barb Sawn, talked to her on a phone or video chat. Others were also asked. It seems OMM Models now suspected Barb never existed. This was news to Mike but all of a sudden, things made sense. That's why "Barb" could never accept his offer for a proper and formal agency. He had unknowingly come too close to the truth.
The OMM models did some research, compared notes and concluded "Barb" was likely Garry or his wife masquerading as the OMM director. So Barb was asked to prove she is a real person. Instead of a reply, Barb posted a message saying she "resigns". The models then made every effort to clear the air. Garry and Barb were ask to attend an online ZOOM meeting and address the model's concerns. The result was Barb took down all her accounts. Instagram, Facebook and even her personal gmail account were now gone. Not many people can walk away from a personal e-mail which is know to all your friends, family, employer, vendors, ...
Unable to reach Barb anymore, Garry was pressured via personal messages and the model's social media posts to please address the OMM model's concerns. The response was that all evidence of OMM was then systematically erased. The OMM Facebook page, the OMM IG feed and the so called corporate site on Pixieset.com were removed and with the all models lost their audit trail of discussions with "Barb".
As of Aug 2020, Garry has remained silent on these issues. Most OMM models are disgusted with the deception, but feel no loss since OMM never provided any real opportunities. A few say they had their suspicions all along and were not surprised. There are even others who are disappointed. They are hobby models happy for the occasional shoot and feel the Garry Black workshops were fun. So what, if Garry lined his pockets while the models made nothing. They just enjoyed the OMM camaraderie and networking.
This is perhaps the last chapter for OMM. Will the exploitation remain? The answer is perhaps.
Garry is still running workshops and based on those run recently, his workshop models are still not paid a percentage of the workshop fees.
What next?
We'll leave this page in place as a reminder of these events.
Mike's thoughts:" As a photographer I work with many models. Some model to boost self-esteem, some want extra income, for some it's more of a fun hobby and for a few it's a chosen career. What most have in common however is they are young and often naive. They are trusting that someone claiming to be an agency, is indeed just that and has their best interests at heart. I wish models would exercise their due diligence and research agencies and even photographers before working with either.
