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Should you have a chaperone?

The role of a chaperone is to protect a vulnerable person from risk.

If you are modelling then you will be vulnerable in some circumstances and you should consider having someone with you.

There is very little risk attached to modelling for genuine commercial photographers, not only do they have their reputuation to protect, there will usually be plenty of other people there during the shoot.

But things can be very different with amateur and glamour photographers, many of whom will be alone with the model.

Basically there are two distinct type of risk, and the presence of a chaperone will help with both.

• Physical assault, including rape, is a possibility
• Emotional pressure (to do something that you're not happy about) is another possibility. Bear in mind that when you are being photographed in someone else's environment you may not feel as confident about asserting yourself as you would be if you were in your own home. Bear in mind too that most photographers are older and have much more experience of life than most of the models they photograph, and they can be very persuasive.

But the presence of a chaperone can protect the photographer too, from false allegations of misconduct. Because of this our own studio welcomes chaperones, unless we are doing a commercial fashion or product shoot, where plenty of other people will be present and we can sometimes run out of space.

But not all photographers welcome or even allow chaperones. Some say that chaperones may interfere, or steal, or simply inhibit the models, making it difficult to get good shots.

Frankly, they have a point. Our own answer to this is to make it clear to models that they may bring someone with them who is of the same sex, but boyfriends/partners are not allowed.

Some photographers say that they do allow chaperones but when the model actually arrives with her chaperone they insist that the chaperone waits in a different room, or they don't even allow them to stay in the building - in our opinion a chaperone who is not able to both see and hear what is going on is no help at all! If you want to have a chaperone present and the photographer tells you that a chaperone will be allowed check to make sure that your chaperone will be with you at all times.

Children must be chaperoned at all times - this is a legal requirement.