I travel quite a bit and hire models in many different countries. I always pay models what I consider a fair wage for the local market. I always make an effort to determine the local prevailing wage and pay photo models something commensurate with that. However what I am observing is that American photographers are coming into local markets and throwing their money around, distorting the local pay scales and pricing local photographers out of the market. Here is an example.
This summer I am shooting in Ukraine. According to the CIA World Fact Book, the per capita income was $6900 in 2008. The local currency is Hryvnia and there are about 8 Hryvnia to the dollar. That comes out to about 4600 HRV per month per person.
What is the wage scale in Ukraine? College students handing out flyers on the street would earn 10 HRV per hour for 6 hours work. So they would earn 60 HRV for part of a day. One student told me a pretty good summer job would pay 2000 HRV per month. A full time worker might make 6000 HRV per month. That is in a 9-6 job. Well-paid professionals might earn 15,000 HRV per month which comes out to about 2000 USD.
I have been paying models 100 or 200 HRV for about 2 hours work. Sometimes as much as 500 HRV. Most people I offered this to thought it was quite good. As a comparison, my accomodation in Lviv or Kiev cost between 100 and 250 per night. (I stay in hostels and hotels with bathroom down the hall. Obviously if I stayed at a 5-star hotel the sky is the limit.)
Then in Kiev I run into an 18-year-old model that has been working with photographers from America that offer $200 for a couple of hours work. Now maybe $100 per hour is the prevailing wage in Los Angeles for a part-time amateur model. But in Ukraine $100 is a lot of money, maybe 75x minimum wage. Nobody here makes $100 an hour, not even the mayor. That would be like someone in California where the minimum wage is $8 per hour paying $600 dollars per hour. It makes no sense.
So what is happening is that foreigners are coming in and overpaying which prices the local photographers out of the market.
This same thing happens with many goods and services where rich outsiders come in and overpay for everything. Then local people can not afford to rent an apartment or shop in their own city.
