Teng can tell almost immediately if a girl has potential. “Ultimately, though, the photographers decide if we have made the right choice,” she says.
Tim Lai (賴政廷), co-founder of i-photo, agrees. He estimates his Web site organizes 50 waipai activities per month in Taiwan’s larger cities.
“There is no formula to determine which models will be popular,” he says on a balmy Saturday morning at the main gate of National Taiwan University. “That’s why we audition every model twice before placing them on our Web site.”
As Lai banters with some of the roughly 70 waipai photographers (who paid NT$600 to NT$800 for a three-hour activity), models wander over and check in with i-photo representatives. “Around 30 models will show up today,” he says. “But only 10 are working; the rest are auditioning to become [paid i-photo] models.”
Zoey (小呀) is one of the latter. Here for her second audition, the 24-year-old student of Recreation and Sport Management at National Taipei University dresses in denim shorts, long white boots and a low-cut purple top. When asked how she chooses her clothing, Zoey says that it depends on how she feels.
“If I’m feeling sexy, I’ll wear sexy clothing,” she says.
A few weeks after the audition, Zoey’s picture appeared on the i-photo Web site. By the end of the week, six photographers had signed on for a photo shoot with her — enough for the waipai activity to go.
According to Lai and Teng, models are responsible for choosing their own wardrobe, which should contain three changes of clothes.
Flora says i-photo pays the best (close to NT$5,000 when traveling expenses are included), is the best at giving her consistent work, and is the safest — a primary concern for all models. Flora’s most frightening experience with photographers was when one demanded that she remove her coat. “He didn’t say remove my clothing, just my coat,” adding, “No matter what industry you work in there are good and bad people,” she said. “So I’m not concerned.”
Not all waipai models are so lucky.
In one extreme case, two people allegedly lured a young woman to a motel and coerced her to strip for photographers, according to a report in the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper).
Several models have removed their photo blogs from the Internet after receiving threatening messages or rude comments. One model wrote on her blog that she received too many messages from people wanting one-night stands. Another, famous among bloggers for her bust size, removed the “leave message” option from her blog because people were posting comments claiming she has fake breasts.
Still, if the anonymity of the Internet creates an environment for lurid or harassing comments, the four models interviewed for this story all say they feel safe around waipai photographers.
“My parents and my boyfriend have seen the pictures and they support me,” Flora says.
Doris also shows the pictures to her parents and refuses “to be photographed wearing a bathing suit.”
Flora says if she hasn’t landed a professional modeling contract by the age of 28, she’ll find another job. In the meantime, she has become a fixture on Lai’s Web site, often doing three photo shoots in one weekend.
“It’s just a way to earn money right now while moving towards the career I want,” she says.
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