For decades, North America and the United Kingdom were filled with independent photographers. They operated their own studios, looked for models and supplied the mens magazine industry with photo sets. Many of the pros learned their skills in photography schools or colleges so the results showed an understanding of composition, lighting and exposure. This cottage industry took a major hit when digital photography evolved and cheap storage space became accessible. Girls could now get their boyfriends to photograph them at home and post the content on the web. Their results show a huge drop in quality compared to the work of the old-school independent photographers. By day, Alex was a 26-year-old office manager with a degree in business administration. On some nights, she was a housedancer at a local strip club near Detroit. She was dancing to pay off her tuition. One of our roving independents who spent a lot of time filming strippers at clubs spotted her and chatted her up.
