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Stop Paying Me in Hashtags: Why “Exposure” Isn’t Currency — And Never Will Be.

Updated: Aug 12

By Giography August 11th., 2025


NYC ExposureTrap
NYC ExposureTrap

Exposure doesn’t pay rent. Tags don’t buy groceries. Followers don’t keep the lights on —

unless you’re heating your apartment with likes.



I’ve been offered “exposure” more times than I can count. “I can’t pay you, but I’ll tag you in all the photos.” It’s pitched like a VIP pass to success. Spoiler: it’s a one-way ticket to Disappointmentville — population: every creative person who's ever agreed to it.


Exposure ≠ Payment

Visibility is nice. Rent money is better. HubSpot’s State of Marketing 2024 confirms what I’ve learned the hard way: only 26% of marketers say social media directly drives sales. For photographers, that number is even lower. Unless the audience is already in your niche and actively booking, a tag in a caption is about as effective as putting your business card in a bottle and throwing it into the ocean—technically possible, but highly unlikely to bring results.



A tag might be buried under a meme before lunch —

or replaced by someone’s cat video by dinner.tossing it out to sea.



I Give Work, They Give Vapor

Photography isn’t “just clicking a button.” It’s scouting, shooting, editing, delivering — hours of labor. What I would get in return for “exposure” is often a tag that’s forgotten… or never shows up at all. According to Influencer Marketing Hub’s 2022 Fraud Report, 68% of photographers report missing or incorrect credit when working with influencers. Translation: your name disappears faster than free champagne at a gallery opening.


The Wrong Crowd

Work for free, and you’ll attract clients who expect free forever. Shopify’s 2023 Discounting Strategy Guide warns that this not only draws bargain hunters but also erodes your brand’s perceived value over time. Once you’re the “free photo person,” it’s harder to rebrand as “worth every penny.”



Free work is a neon sign for cheap clients —

and those people travel in packs.



The Bottom Line

I’m not here to be generous for someone else’s feed. I’m here to build a sustainable career. And that requires real payment — every. single. time.

If you’re a photographer starting out, hear me: your work has value.*  Charge for it. Exposure fades. Fair pay lasts. And hashtags? They can’t pay the electric bill… no matter how many you stack in a caption.


If you don't want to pay people for their work, you might not value their time and skills enough, which could lead to exploitation and hurt relationships. Studies indicate that unpaid or inadequately compensated labor leads to burnout and resentment, particularly within creative and freelance sectors (Friedman, 2014; Hesmondhalgh & Baker, 2011). This kind of behavior can hurt my reputation, lower the quality of work I get, and make things worse by creating an unsustainable dynamic based on inequality instead of mutual respect (Vogue Business, 2021).


In the NYC modeling and photography world, unpaid work is becoming more common because of too many people in the industry, incentives based on prestige, power imbalances, and a culture of gatekeeping. All of these things create a cycle where exposure is seen as payment, which is bad for creative professionals.



*Do Note: Taking lots of pictures doesn’t mean you have a talent for photography. However, I recognize that you may define yourself as a photographer. The concept of a photographer is shifting. While some value professional standards and payment, others derive fulfillment and self-definition from the simple act of creating and loving photography. 



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