WNY Models

Andy · by **Andy** on August 18th, 2004, 7:41 pm

A model friend of mine has been having trouble being paid for work she did with Mr. Kingston? Does anybody on the forum have any info on him? The model did the work, and now can not get Mr. Kingston to return her calls or e-mails. Thanks for any help/info...

Andy Webster

alli_b · by **alli_b** on August 18th, 2004, 9:36 pm

cant say that i know him, but he sounds like a snake, ill keep on the lookout, snakes never prosper!!!

marisa · by **marisa** on August 18th, 2004, 10:04 pm

hey Andy ,

I know of him very well he contacted me for a lingerie catalog work and he looked at my book and was more than happy for me to sign his one year contract. I was to be paid by the client 175 hr for 5 hr shoots a few times a month. well i went to meet him in rochester and was with a male friend he showed me very little of his work and told me that the rest of his work is at his house and not online yet .when i requested some pics only sent me like two andof his son and his wife i felt like was a very nice person and i felt like i knew him as he talked to me online about his family ya know gettign to now one anther besides we were going to be working together for a year yeah right!! was telling me the studio that he is working out of had at the tiem a major flood and things had to be cleaned out first before shooting of course teh studio was right next door he said he owned the whole top apartments but yet on he front of the building it said for sale ! everytime I tried to get in touch with him of course he gave me a wrong number to contact with and everytime I had a question or to ask wehn we would start to shoot of course i never did see the studio becasue he rufused to show us the damage but anyway so then i finally contact hi after him canceling our first shoot five times tehn i started to get pissed.then finnally i got him online only it wasnt him it was supposely his wife telling me his son died well of course i was very sorry for hm and told his suppossid wife to give my regards told me that he would not be back to work for a while . The guy is yes a snake and he is a liar I really hope for his sake that he wasnt lying about his son of course who in there right mind would say somthign like that.. his suppossid wife got back on and emailed me to tell me he and his family was moving back to his other home in florida one of his five homes as well please! I would not work with this guy very shady and loved the fack i was coming then when i got there and had a guy friend come with me for this ride changed his tune so DO NOT WORK WITH HIM !!!!! unless you want to be lied to yours
marisa ciola

marisa · by **marisa** on August 18th, 2004, 10:09 pm

Oh and also i forgot to say how excited i was about it and went and told everyone I knew only for them to ask me how the work is going then had to tell everyone i told that it was all a big fat lie and the guy was very shady and not professional at all. and let me add that he ~censored~ got i touch with me to do nude work and kept telling me if i wanted to so that work on the side of the lingerie that no one would have to knwo and kept asking me if i would do it or not and harping how he is short models for this nude work of his. just thought i would add that one too .
marisa ciola

Andy · by **Andy** on August 19th, 2004, 6:46 am

Thanks, Guys...

Marisa, thanks for stepping up. I am sorry you crossed paths with the 'snake' as Alli_B called him. What you went through is almost exactly the same as what my friend went through -- even down to details like the death in the family routine, except in her case he had to cancel the 2nd shoot because his poor, dear 'mother-in-law' passed away. My friend and another local model who worked with him at the same time would like to be in touch with you, so I will e-mail their info to you and you three can take it from there.

The old adage, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is" certainly seems to apply here.

Thanks again, Andy

marisa · by **marisa** on August 19th, 2004, 8:44 am

I would be more than happy to speak with her it seems he has used the death excuse moer than once

Is very sad to say or wish somthign like this apon your dear family Larry if you are ever on wny you had better not even post becasue you have no bussiness here as this is a site for professionals or at least professional like photographers and models. there is not room here FOR SNAKES and I will make sure that all of our wny models know about you so dont even try it bud !!
love that model that you could have had a professional relationshit its too bad yur not!!!!!! with jack ass!!!!

alli_b · by **alli_b** on August 19th, 2004, 9:02 am

wow this guy should just move out of the country.....its a shame to say such things, and death is such a serious thing, nothing can bring back anyone past that point, and marisa im sorry that you went through that and any other model that has been through that ordeal....that is just plain insane and totally unprofessional......snakes never prosper!!!

marisa · by **marisa** on August 19th, 2004, 11:21 am

thanks ali i just want to make sure that no one else gets hurt and this other model actually went the next step by workign with him and now she is out of her pay for the shoot no your right that jerk will never get any good professional models to work with him and i will make sure of it someone that wants to lie about death of a family member is a real ass ! sorry but he is an for any model reading this please watch out for him and if you do work with im by chance dont go alone if he lies about family memebrs dying then who knows what else he can do or lie about everyone models meeting new photogs should never go alone use your best judgement with working with anyone so many models a year get scammed out of there work or even killed so please all you lovely girls be carefull out there and be safe . hope this model gets her pay thoguh poor thing i fell awefull for her. well i goota run have a great day all
yours
marisa

wnymodels · by **wnymodels** on August 19th, 2004, 1:17 pm

Andy wrote:having trouble being paid for work she did with Mr. Kingston? ..... The model did the work, and now can not get Mr. Kingston to return her calls or e-mails.

Did she demand payment at the end of the shoot? And if so, what excuse could he possibly have had for not paying her at the time? "I left my checkbook at the office??"

What is this guys email address?

Thanks,
Aaron

marisa · by **marisa** on August 19th, 2004, 1:33 pm

i was told that when i went to meet him that the client pays him to pay me and that I would get paid at the end of everyshoot which was 175$ hr for 5hrs .Not sure what the girl that actually shot with him agreed apon but that was what he told me. And leaving his check book at home the place he he calls his studio is right next dorr to what looks like a apartment that he and his family lives in but told me that it is a place for the models to hang when shooting . His studio is 10 steps from his apartment and his office is in the apartment there is no excuses in his case he is just a big fat liar. And to not return phone calls or emails is not right when he knows he owes a girl money for her time modeling .and then he went as far as to telling me he neede my sizes for the lingerie to model for the client and weh repeatedly tried to contact him to see if the box was in he has excuse after exuse and andy is so right if it sounds too good to be true it is and this was he is by for the least professional person i have met.and he couls have said well the client did not get me the money yet and her being the nice person hs eis probibly have said oh ok. even if that was the case no reason to not contact her or return calls or emails i even had his sn for intasnt messages and he would be on and not reply back and would ignore me . to shady this guy no matter how you look at this one ,

marisa

wnymodels · by **wnymodels** on August 19th, 2004, 3:04 pm

so what is his email address? and what's the instant messager he uses (along with his chat name)?

one more thing... was a release signed?

marisa · by **marisa** on August 19th, 2004, 6:06 pm

I am not sure what his contact info is as I erased it all this was back in march of this year so of course I dont have it anymore had no reason to contact him again but the the friend that andy had mentioned that actually shot with him i cant speak for i dont know if she signed one or not but i did and I a copy that I made . I am sure that andy's friend has all of his contact info still as she said she is still trying to reach him for her payment .
marisa

marisa · by **marisa** on August 19th, 2004, 6:09 pm

actually he uses msn instant messanger his name larry shows up when he is on and his email is daw106@hotmail.com i have to say sorry to the moderators of wny and please forgive me for giving his email online. I hope you all understand i am just trying to help out someone in need.
marisa ciola

Andy · by **Andy** on August 21st, 2004, 7:05 am

An update on Lawrence Kingston: so far, four area women have stepped forward to say that they had dealings with him. Three went so far as to actually shoot with him after being enticed by promises of payment for 'project' work on behalf of his unnamed corporate 'clients.' In each case, the shoots involved nude 'test' shots and each case he gave a reason why a signed contract would be forthcoming, but couldn't be completed immediately. In each case, after the first shoot, arrangements were made for a 2nd shoot -- at which point Kingston disappeared.

The Rochester police have been contacted and are searching for Kingston, starting with the addresses where the shoots took place; a name search only confirmed that Lawrence Kingston is apparently an alias.

All of this reinforces the need, frequently stated here and on other forums, for models to always do their homework. Check references, ask for samples of past work, investigate claims of corporate clients etc. Unfortunately, people new to modeling -- as several of these women were -- are likely not to be members of forums, or know other models and photographers that they can ask for advice.

marisa · by **marisa** on August 22nd, 2004, 10:47 pm

I am so glad to hear that somthing is being done about this situation this is why some photographers get a bad rep this needed to be taken care of before something drastic or seriouse happened to these girls. I hope he is cought and those girls get there money owed to them. I am very glad that i brought a guy friend with me to see him that is why i think i didnt go as far as to shoot with him because he knew I was going to be bringing my guy friend with me everytime. girls be smart and never go to a shoot alone if the photographer wants a closed set then he can have it with your friend or escort right outside the door. always remember that. be safe and like andy said always do your homework. AND IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE IT IS .
marisa ciola

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