Ryan Astamendi is a very good photographer but equally arrogant and conceited. He runs a photo farm to breed pics of hot girls which he tries to sell to magazines to make a ton of money. He told me that I was special and that he doesn't shoot everyone for free. I found out later that was total ###. He seems to say that to all the models he shoots. At the end of the shoot he says he thinks the shots will be good enough to submit to Maxim and other magazines. Of course I was thrilled to hear that so I said that would be awesome. That's his green light to make money off of you. No doubt it's good for the model if the pics are selected but he doesn't care about you as long as he gets the photo credits and his check from them. If he was up front about it before the shoot I wouldn't be writing about this guy. That's a sleazy way to make money.
If you still decide to shoot with him be prepared to be a little creeped out. His "studio" is the garage in his house. He also likes to shoot a lot in his backyard. When you walk in there are racks of sexy lingerie and outfits that he strongly suggests you try on. If you go to his IG and look at all the pics you'll see the same outfits being worn by different models over and over again. Something tells me they've never been washed after each use which is totally gross. Maybe he gets some kind of thrill seeing different girls in the same outfits. Is that a fetish? I don't know. He also says no one can be at the shoot with you but he has his helper there which turns out to be some lingerie company owner who doesn't seem to help very much at all. Like I said it's totally creepy.
I decided to write this after talking with several other models he's shot with over time and they all pretty much described the same process. If you don't mind being just another notch on his photography belt then by all means go ahead and shoot with this guy. Just be ready for lots of boasting about his shoots with Playboy models and him gloating over his wall of fame next to his kitchen! It's pretty comical now that I see all this in print. My mom always told me to be careful about people who boast too much. I should have listened to her. Sorry mom!