A study conducted by a former city buildings commissioner found that several Big Apple photo studios are operating without proper licenses an✨d forcing models to work in shady conditions.
The review — commissioned by Pier59 Studios owner Federico Pignatelli, a self-described “model-rights advocate” — lists at least five venues that lack proper certificates of occupancy on file with the city, meaning th⭕ey are not approved to conduct photo shoots.
A certificate of occupancy ensu🍷res that a space complies with all required building codes. As part of the process to obtain one, a structure must pass a series of inspections to make sure t🔯here aren’t any safety hazards.
Model Simone Aptekman, who has worked in mos꧙t of the studios named in the report, described some of the perilous conditions she and her peers have been put in.
ꦺ“I’ve been in situations where a light fell and glass broke; I’ve seen a girl get burned getting her ha✃ir curled,” the 26-year-old stunner said.
“I’ve had shoots where I’ve had to pay a dollar to use the bathroom or use the vending machine 💎to get 🙈a bottle of water,” she added.
Some of the sꦯtudios she’s had to work in are so suspect, she wasn’t even able to find them.
“This is really odd but in most of these locations it’s really hard to find because usually the building is unnamed,” she said. “That in and of itself i🐼s weird, especially in Brooklyn where the e💜ntrance is usually in an alley.”
The studios operating without a proper liceಞnse aren’t just putting models and other workers in peril, they’re putting themselves and their clients at risk, Pigna⭕telli said.
“If a model dies or gets hurt or anything happens, not only the studio’s going to get sued but the client, and modeling agency because the model was there to work for that client,” Pignatelli said.
Pignatelli’s report, conducted by former Acting Department of Buildings Commissioner Ronny Li♕vian, lists 10 studios without proper certificates o🌳f occupancy.
One of them, Milk Studios near Union S𝓰quare,🔯 is licensed to operate as an office space.
But Aptekman said she’s posed for photo shoots there and the company describes itself as a “premier,ജ full service photography studio” on its website. A receptionist said Milk didn’t have a comment when reached on Sunday.