Paid models?

[draymorton]

Is it common practice for models who are not all that famous to want to be paid - handsomely, in some cases - just for the privilege of shooting them? Is it an occurrence that is generally accepted among photographers, a tacit model-photog understanding that has somehow managed to escape me?

Forgive me if this is a dumb question - I'm totally new to shooting models who aren't friends, or friends of friends of second cuzzins thrice-removed... or whom I'm not shooting for an assignment other than one which is self-imposed (portfolio-padding) - but is it the norm for photographers to have to pay someone who isn't Heidi Klum or... the male equivalent of Heidi Klum... for their time?

Reason I'm asking... I just pitched an idea to a model, non-famous in the grand scheme of things, who asked to be paid $150/hr plus travel expenses (which would in this case amount to about $100). If this is, indeed, protocol and par for the course, then cool, but is it, in fact?

Thanks for any thoughts.