A Texas woman has been fired from her job after commissioning Wolf & Rose Photography for a body positive photography shoot with her fiance, meant as a private keepsake. After being shared to the photographer's Facebook page and garnering thousands of likes, the shoot also came to the attention of her employer who took the rather drastic step of sacking her.
Stephanie, a resident of Overton, Texas, and featured in a viral “couples boudoir” photo shoot, has withheld her surname from the press in order to protect her identity as much as possible.
The couple became engaged in February of 2017 with a planned wedding in February 2019. Stephanie and Arryn commissioned Wolf & Rose Photography to do the shoot.
The photos, initially meant as private keepsakes between Stephanie’s male partner, Arryn, and herself, went viral after the photographer shared the couple's album on their Facebook page. After Wolf & Rose Photography photographer Brian Terry shared the album on the company Facebook page, to the acclaim of 1000s of likes, shares, and comments, the genie was let out of the bottle.
Since sharing the album, Stephanie has become an internet sensation and an example of body-positive imagery. Stephanie described the photo shoot as an awesome experience, proclaiming: “Neither of us could stop smiling during and after our session…We both were surprised by how close it made us feel. You don’t realize how vulnerable you are until you’re half-naked in a lake with a camera pointed at you and your man.”
In an article “Woman’s Viral Photo Shoot With Fiancé Has An Empowering Message” on the Huffington Post, Stephanie describes her experience: “I honestly have never felt more attractive…I was so nervous to see the final result. I didn’t know what to expect. But when I saw the album, I was shocked. I look so in love and confident. Every person should be able to see themselves in that light. It is really eye-opening.”
Describing a tough childhood and a long battle with body issues, Stephanie recounted her ordeal to Huffington Post, recalling “…being in junior high and looking at myself in the mirror, wondering why my stomach wasn’t the way it was ‘supposed’ to be…Over the years, I’ve come to accept that I am always going to be considered plus-size. I push myself out of my comfort zone by wearing clothes that I love but aren’t in society’s mold of what is acceptable for bigger women, like crop tops, tight shirts, shorter dresses and shorts. I walk around with my head high, smiling, and show no shame in myself.”
Though the experience is one that Stephanie described as “confidence building,” it was not without consequences.
As a result of her newfound viral Internet fame, Stephanie says she lost her job at Austin Bank Texas, N.A..
In an interview with Buzzfeed published on September 29, 2017, “This Woman Said Her Company Fired Her After Her Body-Positive Photo Shoot Went Viral,” Stephanie mourned the loss of her job and highlighted the time spent there, saying “I gave over a year to a company that I worked really hard for and then to have them turn on me for doing something so positive, something that I was so proud of — to help myself as a woman — it was hurtful. People were pulling out their phones at work and showing the pictures and that was blamed on me.”
The company told Stephanie it was concerned about the type of attention the photos could bring to the company, telling Stephanie they were a “family-oriented” firm and that her topless photos did not live up to company expectations of their employees' after-work conduct.
As Buzzfeed and SLRLounge report, an update from Wolf & Rose Photography states that Stephanie and Arryn have discovered she is pregnant with a baby boy.
When contacted by Yahoo Style, Austin Bank Texas N.A. responded that they do not comment on individual personnel matters. Yahoo Style in “Plus-size woman says body-positive photo shoot got her fired” also reports that Stephanie has landed a new job as of this article’s publication.
For more photos from Wolf and Rose Photography, check out their Facebook Page.
8 Comments
Can we please stop calling unhealthy weight “body positive”? All of this PC stuff does serious harm. Obesity is linked to many diseases and degradations of life.
Is it harming you directly? Are you dying because someone else is obese? Worry about yourself.
So many diseases and medical conditions CAUSE people to gain weight, and then in addition to being ill they are subjected to judgement, public shaming, and to people like you who claim they are going to “get” diseases. As if that weren’t the root cause of the weight gain in the first place. Unless you know a person’s medical history, you should keep your opinion to yourself.
It’s OK for women to to be big fat land whales but not for men? Body positivity my ass.
Lovely couple and nicely done portraiture. All things considered, the images are quite modest. People at the bank are nuts.
If the photographer did not have a signed release form I would sue his *ss bit time!
Private keepsake? Why share it to the photographer’s facebook page then? Also there is body positivity and then there is an unhealthy weight.
is this the full story? I can’t believe that it is legal to fire someone for such an arbitary reason. It’s not like she mentioned the company or stuck their logo on the pictures. Are people not allowed to have a private life now? There was no mention of the company she works for before this, so it has kind of backfired for them anyway