A Pennsylvania photographer has chosen not to photograph a group of high school girls for their senior portraits after she found evidence of the teens bullying other students on Facebook.
Jennifer McKendrick, from Indiana County, Pa., wrote on her own Facebook page earlier this week that she came across another Facebook page with nasty comments from four high school girls whose names matched her scheduled clients.
She emailed the girls and their parents to cancel their senior photo shoots, while including screenshots of their comments to explain why she was calling off the session.
McKendrick wrote more about her decision on her personal blog in a post titled "I Won't Photograph Ugly People."
"I mean how could I spend two hours with someone during our session trying to make beautiful photos of them knowing they could do such UGLY things," McKendrick writes. "Realistically, I know by canceling their shoots it's not going to make them 'nicer people' but I refuse to let people like that represent my business."
The photographer told WTAE-TV that the comments she saw were more than just targeting other students for appearance.
"It was beyond 'your clothes are ugly' or 'you don't have any brand clothes' or 'you are ugly, your hair is not right," McKendrick told WTAE-TV. "It was vicious. It was talking about sexuality."
Her Facebook page has since been flooded with hundreds of comments from people supporting her decision.
McKendrick blogs that she hasn't received backlash for her decision so far, but she's prepared if she does. Two of the teens' parents responded to her with apologies, noting that they were surprised by their daughters' actions.
"If you are ugly on the inside, I'm sorry but I won't take your photos to make you look pretty on the outside … I simply don't want to photograph ugly people," she writes.
