A New York City snapper is hitting back after it was revealed he charges an extra $100 to take professional photos of plus-size models compared to “standard” posers.
William Lords came under fire for his pricing policy over the weekend when model Megan Mesveskas, 24, took to TikTok to share an email she received from his photography studio.
The email quoted $950 for Lords to lens a “standard” model and $1,050 for him to photograph a “plus/curve” model.
“I guess he just doesn’t want to have to look at them through his camera,” Mesveskas raged in her video, which quickly garnered over a hundred thousand views including reposts.
Lords is now facing allegations of “fatphobia,” and there are calls for him to be canceled — but the fotog says there is a reason his fee is higher for larger models and it reflects an industry-wide problem.
“It’s easy to jump on something you don’t understand,” Lords told The Post, saying he was stunned Mesveskas went straight to social media to shame him before asking for any kind of explanation.
The photographer says his prices are for “test shoots,” whereby he creates a look-book for models to take with them to auditions. The pricing includes access to a wardrobe full of designer clothes, which the models then wear while being photographed.
Lords claims that designer threads for ultra-thin models (usually sizes 0 to 4) are easy to come by, but clothing for curvier women is more expensive and harder to source as less of the larger sizes are made.
“Getting those clothes is very difficult,” Lords insisted. “I need to charge a bit higher, because it’s hard to find anything. I go out there and buy the clothes with my own credit card for the models to wear as part of our package.”
Over the weekend, Mesveskas’ video was shared by fellow model Sixtine Rouyre, who also hit out at the price gap.
“This is just one more example of how awful the modeling industry is to literally anyone over a size 0,” Rouyre declared in her own subsequent TikTok video, viewed more than 101,000 times.
“Your fatphobia is showing, it’s f – – king disgusting, and you should be ashamed of yourself,” she further blasted.
Viewers reacted with outrage to Rouyre’s video, with one stating: “This is so typical. It’s sad.”
But Lords is refusing to be canceled quietly.
The photographer — who sounded noticeably upset while speaking with The Post — said he is now considering legal action against Mesveskas and Rouyre.
“I’m a black man in America, and two white women tell me I’m discriminating them?” Lords stated. “I’m so hurt by this. Nobody is telling the true story.”
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