Monthly Archives: February 2023

Photo, Photo Shyster, Scam

Whitney Slusser Photography aka The Wandering Orchid aka Light and Leaf in Boston, MA

Website: https://www.whitneyslusserphotography.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whitneyslusserphotography
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1037237566984504
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whitneyelizabethknott/
Website: https://www.thewanderingorchidphoto.com/
Light and Leaf Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/lnlfoto#

Past Business Names: Whitney Elizabeth Photography, Whitney Jones Photography, Whitney Smith Photography, Irish Twins Photography, Don’t Blink Photography, The Wandering Orchid

Other Locations: California, Utah, Arizona, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Boston, Massachusetts/New England

PS Facebook Page Discussion Post

Holy moly.

Whitney has been submitted to me a few various times over the years but generally when I’ve had her dumped into my lap I’ve been too busy with the job that actually pays me to invest time into unraveling the mess that is Whitney Slusser / Whitney Slusser-Smith / Whitney Elizabeth / Whitney Elizabeth Knott / Whitney Elizabeth Knøtt.

There is some photo stealing here, she does like her some inspiration pics! However, the bigger picture here is the problematic history that Whitney has as a professional photographer.

I prefer things to be told chronologically so I’m going to attempt to tell this story in a timeline format so the sourcing format for stolen images will be a bit differet.

While I tried to mostly stick to things related to photography there are some other parts of this story that play into the photography parts so I’ve included it.

Grab your popcorn. It’s a (long) ride below the cut but I promise that it’s a story that needs telling.

Summary: In the past ~8 years of being in business that I can find online, Whitney Elizabeth Knøtt / Whitney Elizabeth / Whitney Slusser Photography (aka Don’t Blink Photography and Irish Twins Photography) has cancelled or no showed to many weddings and sessions. If she does show there has been problems getting photos and/or prints. Refunds are few and far between. She has also at times used images that were not her own to represent her business.

Canceled/No Show/Undelivered Sessions: 14+
Canceled/No Show/Undelivered Weddings: 22+

Trigger Warning: infant loss, child loss, cancer, sexual assault, suicidal ideation, suicide attempt

Update 11/9/2023: Ugh. I wish I could say that I’m surprised to hear that Whitney is up to her shit again this fall but I’m not. I’m mostly sorry for the clients she’s burned, yet again.

• Added four more weddings for 2023. One from July with photos and a refund that weren’t delivered until this week after the client posted online, three for October that she cancelled last minute on (as per usual, two were for the same date).

• Here’s hoping that maybe she’ll be prosecuted like CP Family Photography who has a similar history to Whitney (but with less clients affected).

Update 7/14/2023:
• Added another client who Whitney sent in a last minute replacement for on 10/22/2022

• Added a post of Whitney needing last minute second photographer coverage for a wedding 5/27/2023

• More proof Whitney is still pursuing photography despite her claiming to be stepping back

Update 5/10/2023: Whitney is back to replying to ISO’s and posting ads for her photography business.

Update 2/20/2023 @ 10AM: even more receipts including a rebuttal from Whitney via email and Facebook (spoiler alert: she doesn’t refute anything with the sessions, only asserts the medical history is factual). Also included a chat message from Whitney telling her friends that she’s stepping back from photography in 2023.

Update 9/10/2025: I’ve put off updating this post for a while but this summer I’ve had a lot of messages about Whitney so I figured I’d finally update her post. She’s had some issues canceling last minute for birth photography. She’s also changed her business name to Wandering Orchid Photo.

Update 2/13/2026: Whitney has rebranded yet again to Light & Leaf and appears to be operating out of the New England area. She’s already canceled last minute on events and sessions there.

It appears she’s also dipping her toe into styled sessions and is hosting one in June in Newport.

I laughed when I saw that she was recommending herself in comments like a client not the owner.

Continue reading Whitney Slusser Photography aka The Wandering Orchid aka Light and Leaf in Boston, MA →
Information

Why Using Stolen “Inspiration” Photos is Wrong

I can scream into the void and post dozens of photographers doing this but I figured I’d also attempt to make this a teachable moment and explain why this is such a huge no-no and those doing this are not only hurting the industry but also themselves.

DECEPTIVE ADVERTISING

This is the big one and what I’m going to start out with. When a photographer posts an ad using an image they did not personally create, that is deceptive advertising which is illegal.

But… but… but… no buts. Flat out, this is illegal.

I don’t care what delusions that you may suffer, if you didn’t create that image, you are not capable of recreating the quality of that image. Every artist is different. You have different training, different gear, different set ups and a different artistic eye.

Have you ever looked at Cake Wrecks and laughed yourself silly? This is exactly the same thing but with photography.

Guess what? Clients can sue over this.

PS: Saying “not my photo” or “mood board” or “inspiration only” doesn’t absolve you of this.

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

I don’t care if you say not my photo. I don’t care if you left the watermark on. I don’t care if you tagged the photographer.

If you did not get permission from the original copyright holder to use their work to advertise with you are committing copyright infringement.

As soon as an image is captured it is copyrighted to the creator (unless there is a contract in place that states otherwise). Registering the copyright only gives the owner additional penalties if they choose to pursue a lawsuit.

Lawsuit?? Yes, you can be sued for using an image that isn’t yours by the original owner.

STOCK IMAGES

Did you create that stock image? No? Then don’t use it.

Yes, there are some cases where using stock images is permissible by a photographer but why would you want to use one to represent your own work? Even still, rarely does the photographer have the correct license purchased that allows the end user to use it to represent their own body of work.

This also goes for using the stock images included with WIX templates. They are not intended to represent the photographer’s talent but rather what the website is supposed to be selling. i.e. a wedding officiant can use wedding images to convey they work in weddings, a gardener can use images of rakes to show what they do. Again, this comes down to licensing and the license doesn’t extend to allowing photographers to use this to represent THEIR work.

DEVALUING THE INDUSTRY

Why should you care if your neighbor photographer is stealing images and posting them? It doesn’t affect your business right?

Wrong.

Clients who invest in professional images are less likely to do so again when they are not happy with the end result. They are even more less likely to do it when they feel like they were swindled.

Sure, the $50 clients may not be your market but it doesn’t mean that those $50 clients aren’t going to someday be $500 clients. Or that those clients tell their 500 friends, who are not all $50 clients, about their terrible experience with a fauxtographer. Then those friends also become less likely to invest with a photographer and THOSE clients may have been your clients.

How many of us have been grilled by a client after a friend/relative/someone they know online that had a bad experience with a fauxtographer? I know I have and I’m certain I’m not alone in this. It especially rears up when a local news station has a story about a wedding couple who hired a fauxtographer who showed beautiful images and they got terrible images or the photographer ghosted them.

Bottom line. Don’t use images your company did not personally create. Ever.

Lost Cause, Photo, Photo Shyster, Scam

Natural Images Photography / Natural Images Photo Video in Foley, AL

Website: https://www.naturalimagesphotovideo.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bgriffin70

PS Facebook Page Post

This photography group appears to operate in just about every state they can get their hands into.

There’s so many stolen images in the galleries I gave up sourcing. It’s ridiculous. Most are stock but not all. Most of the top gallery on their wedding page is stolen/stock, most of the real estate photos are stock and many of the corporate images are stock.

PS: Their pricing is bananas.

Update 9/9/2025:

This update is going on top so it doesn’t get lost.

Since my last update there have been a few incidents with Billy Griffin / Natural Images Photo Video. Some are issues with clients, some is just him being the swell human he is /sarcasm.

First, lets go to March 2025.

If you look at Billy’s social media you’ll see he’s constantly on the go traveling all over the country and is often in a different state each weekend day. If you’ve ever flown you know that this is dicey planning due to travel delays and I’ve been waiting to see if this bites Billy in the butt and it seems to have done so in March.

Britni hired Natural Images Photo Video for their wedding and paid $2500. Their package was supposed to include two days of service including a photo booth and dancing-on-a-cloud effects.

Billy was a no show for the day before the wedding and was an hour late the day of. He offered a refund of $1000 but said it had to be paid in increments due to being a family business. They ended up sending $200 but not the rest.

The client was rightfully upset and posted a public Facebook review of Natural Images Photo Video.

Now, there’s ANOTHER client from March with a similar issue.

Melani also had Billy no show for their first of two day coverage after they booked the $3500 two day package. I am not clear when their wedding was but she posted this review in March. At the time she posted Billy had not refunded or delivered anything. I believe their wedding was in Tampa.

Now lets move forward to July.

Billy posts one of his ads in a wedding group on Facebook and a photographer replies with his listing here.

Of course Billy blocked Mindy and sent her a kind message you’d expect from a man who claims to be a Christian.

Billy then went on a rant on his Facebook about her and me.

On August 16th Billy Griffin of Natural Images Photo was booked for a wedding in Sturgis, South Dakota. The client booked Billy for $2250 for a two day package to cover the rehearsal and wedding day. This package was supposed to include a boudoir session, drone coverage, photography and videography.

Yet again, Billy completely no showed the day before the wedding and then was late the day of the wedding making the clients push back their ceremony by almost an hour.

Billy claimed he ‘forgot’ to book a flight until it was too late/the prices were too high to arrive the day before the wedding and then blamed the airline for why he didn’t get to Sturgis until 6:30PM.

There’s one problem – Billy was live streaming a wedding in Alabama when he was supposed to be in South Dakota. The client said Billy claimed he booked this wedding after he found out he couldn’t afford get to South Dakota on Friday but I have my doubts.

Screenshot from Billy’s Facebook

Billy offered the client a refund of $1500 but told the client it would take 6 MONTHS to pay them back.

Some of the clients who have had issues with Billy have been trying to raise awareness on Facebook in various groups that Billy has frequented or where they found Billy but a lot of the posts have been taken down. 

On one post a photographer commented that has been an associate photographer for Billy. The clients had reached out to them since Billy never delivered the photos! 

Some of the clients who have had issues with Billy have been trying to raise awareness on Facebook in various groups that Billy has frequented or where they found Billy but a lot of the posts have been taken down. 

On one post a photographer commented that has been an associate photographer for Billy. The clients had reached out to them since Billy never delivered the photos! 

Once again, I’m asking you to check your own local wedding pages that you frequent and if Billy Griffin and/or Natural Images Photo Video is in your group message the admins with a link to his listing here and ask that he be removed. 

Oh, and he’s still using an ad with images he didn’t create. OF COURSE. 

Also, if your wedding is 10/4 I don’t think Billy is coming.

Screenshot from Photographers HIRING Photographers
Continue reading Natural Images Photography / Natural Images Photo Video in Foley, AL →
Photo

AmPhotography in Knoxville, TN

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086142794688

PS Facebook Page Post

Why is it all of these fauxtographers I’m outing lately all have “pay what you can” pricing?

Anyway – more of the mini session madness.

Update 5/11/2023 – AMPhotography / Angel Murphy swiped another photographer’s entire portfolio it seems and used that to apply for a second shooting position. Images at the bottom of the original post.

Continue reading AmPhotography in Knoxville, TN →
Photo

Schirmbeck Photography in Omaha, NE

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SchirmbeckPhotography
BBB: https://www.bbb.org/us/ne/omaha/profile/photographer/schirmbeck-photography-0714-300170425

PS Facebook Page Post

My eyes are burning y’all. In my pause from the blog apparently fauxtographers thought it was open season for copyright infringement.

Schirmbeck Photography not only uses stolen images for their ads but also has a history of not showing/canceling at the last minute for sessions and weddings and not refunding.

If you aren’t on Facebook you may have missed that I have a new discord server for this community. If you become a Patreon member at $5/month or more you also get exclusive access to certain channels and discussions.

Continue reading Schirmbeck Photography in Omaha, NE →