I got hit with a flurry of messages about this fauxtographer so I am guessing they got caught somewhere online. The Facebook Page was wiped between me getting the messages and when I could start the post but the website is still predominantly images that were not created by Seraphina Visuals.
There is a TON of stock images used here, often from the same wedding so to save time I’m only going to post the original source for the first of the group on those.
I think *some* (not all) of these images were placeholders with the Pixieset template they are using. It’s often done and it’s gross. There’s so many other photographers that popped up when searching those images that are using the same placeholder images on their live website. Stop that crap right now.
I think this is also one of the first photographers to use AI images in their portfolio pretending they were real photos. Wait, no. I forgot about Meg. Well, anyway, it’s the first one I’ve come across that is just a regular photographer not selling products TO photographers anyway.
Finally, to kind of go for the full BINGO card here they also have plagiarism.
When I start a post with so many AKAs known already you know it’s going to be a long one.
*nmp* is a new one to me for what I am assuming means “not my photos.” Even if it was widely known what nmp meant even spelling it out doesn’t matter – you can’t use photos to advertise your own work without permission from the copyright holder. Full stop.
There’s at least one post in a local group that was found with stolen wedding photos and no disclaimer about these not being her photos and I’m sure there’s more that I haven’t been sent (yet).
One thing I noticed when searching this photographer out is that she posts *everywhere* so check your local Facebook Groups to make sure she’s not in there. She’s based in North Carolina but I found posts in Pennsylvania, New York, Montana, Tulsa, Colorado, Tennessee, Salt Lake City, Pensacola, Chattanooga, Outer Banks, basically everywhere in the United States she’s in a local wedding group.
While the copyright infringement is the main story here, there is also a side story that Courtney allegedly has a history of not delivering photos/is slow to refund and is why she’s changed her business name in mid 2023 after conversations like this popped up in local groups. This story is at the bottom of the page with the update.
Update 1/29/2024:
It turns out the above was just the tip of the iceberg and there’s a lot of people out there who have had issues with Courtney.
In summary – she has allegedly canceled many times on clients at the last minute for boudoir sessions and weddings. She has allegedly sometimes sent in subpar photographers but sometimes she hasn’t sent in anyone at all. This girl allegedly gets covid a LOT. She allegedly rarely delivers albums. She allegedly owes a LOT of refunds.
She also posted this as an excuse before unpublishing her Facebook page.
It’s been a while since I’ve had a website full of almost all stolen images. There are a few images that I didn’t find sources for but it’s not many.
Since there is *so* much here I am just sticking to sourcing the photographers stolen from that I can find. I also didn’t bother with the stock photos, of which there are dozens. There is SO much that I had to narrow it down somehow.
Also, he used some of these images in his article with Canvas Rebel. He’s a rebel alright… there’s also at least two stock images credited to him in a Medium article he wrote.
There’s also not an insignificant amount of plagiarism at play on the website as well and at least one source of the photos he also took copy from.
It’s worth a look at AEllis’ website to make sure your own work isn’t there as some are collaged and hard to source.
Update 1/12/24 @ 4PM EST:
If you haven’t been on the Facebook Post about this listing, you may want to pop over there first because… it’s giving Billcie vibes.
Then another person that has a history with Ellis came in and posted a link to his Instagram highlight reel on the deep dive he’s done into Ellis and… holy shit. From the terrible interactions with a model (more than one), to him not returning his daughter to the mother on time, to his ex’s restraining order and his eventual probation for beating her friend up shortly before his ex was murdered in a hit-and-run… just a whole lot of WTF.
Ellis has a lot of aliases: Aellis Obtenebrix is what he’s currently going as but he’s also known as Lahlan Rotscreck, Ellis Templar, Jason Bourne (I’m serious), and what his real name appears to be is Ellis Warner. Larry Ellis Campbell Jr.
I’m hoping to pull some of the past screenshots I was sent from his infractions as Seaside Boudoir and add them to the post soon.
Update 2/25/2024 @ 11AM EST:
Well last night I got “served” via email (which isn’t legal in Ohio without consent) by Larry/Ellis.
Since I’m already in the lawsuit, I’m just going to go all in and post everything I’ve got that he’s stolen.
After 7 hours of working on this I’m calling it quits after sourcing around 100 images/text sources from his product photography pages. Tomorrow I’ll dig into the rest.
Update 2/25/2024 @ 11PM EST:
I finished up the boudoir portfolios and in total added 151 new sources to the post and I’m not close to being done. I’ll add more tomorrow.
Update 2/26/2024
I’m bound and determined to finish sourcing all the photos today. I believe this is the most content I’ve ever sourced??
It’s very interesting that many of these images were flipped so that they weren’t easily found by searching online, I had to flip many back to find the original sources for the images.
It’s almost like he did that intentionally…
Update 11/9/2024
If you haven’t been keeping up with the latest via Substack the summary is that the lawsuit is still ongoing, AEllis is currently in jail and he’s still a shithead.
Since I had some time this weekend I decided to go ahead and update the post with the new website, his new names and aliases and the additional stolen images on his current website.
Just in 2024 I’ve found over 250 items on his website and social media that were stolen from another creator – and that’s a low estimate. That doesn’t include the photos he’s stolen when known as Seaside Boudoir which is another massive chunk.
I never have made a comprehensive list of the various business names he’s used/is using so I wanted to add those here.
Seaside Boudoir
Art by D’Artisan
Art Au Naturale
Enchanted Realm Photography
Enchanted Realm Boudoir
Enchanting Shots
Branding Beauty Boudoir
Dark Realm of the Fae
Fae Portraits
Branded Vivid
Vivid Vixens Photography
Vivid Vixen Photo
It appears that at least one client is currently waiting for delivery, this review was left in September.
So, he continues to do great things! Scroll to the bottom for the latest images added to his website that aren’t his.
I’ve had this person submitted to me many times over the years but it always seems to hit whenever I’m swamped with work or just don’t have the time to really dig into it.
I have a boatload of submissions to work on and I guess we’re starting here.
Brianna sure likes her watermark. Shame it’s on photos she didn’t create but she sure acts like she did. They are mostly stock images but as you’ll see you’d never know it if reading her post about it. Most of these are also on her Instagram but I only showed the top one there.
You know how much I love fake stories and Brianna does too! Alexa + Eli huh?? The original photographer is Russian so I’m going to guess that they didn’t hail from Seattle…
Reminder if you’ve somehow missed it but I’ve now started a Substack and have been writing a bi-weekly newsletter about Photo Stealers, industry news and copyright stuff.
This wall of shame is dedicated to photographers that feel that it's okay to steal others' work and post it as their own. Oh I'm sorry, it's okay to let their "web designer" do it.
