[clackers]

Wedding photographer arrested for having sex with guest, peeing on tree

[c.a.m]

Apart from that, did they like the photos?

[clickclick]

Wonder if it was a two drink minimum?

[clackers]

I can see her lawyer's defence: "It's like Robert Capa embedding himself with the 1st Infantry Division on Omaha Beach, it's immersive journalism, you join in with whatever your subjects are doing. You don't want to, but you owe it to them to participate."

[normhead]

I can see her lawyer's defence: "It's like Robert Capa embedding himself with the 1st Infantry Division on Omaha Beach, it's immersive journalism, you join in with whatever your subjects are doing. You don't want to, but you owe it to them to participate."

Sometimes people are so bizarre I can't even find an appropriate headspace to help me empathize.

I need to try those drugs, just to see if I have sex with someone and pee on someone's lawn. It would be a scientific investigation of unreported drug side effects. Serious science. If I do the same things she did, I'll testify for her defence.

[sergysergy]

That wouldn't have happened if she had been using a Pentax

[boriscleto]

That wouldn't have happened if she had been using a Pentax

Instead of Xanax...

[micromacro]

I wonder if the guest was arrested as well for having sex with the photographer.

[THoog]

I wonder if the guest was arrested as well for having sex with the photographer.

Since the the photographer was NOT arrested for having sex with a guest or urinating on a tree (despite what the headline says), but for public intoxication and "retaliation/obstruction" (in this case, that means hurling drunken threats at deputies), I see no reason why the guest would be arrested.

[UncleVanya]

It is possible this was a mistake. The photographer claims a prescription drug plus alcohol mix caused issues and claims the guest was being inappropriate and taking advantage of her. I'd say wait and see. Even if her story is true she screwed up.

[THoog]

I'd say wait and see. Even if her story is true she screwed up.

I agree. Sadly, it's not unheard of for the victim of a spiked drink to be sexually assaulted and THEN arrested. She didn't help her case by saying the deputies and their families were "<expletive> dead".

[clackers]

It is possible this was a mistake. The photographer claims a prescription drug plus alcohol mix caused issues and claims the guest was being inappropriate and taking advantage of her. I'd say wait and see. Even if her story is true she screwed up.

I do have a bit of sympathy. I know a part-time wedding photographer and the day of the shoot can be arduous.

This Katharine Mehta character might have driven a long way to get the job, without reducing the profit margin by hiring a second tog she may have had to move between two venues in the morning just to get the necessary shots of the bride and groom and their parties getting ready. They can view you as a necessary evil, not a collaborator, and if the makeup runs over schedule, it comes out of your time shooting them later. No time for lunch! You've got to get ahead of them to the church, get everyone's arrivals, then dash in and figure out your movements during the ceremony without being too disruptive. Posed photos afterwards, trying to round up and arrange family members you don't know, then beat everyone to the reception place to get the interior and the napkins, silverware, etc. Everyone has dinner, perhaps not provided for you, but there's booze available from waiters to go with your muesli bar. You've got to keep working during the speeches and the dancing - long night.

Booze might dull the pain, but it puts you off your game, and drugs will just accelerate that. Katie might just not be cut out for a lifetime of this, but yes, a career as a swimsuit model is even shorter.

[RGlasel]

a career as a swimsuit model is even shorter.

As long as her mug shot isn't in her portfolio, it shouldn't be over, yet. We might need a less inclusive definition for professional photographer, though.

Other random thoughts: "A wedding photographer who moonlights as a swimsuit model" Is the market for swimsuit models so crowded that she has to lower herself to wedding photography to pay her bills? Times have changed since my youth, back then, public urinating would get you a ticket and a trip to the drunk tank, but the odds of retaining your anonymity were pretty good. Ms. Mehta not only made the newspaper and local TV news in Dallas, but the prestigious NY Post did some free advertising for her modelling business and publications as far away as Australia picked the story off the wire and displayed her body of work to a global audience. Why did she decide to urinate on a tree, wouldn't a low shrub be better? As far as the lucky male guest goes, I think it is safe to assume she had stopped taking pictures by the time they were coitally engaged, so she was off-duty and free to drop her professional standards.

[micromacro]

Since the the photographer was NOT arrested for having sex with a guest or urinating on a tree (despite what the headline says), but for public intoxication and "retaliation/obstruction" (in this case, that means hurling drunken threats at deputies), I see no reason why the guest would be arrested.

Articles tell that it was the off duty sheriff who worked there as a security, and he found her having sex with someone, and tried to remove her out of venue. That's how it started.
Anyway, the story is weird. Btw, I did not find her professional website. Was it her first time wedding shooting? If she is a pro, and has proven track of good work, something weird happened at that wedding.

[Digitalis]

I read about this in the morning - around the studio a lot of my colleagues brought this up and discussion basically boiled down to the photographer lacking any understanding of drug interactions, and less than professional conduct. Professional conduct and ethics are a subject of no small importance these days - and IMHO a mandatory subject for students who aspire to any level of paid commercial work.

the off duty sheriff who worked there as a security, and he found her having sex with someone, and tried to remove her out of venue.

I'd say that is a fair call, getting intimately involved with a guest when you are working on someone else's coin definitely crosses the line for professional behavior. Don't get me wrong, I have taken photos at events when more than slightly inebriated*, but when I'm doing work for paying clients - I abstain from alcohol, and no matter how attractive the models may be, I keep it in my pants.



* I was invited to the event, not as an official photographer. Even after half a bottle of polish vodka [I know my limits, you will note I said half] the photos turned out fine, some were even published.