l got banned from Facebook for 7 days. For failing to follow the community guidelines on "nudity and sexual activity" which from what I understand doesn't allow female nipples or any genitals to be shown (unless breastfeeding or birth related). I understand the reasons for this, the site needs to be family friendly. I'm disappointed though that this image was censored when it's perfectly innocent with nothing more on show than you'd see on a beach with women in bikinis. I do wonder if the tattoos confused the automatic flagging of this photo but I appealed the decision and it was declined and deemed against guidelines, I'm not sure if this was done by a human or not but it does annoy me that it was deemed inappropriate. I'd happily show my children this, I want them to appreciate the wonder of women's pregnant bodies.
I used the light and water droplets to emphasise the beauty of this client's bump and tattoos in this maternity session and I adore these photos so it's a shame I can't share some of them on social media. Although weirdly this one was published to Instagram which is owned by Facebook (and has the same guidelines) and is still there after 3 weeks. Meh.
It was awarded in the weekly Top Ten Click Pro Daily Project.
This image getting me banned reminds me of similar discussions I've seen before and in particular these comics I found which illustrate some of the double standards in society...
I am glad that images involving birth and breastfeeding are no longer censored so we can help to normalise these things and take away the taboos surrounding such images, we should enable open conversations and education. Growing a baby, birthing and breastfeeding are amazing, natural things and shouldn't be kept hidden from society. We should be able to admire and enthuse about the amazing things women's bodies do!
Luckily, I'm in charge of my own website and can share them here as I wish (with client permission of course, always). I've had a few new awards and features lately which is always exciting so do go and check out my awards page to see the images that stood out to the judges and fellow photographers to be recognised... https://www.bexphoto.com/awards-features-publications